Fall 2026

The American Constitution: Rights and Civil Liberties

POLISCI 412 examines the historical development of American constitutional thinking on individual rights and civil liberties from the founding era to the present.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 5

Historical reviews of Howard Schweber: Exams are described as extremely difficult, expecting advanced constitutional law knowledge that causes significant stress. The course is considered challenging, though online formats with rewatchable lectures may mitigate some difficulty.

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing and (POLI SCI 104 or 184)

POLISCI 412

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Fall 2026

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews of Howard Schweber: Howard Schweber receives polarized reviews regarding his teaching style and demeanor. Some students find his lectures incoherent, arrogant, and condescending, while others praise his intelligence, engaging nature, and ability to challenge students. Exams are consistently described as difficult, requiring significant preparation and prior knowledge.

HOWARD SCHWEBER is recorded teaching in Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2019, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

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SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.

Meeting source records

No records available.

Student experience

the class

Historical reviews of Howard Schweber: Howard Schweber’s teaching style is polarizing, with reviews describing him as either arrogant and incoherent or highly engaging and challenging. Students report a wide range of experiences, from stress and confusion to deep intellectual reward.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 3.73 GPA, 88.0% A/AB (n=92 letter grades); Spring 2023: 3.79 GPA, 87.7% A/AB (n=81 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.91 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=64 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Howard Schweber: Exams are described as extremely difficult, expecting advanced constitutional law knowledge that causes significant stress. The course is considered challenging, though online formats with rewatchable lectures may mitigate some difficulty.

Historical reviews of Howard Schweber: Lectures are frequently criticized as unclear, incoherent, or impossible to follow, with some students finding the instructor condescending. Conversely, others find the lectures engaging and funny, noting that provided pre-written notes are helpful.

Topics

  • Freedoms guaranteed by the original Articles, the Bill of Rights, and the Civil War Amendments.
  • The role of federal courts, principles of federalism, and Congressional authority to protect rights.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Fall 2026.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

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Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

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Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "ad81d669e107f07588adc395840955790bf0e439e58eee67d8a12f5c5757a106",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}