The lecture course at the core of Democratic Vistas is a for-credit Yale College course that is open to the public. The lectures and associated discussions will be available on the internet two days after they take place. Presided over by the Dean of the Law School, Tony Kronman, and featuring fifteen members of Yale's faculty, drawn from eleven different schools or departments, the series addresses topics such as the character of democratic citizenship, the implications of science and technology, the impact on democracy of education and the market, the compatibility of democratic practices with the claims of religion and the family, and the barriers to achieving greater equality among citizens.

Dean Kronman notes that "the Tercentennial DeVane Lectures seek to promote the spirit of shared intellectual engagement, transcending the boundaries of disciplines and methods, that has always been a vital part of Yale. These lectures offer the wider world an opportunity to hear a number of Yale's leading scholars reflect on a subject that touches us all: the American experiment in democracy, which for 300 years has formed the background to Yale's grand adventure."

Lectures took place every Tuesday at 4 p.m., starting on January 9th. On Thursdays at 4, Dean Kronman moderated a discussion with the lecturer of the topic for the week and its relationship to the themes of the course as a whole.