The Levitt Justice Lab S2027 Perspectives on Inequality

The topic of inequality appears in the news almost daily from AI reshaping education and the workplace to rising housing healthcare and wage gaps that make life less affordable for many Americans. Coverage of racial and gender disparitiesin pay policing health outcomes and political representationcontinues alongside investigations into how the justice system treats people differently depending on income race or where they live. The Levitt Centers Spring 27 Justice Lab: Perspectives on Inequality is a four-course semester-long opportunity designed to deepen students understanding of inequality and the challenges it poses.

More specifically the Lab investigates how disparities arise and persist across societies and systems from ancient Greece and Rome to the contemporary United States. Students take four courses in the humanities sciences and social sciences exploring how inequality manifests in ancient cultures the U.S. educational and legal systems and the U.S. economy and learning to analyze evidence using historical ethnographic legal and econometric approaches. Experiential and applied learning activities round out the Lab including court observation and peer tutoring in Utica as well as academic research.

The pre-requisite for this Justice Lab is Economics 100. Students who have not taken a 100-level Psychology course should seek permission from the instructor (Williams). The Justice Lab courses meet during regularly scheduled course times which are listed in the course descriptions below. This means that students will be able to get to 4:00pm obligations and work out schedules for on-campus jobs.

Application Deadline: Wednesday October 28 2026

You can find a description of the Justice Lab courses below. If you are accepted to the Lab we will register you for the classes and you will not need to go through the normal Registration process. You can find the course schedule here. If you are interested in participating in this Lab but cannot commit to all four courses please go ahead and apply and we will be in touch to discuss your situation. If you have questions about the Lab please email us at or if your question pertains to a specific course within the lab you can reach out to the faculty member for that course.

ANTHR-259 Digital Technology and Social Transformation: Examines some of the ways in which digital technologies have been imagined to be important to social change transformation or innovation. Proponents of the use of digital technologies toward social change have focused on their speed connectivity and capacity. The course will introduce some of these arguments will review some critiques of these arguments and will suggest via ethnographic cases that digital technologies like all sociocultural forms should be studied with careful attention to contextual concerns. Particular emphasis on technology inequality and the education system. This course has an experiential learning component. Fridays 1:00-4:00 PM Chaise LaDousa

CLASC-227W Race and Ethnicity in Ancient Greece and Rome: In this course we will examine social constructions of race and ethnicity as an aspect of identity in Ancient Greece and Rome. What evidence survives both textual and material and what challenges do we face in interpreting it How do conceptions of race differ by place and time through the Greco-Roman world What is the difference between race and ethnicity How have ancient ideas of race and racial hierarchies influenced later ones and how have modern ideas influenced our interpretations of the past T/Th 2:30-3:45 PM Amy Koenig and Anne Feltovich

ECON-166 Economic Theory and Evidence: An introduction to how economists develop and test theory with a special emphasis on theory explaining the causes and consequences of inequality. The basic concepts of probability and statistics are taught in addition to theories of the labor market inflation/unemployment tradeoffs impact of fiscal and monetary policy externalities public goods and international course features several lab experiences in which students conduct research on economic inequality. M/W 1:00-2:15 PM Ann Owen

PSYCH-267 Psychological Bias in the Justice System: How does group membership (e.g. sex race mental health status) shape ones experiences with the criminal justice system Adopting a chronological approach through an exemplar criminal case (e.g. arrest arraignment plea bargaining trial sentencing release) this course will use case law and empirical research to explore the laws continuing efforts - and shortcomings - in addressing and decreasing bias. This course has an experiential learning component. T/Th 1:00-2:15 PM Keelah Williams

Enrollment in the program is limited. Applications to the Justice Lab are open to all students.