UU Polity

The Unitarian Universalist Polity Immersion Class will be offered as a hybrid course, in-person, online and synchronously during the Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly, held June 18-22 in Baltimore Maryland. Students will discover the mechanics of governance by observing Unitarian Universalist polity in action. We will attend plenary sessions, business mini-assemblies, worship services, and meet as a class. Class sessions will allow time to process our observations, learn the history of congregational polity in contrast to other polity paradigms, and discern the theological and cultural contexts for UU polity. Class sessions will also include invited religious leaders for informal discussion. In class, we will evaluate how polity acts as it is translated from the churchto a national setting: informed by social justice, our polity can have global impact.

The 2025 General Assembly theme is “Meet the Moment” and will guide our interpretation of Unitarian Universalist polity rooted in justice, healing from White Supremacy Culture, and courage for a radical and inclusive future. General Assembly will be a laboratory for our lived faith: from bylaws to elections. Class reflections will help students develop strategies to translate beliefs into action, to become more effective religious leaders, as well as become resources for our congregations and communities. For Unitarian Universalists, democracy is in the details.

Students are responsible for their own General Assembly Registration. Volunteering for the UUA at General Assembly and/or serving as a delagate are completely compatible with membership in the course.

This course will be offered in hybrid modality with the option to attend in-person in Baltimore or synchronously online. There will be one synchronous meeting on Zoom before the General Assembly at 9:00 am Pacific/Noon Eastern on Wednesday, June 11.

This course will be offered with variable credit: 1.5 credits is the default amount, and students may arrange to register for 3.0 credits by emailing the Registrar at Registrar@sksm.edu and copying mrichardson@sksm.edu.

There will be an online, open-book, untimed final exam, which will open on Sunday, June 22 and close on Tuesday, June 24.

This course is for MDiv students and addresses Starr King School for the Ministry Thresholds 1 (Live in Religious Community and Interfaith Engagement) and 4 (History of Dissenting Traditions), and the UUA’s Ministerial Fellowship Committee’s (MFC) Competency 6 (Serves the Larger Unitarian Universalist Faith).

Maximum enrollment: 40; 20 in-person and 20 online. Auditors excluded.