Citizens' Assembly for Critical Thinking about the United States (CACTUS) was an Eastern Kentucky University Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) initiative. Though it was structured as a departmental offering (POL 301) it was designed and intended to impact the entire university community and recruited students from all majors and undergraduate levels. CACTUS met for the first time in Spring, 2008. Patterned after actual citizens assemblies in British Columbia and Ontario, Canada, it was intended to provide students with the opportunity and guidance to become more politically informed and engaged.

CACTUS differed from a typical simulation in that students played themselves as citizens rather than being assigned roles. Like its Canadian prototype, CACTUS was assigned, in the form of a "mandate," the responsibility of studying an issue of contemporary importance and deciding whether a policy change is needed and, if so, what specifically that change should be. The fifteen-week semester was divided into three parts: 1) a learning phase involving typical readings, lectures, small group discussions, guest speakers, and exams; 2) a public hearings phase in which members of the campus community and beyond were invited to share their opinions with the Assembly through public hearings and a public discussion board accessible through the CACTUS web page; 3) a deliberation phase in which students worked together in plenary sessions and small groups to build two models for change, choose between them, and then between the chosen model and the current law or policy. They collectively wrote a final report and their recommendation was submitted to a campus-wide e-mail referendum.

Seven CACTUS assemblies were held between 2008 and 2013. Topics included the electoral college, the drinking age, the death penalty, presidential war powers, presidential debates, marijuana laws, and guns. The instructors for the assemblies were political science professors Dr. Jane Rainey, Dr. Glenn Rainey, and Dr. Joe Gershtenson. Department of Government graduate assistants served as facilitators.