The Salvatori Center studies topics in constitutional law, American political thought and development, political philosophy, and liberal democracy, as well as public policy as it relates to constitutional and philosophical questions. Harrison Fellowships provide funding for students to work on their own research under the supervision of a CMC faculty member. Harrison Fellows are expected to devote an average of 40 hours per semester over the course of the academic year to their research. The Harrison Fellowship is awarded to four students and is worth up to $2,000.

2022-2023 Harrison Fellows

Olivia Licata
CMC ’25 | Sophomore
Olivia is writing a piece tentatively titled “Secularism vs. Theocracy: The Goals of the American Left & Right.” She is currently a Public Policy and International Relations Dual Major, and loves to dance and hike.

Advisor: Dr. John Pitney, Roy P. Crocker Professor of Politics

Henry Fina
CMC ’25 | Sophomore
Henry’s tentative project is titled “The Supreme Court’s Legitimacy Crisis.” He is a Philosophy, Politics & Economics Major and enjoys playing lacrosse at CMC and researching constitutional law for
The Salvatori Center.

Advisor: Suzanne Obdrzalek, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy

Lucy Goldberg
CMC ’25 | Sophomore
Lucy’s project is tentatively titled “What Are You to a College? Examining Identity and the Priorities of Higher Education Through the Evolution of the Common Application.” She is currently majoring in Film Studies with a possible Classical Studies or History Dual Major.

Advisor: Dr. Susan McWilliams, Professor of Politics, Pomona College

Michael Gadinis
CMC ’24 | Junior
Michael’s project is titled “Confirmation Controversy: An Analysis of Recent Controversial Supreme Court Nominations.” As a Government Major, his passion is to attend Law School and continue advocating for sexual violence survivors through a legal lens.

Advisor: Ken Miller, J.D., Ph.D., Rose Professor of State and Local Government & Director of the Rose Institute

Porter Reyes
Pomona ’25 | Sophomore
Porter’s project is titled “988: Democratic, Federalist, and Constitutional Underpinnings.” He is majoring in Politics with a subfield specialization in American Politics.

Advisor: George Thomas, Ph.D., Burnet C. Wohlford Professor of American Political Institutions and Director of The Salvatori Center.

Maryum Khwaja
CMC ’24 | Junior
Maryum is working on a project tentatively titled
“The Supreme Court & Bodily Autonomy: It’s Not Just Abortion.” She is a passionate student of law majoring in Government through CMC’s Legal Studies.

Previous Harrison Fellows

2021-2022 Fellows

Rukmini Banerjee: Her project examines how the disharmony built into the Constitution affects how it combats institutionalized racism.

Simone Flournoy: Her project consists of interviews and research discussing the breakdown of women’s rights and civil liberties at the hands of populist and authoritarian leaders in Poland and Belarus

Eva Augst: Through the lens of Hannah Arendt’s legal theory, her project explores the implications of a Wall Street Journal investigation that found that 131 federal judges violated conflict of interest recusal laws in the past seven years. The project emphasizes the importance of judicial canons and natural justice principles like nemo iudex in causa sua in maintaining the courts’ authority and legitimacy.

2020-2021 Fellows

Olivia Fish
In “The Evolution of Originalism: How and Why a Third Era is Emerging,” Olivia analyzes the three distinct waves of originalism, asserting the emergence of a new, third era that takes a more progressive approach to this more conventionally conservative method of constitutional interpretation. This is accomplished through the lens of various Supreme Court Justices as well as constitutional scholars, with a focus on the opinion Justice Neil Gorsuch     delivered in Bostock v. Clayton County to emphasize the growing liberal approach to third era originalism.

Tara Mehra

Tara’s project broadly examines the virtues and feasibility of hate speech regulations. In particular, she uses Jeremy Waldron’s “The Harm in Hate Speech” to present an argument for novel hate speech regulation, but critiques this approach for its lacking consideration of the drafting of such laws– what is called “the drafting problem.” She further explores examples of the drafting problem domestically and abroad to highlight how it might be unlikely for a hate speech regulation to meet Waldron’s goals of dignity for all.

Madison Menard

Her project, “Principled Secularism or Politically Prejudiced?”, studied the constitutional justification for the French Burqa Ban. She also looked at the Burqa Ban’s influence on French secularism, islamophobia, and Covid-19 mask mandates.

Grace Hickey

Grace conducted research on the theory of global constitutionalism and compared case studies from China, Ecuador, and Bolivia to determine that certain qualities, like human rights protections, are universally useful for constitutions, but that some aspects of constitutions must be tailored to specific countries.

2018-2019 Fellows

Chenyu Li

“The Conflict Between Universal Jurisdiction and State Sovereignty: Its Implications for the International Justice System”

Julie Tran

Her project observed how constitutional interpretation has evolved due to changes in social norms, social movements, and contemporary debates regarding social equality, racial equity, and civil rights.

Paloma Palmer

She examined theories of nationalism, specifically one that addresses its both exclusive and inclusive nature, in order to better understand the role it should, or should not, play in a liberal democracy.

Romi Ferder

She looked at different legal protections of free speech, the focus would be on the United States as compared to Germany, particularly in respect to the latter’s restrictions on hate speech in the wake of the Holocaust

2017-2018 Fellows

Kyleigh Mann
CMC ’18
“Factors that contribute to American colleges disinviting speakers from coming to their campus.”

Elijah Etzioni
CMC ’18
“The way we study, think about, and (especially) teach and practice entrepreneurship and innovation in a free democratic society.”

Kimberly Tuttle
CMC ’19
“The rise of nationalism throughout Europe and its potential impact on the future development of human rights.”

Mohamad Batal
CMC ’18
“The Shifting Landscape of Israeli Constitutionalism.”

Andrew Ciacci
CMC ’20
“Constitutional Law: National Powers, which is ‘Which branch, if any, has the right to be the final arbiter of the U.S. Constitution?”

2016-2017 Fellows

Andrew Sheets
CMC ’17
“Francis Fukuyama’s Hegelian defense of liberal democracy.”

Margaux Arnston
CMC ‘18
“Criminal Justice Reform: A Comparative Analysis of German and American Systems.”

Mohamad Batal
CMC ‘18
“Trump, Populism, and Our Liberal Constitutional Order.”