By Hank McIntire
Stockton Haws, Tocqueville Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Studies, Utah Valley
University.
Growing up in Santa Barbara, Calif., Stockton Haws was never very far from the beach. He surfed some but saw himself more as a boogie boarder and body surfer.
As for his college of choice early on, he was partial to UC–Santa Barbara and went to Gaucho soccer games as a teenager. But his older brothers headed inland to Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, where the waves might reach four inches high on a windy day at nearby Utah Lake.
Perhaps the pull of something new was greater for Stockton than the hold of the Pacific coast that the Beach Boys immortalized in “Surfin’ Safari,” “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” and “California Girls.” He found himself at UVU in 2022 and chose Political Science as his major.
His first year he took an American Government class from Dr. Verlan Lewis, an associate professor of Constitutional Studies. “Going to Dr. Lewis’s class made me think a lot of how the law touches every aspect of our lives, whether we acknowledge it or not,” Stockton recalled.
Lewis saw potential in Stockton and suggested he consider applying for a Tocqueville Fellowship in the Center for Constitutional Studies (CCS) and funded by the Civic Thought & Leadership Initiative (CTLI).
Recipients are known as Tocqueville Fellows and focus on civic-outreach projects through CTLI, research, and developing leadership skills and the civic virtues espoused by Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859), a French diplomat and philosopher who wrote Democracy in America, a two-volume treatise that explores why representative democracy seems to succeed in the United States.
“I like doing community outreach and seeing how power is organized in the government,” said Stockton. “I’m coming to understand the state and local levels better. It’s rewarding to help community members become more involved in that process in small and meaningful ways.”
Stockton has enjoyed his studies and his time at CCS. “Being a Tocqueville Fellow allows me to be around great professors with a lot of knowledge of political science. It has also helped me to understand where lawyers’ place is in our system of justice and see how they are helping the judge and the jury come to a reasonable conclusion,” he said.
“A couple of years ago I worked at a personal-injury law firm,” added Stockton. “I did research on medical files and drafted letters to be sent to insurance companies.”
His employment and his studies have sparked Stockton's interest in the work of attorneys in general and specifically those in criminal defense. “That’s where the rubber meets the road when it comes to dealing with the law and people’s lives,” he said. “You see where your rights end and where those of others begins. People deserve representation, and they need a good lawyer and a fair trial.”
In his spare time, Stockton enjoys playing board games and watching movies like the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series. He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Las Vegas and has become a fan of the Vegas Knights, a team in the National Hockey League.
For now, Stockton is learning all he can during his time at UVU so he can give back. “I’ve been blessed to grow up in this democracy and to see what our rights are and what we’re protected from,” he said. “It helps me understand the world around me. My eventual goal is to teach the rising generation. Regardless of your culture or race, our system represents something bigger, and I want to contribute all I can.”
