Founded in 1919 as a course on War and Peace Issues, the central purpose of Contemporary Civilization is to introduce students enrolled in Columbia College to a range of issues concerning the kinds of communities – political, social, moral, and religious – that human beings construct for themselves and the values that inform and define such communities; the course is intended to prepare students to become active and informed citizens. Contemporary Civilization is a controversial class, not only because of its subject matter and the story it presumes to tell about world history, but also because for many Columbia undergraduates the course is mandatory.

Focusing on and grappling with the ideas presented and discussed in this course, students enrolled in CC the following questions: Can we reform CC?Does it even need to be reformed in the first place?