Von Studies
Led by Professor Helmudt Schmidt. Concerned mainly with law and order.
What we can tell you
Von Studies is the main course of study at O’Block Community College, and the one people ask about most. It is also the one we say least about.
The programme is concerned, mainly, with law and order: how rules come to exist, who keeps them, what happens when they are broken, and what a community remembers afterwards. Students read widely, argue often and are examined in ways they are not told about in advance.
Some things about Von Studies are only explained to students once they are enrolled. That is deliberate.
“The first lesson of Von Studies is that you will not be told the first lesson.” Professor Helmudt Schmidt, Programme Director
Programme structure
VON 101Order
Foundations. Where order comes from, and who benefits from it.
VON 201The Law, Considered
Reading the law closely, and reading what it leaves out.
VON 301Withheld until enrolment
Module description available to enrolled students only.
VON 401Final Examination
Format disclosed on arrival. Preparation is, in a sense, the whole programme.
See Von Studies in the course finder →
Who it is for
Students who are curious about how things are kept in order — and who are comfortable not being told everything at once. Von Studies pairs with any of the College’s twenty subject areas; it pairs especially well with Criminology, Political Science, Philosophy and Sociology.