The major in Law and Policy (LP) that we propose for Dickinson is similar to most of these programs in that LP requires a set of unique interdisciplinary courses and a number of electives.  However, the LP program is distinctive in its "change agent" orientation. The program not only introduces students to the interaction of law and the policy process as an important academic topic in its own right.  It also includes an experiential component (the required internship and the Gateway course) and promotes the development of skills inherent to the policy-making process (analytical thinking, policy writing, public presentation and advocacy, leadership, and team-work) so that those who complete the program are well prepared to become active citizen-leaders upon graduation. None of the other programs we have found take this approach, an approach we think of as distinctively Dickinson.

Note: Rankings from US News and World Report: America's Best Colleges 2004

School  (rank) Program	Statement of Intellectual Structure   Required courses
Dickinson  College (42) Law &  Policy	Structure: The Law and Policy (LP) major at Dickinson is designed to prepare students for active engagement with the world.  In addition to the critical observation skills that are rightly central to all good academic programs in the liberal arts, the LP program covers critical thinking and speaking skills, leadership, team work, policy writing skills, and an appreciation for the roles that law and policy actually play in professional and civic life.  The LP program is also significant as a response to several sections of the college's strategic plan, namely, it provides a useful education and creates a community of inquiry that is innovative, collaborative, and engages the world.  Perhaps most importantly, the curriculum is intended to prepare Dickinson students to take their places as citizen-leaders and effect positive change in the local, professional, and educational communities they join immediately after graduation.  Required courses: Foundations in Policy Studies; Policy and Leadership; Gateway to Professional Life; Law and Policy Senior Seminar
Amherst  College  (2) Law,  Juris- prudence, + Social  Thought	Structure: "The Department of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought places the study of law within the context of a liberal arts education. The department offers courses that treat law as an historically evolving and culturally specific enterprise in which moral argument, distinctive interpretive practices, and force are brought to bear on the organization of social life. These courses use legal material to explore conventions of reading, argument and proof, problems of justice and injustice, tensions between authority and community, and contests over social meanings and practices. Required courses: The Social Organization of Law; The Image of Law in Social and Political Thought
Cornell (13) Law & Society	Structure: "The Law and Society Program offers an interdisciplinary concentration for undergraduates who are interested in the law from the perspectives of the social sciences and the humanities: anthropology, comparative literature, economics, government, history, philosophy, psychology, science and technology studies, and sociology.” Required courses:  The Nature, Functions and Limits of Law; Psychology and Law
Oberlin  College  (24) Law & Society	Structure: "The Curricular Committee on Law and Society administers the Law and Society major and related public presentations by visiting scholars, jurists and lawyers. These recommended courses explore the philosophical, political, economic, historical, sociological, ethical, and religious issues that are central to understanding the role of law and legal institutions in society ... The major is not intended as the recommended or primary major for students choosing to pursue graduate studies in the law... Traditionally, students have become Law and Society majors or minors as an additional focus of study to a regular disciplinary major."  Required courses: None
Union  College  (37) Law and Public Policy	Structure: "An accelerated law program jointly offered by Union College and Albany Law School Through a cooperative program with Union College and Albany Law School, selected graduating high school students can complete B.A. and J.D. degree requirements in six years. Each year the Union College Admissions Committee, in consultation with the Dean of the Albany Law School, selects up to ten entering students for participation in the "Law and Public Policy" major. Students with promising records during their freshman year at Union will be allowed to petition to enter this program during their sophomore year. At the time of admission to the program, the Law and Public Policy major will be assured admission to Albany Law School after three years at the College, on the condition that the student has maintained a suitable grade point average and has comported himself or herself in a manner consistent with the legal profession. While the Law School Admission Test will be required, the outcome will not affect a student´s guaranteed admission." Required courses: None
U.C. Berkeley (21) Legal  Studies	Structure: "The Legal Studies Program aims to promote sustained reflection on such fundamental concepts and values as equality, freedom, privacy, justice and rights, through the study of legal ideas, the nature of legal reasoning, the character of legal institutions, and the functioning of the legal process. In this multi-disciplinary program, students read and discuss literature drawn from the humanities and social sciences, as well as the law. The courses... are taught by humanities and social science professors of the Law School. Legal Studies was not specifically designed to prepare students for law school, nor does it provide paralegal training. On the other hand, it does help students develop their ability to think clearly and to analyze arguments critically."  Required courses: None
U.C. Irvine (46) Criminology, Law and Society	Structure: "The Department of Criminology, Law and Society focuses, first, on the manifestations of criminal behavior and the methods for controlling that behavior, and second, on the relationships and interactions between social processes and legal systems. . . . .Subsequent course work provides understanding of the theoretical structures used to explain criminal behavior, the effects of crimes from the perspectives of victims, the operations of systems of justice and their underlying institutions, the goals of government regulation and the methods used to achieve those goals, and more advanced issues in the interactions of law and such fields as psychology, sociology and planning. . . . " Required courses: Introduction to Criminology, Law and Society
U.C. Santa  Barbara  (45) Law & Society	Structure: "The Law and Society program involves the study of law and legal systems as they relate to the larger societies of which they are a part. While the program is of special interest to students who plan careers in government service or law, many of the majors simply share a desire to understand the role of law in society. Required courses: Introduction to Law and Society; Ethics; Law in the Modern State; Sociology of Law
U. of Chicago  (14) Law, Letters and Society	Structure: "The program is concerned with law in civilian and customary legal systems, both historically and contemporaneously. The program is designed to develop analytical skills in students that will enable informed and critical examination of law broadly construed. The organizing premise of the program is that law is a tool of social organization and control, not simply an expression of will or aspiration, and that it is best understood by careful study of both rhetorical artifacts and empirical consequences of its application."  Required courses: Legal Reasoning
U. Wisconsin, Madison (32) Legal Studies	Structure: "The University of Wisconsin-Madison Legal Studies Program major provides a liberal education across traditional disciplines, focusing on legal process, the law, legal institutions, and how they operate in society. The courses expose students to the many facets of the law as a social phenomenon — its evolution, its function, and its effects. This major is not a pre-law program, since students will be exposed to a broad social science perspective which is unlike the professional program encountered in law school. It is, however, a suitable program for pre-law students and for those who plan to concentrate in law-related study to prepare for public service careers or graduate training."  Required courses: Gateway course & 3 other (unspecified) courses.