VERMILLION, South Dakota (KCAU)– Taylor Swift fever has swept the nation and people can’t seem to “Shake It Off” and now a local university is incorporating the singer into the curriculum.

“I’m so excited! The minute I found out about it I was so nervous about even getting into the class,” said Beth Peterson, a second-year law student at the USD.

Dr. Sean Kammer, a professor at the University Of South Dakota came up with the idea of starting a new law class based on the music idol Taylor Swift after attending her eras tour.

“The initial idea was to focus her many sort of interactions with the legal system, some of which have become pretty famous,” said Dr. Kammer.

“With her first six studio albums she is re-recording so that she can have ownership of those, and just all the legal hurdles that she had to jump through to overcome that. I mean there’s stuff that comes in with defamation, she wrote a song called Dear John there were legal issues about that whether they could use his name in that,” said Peterson.  

The class not only helps many soon-to-be lawyers on how to handle a situation like Taylor Swift’s legal problems but also keeps students engaged and excited about learning law.

“Some of the debates about legal interpretation about these really thorny issues there can be barriers in terms of motivating students and motivating others really to delve into the material and learn,” said Kammer.

“It’s really easy to learn legal topics or any topic when it’s something you’re actually passionate about, so I’m really excited,” said Peterson.

The class had openings for 14 second and third-year law students for next semester, Dr. Kammer said luckily every student who wanted to be in the Taylor Swift class was able to.

“There were certainly students that were stressed about whether they’d get into it,” said Kammer.

“I think it’ll be so great that people that are in the class everybody’s just so positive and uplifting, just like all the swifties are, and I think it’ll just be a great learning opportunity,” said Peterson.

Dr. Kammer said he’s excited to use Taylor Swift, one of his favorite singers, as an example to teach students about law. Class begins January 2024, but Kammer hopes to keep the class on the roster for years to come.