College, Wharton to offer joint law minor

Beginning next fall, the School of Arts and Sciences and the Wharton School of Business will offer a new inter-school minor in Legal Studies and History. The minor -- which aims to expose students to multiple points of view about law and public policy -- consists of eight courses, four from Wharton and four from SAS. These include Legal Studies 101 and a full-year course called "History of American Law." The minor is in accordance with Wharton's academic priorities released last week in the Agenda for Excellence. Legal Studies Chairperson Richard Shell stressed that the minor is not to be considered a "pre-law program." It would better suit the interests of students who wish to pursue careers in government, journalism, business or international affairs, he said. Shell explained that many undergraduates headed for a career in law find it useful to take one or two legal studies coursed during their undergraduate studies, but the four-credit requirement for the minor is probably excessive as students will take similar courses in law school. And he emphasized that law schools are more interested in high grade point average and Law Scholastic Achievement Test (LSAT) scores than a pre-law background. The new minor will enable College students to take advantage of Wharton's Legal Studies Department, ranked the number one business law faculty in the country by US News and World Report in 1992 and 1995. History Chairperson Lynn Lees said she looks forward to working in conjunction with the Legal Studies Department to help undergraduates gain a sense of law's importance. "I see the program as part of a general interest in the University to build bridges," she said, explaining that the minor will provide an opportunity for students to take classes outside of their home school. And Provost Stanley Chodorow said interschool minors allow students to take advantage of all facets of the University. "The benefit of minors is that they allow students to gain knowledge and skills from the combination of the schools' strengths," Chodorow said. "They provide organized ways to do this, so that students can take the courses and can claim that they have fulfilled requirements set by the faculty," he added. Students greeted the new minor enthusiastically. College sophomore Nick Daniels said he expects the new minor to be very popular and beneficial to the University. And College freshman Jeff Simons noted that "its good to expand the legal studies program to enable College students to benefit from a more diverse education."