Major changes are coming to the current law & policy program at Dickinson in response to dwindling faculty and the similarities between law & policy and political science majors.
The law & policy department has historically been constituted of three full-time professors, who often teach in both the law & policy and the political science department, and two part-time faculty. By Fall 2025, zero full-time faculty will remain in the department. Toby Reiner, the current law & policy department chair and associate professor of political science says, “this obviously makes the law and policy major totally unviable. You can’t have a program that doesn’t have faculty for it.”
Reiner, and the department, believe that the old law & policy major can be improved, but that improvements will require the recruitment of new full-time faculty. The law & policy department has used the reduction in faculty as an opportunity to restructure the major. The department proposes a new title: law, justice, and society, to emphasize topics such as criminal justice and comparative law, while policy study will continue within the political science department.
The department plans to have three full-time professors hired by Fall 2025, each on a one-year contract.
Ben Lilly ’26, a law & policy and history double major, shared that an email was sent to all law & policy majors in February 2024 stating that a group of 14 faculty members were working on a new academic program focused on law. The message from David O’Connell, former associate professor of political science, specified it would be “[a program] that over the longer term would likely eventually replace law & policy.” Since that email, Lilly could not recall any communication about upcoming changes.
While the lack of communication was nerve-wracking, Lilly felt that a redesign of the law program would be beneficial. He said, “right now, what we have does feel very similar to political science… having a more law focused curriculum would be really good.” Clara Blackwell ’26, aneconomics and political science major, agreed that the law & policy and political science programs were too similar, and allowed a double major without the same rigor as other degrees.
A formal proposal for changes has been submitted to the Academic Programs and Standards Committee (APSC), comprised of faculty, staff and student representatives. Once APSC discusses the proposal, it will be brought to the monthly faculty meeting to be voted on, likely in the March or April meeting.
If the changes are passed, the law, justice and society major will begin in Fall 2025. All declared law & policy majors will be entitled to complete the original major. Any enrolled student will have the opportunity to choose between either major. The original law & policy major will likely stop admitting new students with the incoming class of 2029.
