Legal Studies Dual Major

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Major Requirements (dual major only)

Completion of the program requires six courses, distributed as follows:

Two required core courses
- GOVT 095 CM - Legal Studies: An Interdisciplinary Introduction to Law (normally taken first)
- GOVT 189 CM - Seminar in Legal Studies , or approved substitute (to be taken in the junior or senior year after the other requirements of the Program are substantially completed).
Four intermediate courses
These courses must be distributed so they cover at least three of the disciplines represented within the Legal Studies Program (see listing below .)

Senior Thesis in Legal Studies

The senior thesis is a general education requirement and the capstone experience to a student’s undergraduate education. Students must complete a senior thesis in at least one of their majors under supervision of a faculty reader who teaches within that major, unless granted a special exception. Legal studies majors are encouraged to complete a senior thesis in legal studies.

Students interested in doing a two-semester thesis project complete a one-half credit or full credit thesis research course in the first semester and the senior thesis in the second semester. The senior thesis and any thesis seminar or independent study courses may not be counted as courses in the major.

Learning Goals and Student Learning Outcomes for the Legal Studies Program

Learning Goals

The learning goals of the legal studies program are:

To illuminate law from a liberal arts perspective, with the ideas and methods from disciplines in the social sciences and humanities;
To equip our students to deal rationally and prudently with legal issues based on these disciplines;
To assist students to communicate effectively.

The Legal Studies Program achieves these goals by requiring all dual majors to take two required Government courses: GOVT 095 CM - Legal Studies: An Interdisciplinary Introduction to Law , and GOVT 189 CM - Seminar in Legal Studies , together with four intermediate courses from at least three of the following disciplines: economics, government; history, philosophy, and psychology.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students with a dual major in legal studies will be able to

Demonstrate an understanding of social science and humanities disciplines and their relevant literature to questions of law;
Demonstrate an ability to apply a variety of social science and humanities disciplines and their relevant literatures to questions of law;
Substantiate their arguments soberly and logically;
Inform their arguments with philosophical and constitutional principles, and with an in-depth knowledge of relevant political institutions and public policies;
Express themselves effectively in writing.

The Legal Studies faculty has agreed to assess their students every year. Assessment includes a careful assessment of law-related senior theses written by Legal Studies dual majors. To assure consistency and objectivity, faculty will assess senior theses using a rubric (on-line at the Legal Studies website) to determine students’ levels of understanding and mastery of these objectives.

General Education Requirements for Legal Studies Majors

Students with interdisciplinary majors requiring courses in the humanities and/or social sciences are required to take designated courses in six different fields of the humanities and social sciences for the general education requirements. Legal Studies majors must take courses in all four fields of the social sciences (economics, government, history, and psychology), and in two of the four fields in the humanities (literature, philosophy, religious studies, and literature in a foreign language). Legal studies majors with a dual or double major in the humanities will be required to take an additional course in the humanities. For further information, see “Academic Policies & Procedures .”