"The Rivalry That Shaped America"

Alumnae College Seminar: April 11-13, 2003
Alumnae College: June 22-27, 2003
Faculty: view list >

Imagine the floor of the House of Representatives…bitterly divided. Following little-understood precedent, the delegates are faced with the challenge of ending a deadlocked tie between two presidential candidates - and they alone must choose a victor. Without a new president, America sits anxiously at a political impasse, with the inauguration just weeks away. Taking advantage of this crisis, European powers seize the opportunity to attack American ships and violently kidnap innocent American citizens abroad.

Shift the scene to New York City, where we find our first candidate: a direct product of the New York political machine, he is a devastatingly handsome socialite, and extremely wealthy. Backslapping and offering promises, making as many deals as possible, he tries to orchestrate enough support in Congress to win himself the presidency.

Shift once more to Richmond, Virginia, where we meet our second candidate: the former governor of Virginia, aloof, cold, and inscrutable even to his closest friends. Believing in his heart that he is the true champion of the election, he steadfastly refuses the help of political aides who desperately try to make covert deals in his favor. His candidacy for the White House was made certain by the political demise of his chief rival: an affluent Wall Street lawyer at the top of the financial world, forced from politics by a media campaign exposing his illicit sexual escapades and alleged financial chicanery - a media campaign the lawyer knew had been secretly crafted and financed by his cunning rival in Virginia. Embittered, the lawyer stands publicly neutral about the election.

But late one curious night, our disgraced Wall Street lawyer - now owner and editor of the New York Post - suddenly has a change of heart. He writes an editorial for his newspaper that calls on his supporters and congressional allies to vote, not for the wealthy socialite but for the aloof Southern patrician - the same man who ousted him from political life.

Back in Washington, D.C., the lawyer's strongest followers in Congress reluctantly obey his wishes. The votes are counted, and the Virginian is sworn into the presidency. But, the lawyer's actions do not come without a price. Within a short time after the editorial is published, he is shot in the stomach and left to die in a field in New Jersey by the wealthy socialite - the very man to whom the presidency was denied. Meanwhile, the new president, promising that America will be healed, deploys the Marine Corps and the Navy to destroy the Middle Eastern terrorists.

Welcome to the world of
Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and

THE RIVALRY THAT SHAPED AMERICA.

We invite you to continue your study of Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and other American founders when Sweet Briar sends this Alumnae College abroad. Professor Bragaw will host a special tour of France, "Paris: In the Footsteps of the Founding Fathers," May 19-27, 2004; participants of his on-campus programs will be given preferential reservations when registering for the tour abroad. Click here for more information on the Alumnae College Paris tour.

Faculty Chair

Dr. Stephen G. Bragaw, chair of the 2003 Alumnae Colleges, has taught at Sweet Briar College since 1994. He received a B.A. from Wesleyan University in 1988, an M.B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1990, an M.A. from the University of Virginia in 1992, and his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 1999. An Associate Professor of Government, he is also the Chair of Sweet Briar's Government Department and Director of the Law & Society Program, as well as Associate Director of the Center for Civic Renewal. In the year 2000, he was named by the student Academic Affairs Committee as a "Sweet Briar Top Ten Professor." Professor Bragaw lives in Crozet, Virginia with his wife, Wendy Neuman Bragaw SBC`86, and their three children.

Faculty Team

Dr. Eric S. Casey received a B.A. in Philosophy from Haverford College in 1989, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Classical Studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 and 1996, respectively. After just two years of being on the Sweet Briar faculty, in 2002 he organized a three-day International Academic Conference on campus titled "Secrecy, Histories, and Publics." Also in that year, he was nominated for Who's Who among American Teachers. An Assistant Professor of Classical Studies, his teaching and research interests lie in Greek and Latin poetry, Greek cultural history, and ancient philosophy - subjects on which he has given numerous papers and has been published. Professor Casey's current research explores ideas of death, commemoration, and funerary ritual in ancient Greece.

Dr. Cathy N. Gutierrez, a specialist in millennialism and the religions of North America, came to Sweet Briar in 1998. She received an A.B. from Vassar College in 1989, completed Field Study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1993, and was awarded her M.A. and Ph.D. from Syracuse University in 1993 and 1999, respectively. Sweet Briar's student body named Professor Gutierrez the recipient of the Connie Burwell White Excellence in Teaching Award in 2002. An Assistant Professor of Religion, she is also the Associate Director of the Sweet Briar College Honors Program. She is widely published on subjects ranging from travel literature to Spiritualism, and is currently completing a book on American spiritualism. She has given numerous papers in the United States and abroad.

Dr. Barbara A. Perry received a B.A. from the University of Louisville in 1978, an M.A. from the University of Oxford in 1985, and her Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 1986. Professor Perry teaches courses on American politics, with research interests in constitutional law and judicial process. Her most recent book is "The Supremes": Essays on the Current Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States (Peter Lang, 2001). She has also written The Priestly Tribe: The Supreme Court's Image in the American Mind (Praeger, 1999), as well as several other books and numerous articles. In 1994-95 she served as a Judicial Fellow in the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Chief Justice at the U.S. Supreme Court, where she won the Tom C. Clark Award.