The Center for Law, Society and Justice (CLSJ) is an interdisciplinary undergraduate academic unit that functions as a hub for the study of law in its broader social, theoretical, and institutional contexts. Its faculty and staff are committed to excellence in teaching and student mentorship, bringing expertise from diverse academic and applied fields to offer students a comprehensive understanding of how legal systems operate in theory and practice.
(CLSJ) houses three interdisciplinary undergraduate programs related to law, legal institutions, and the criminal legal system: the Legal Studies major, the Criminal Justice certificate, and the Law and Humanities certificate.
The Legal Studies major provides a liberal arts education across traditional disciplines, focusing on law, legal processes, legal institutions, and their operation in society. In addition to courses in Legal Studies, students can take a wide range of courses offered by other units, including Sociology, Psychology, Religious Studies, Political Science, Educational Policy, African American Studies, Philosophy, Gender and Women’s Studies, American Indian Studies, Chicanx/e & Latinx/e Studies, English, and History.
The Criminal Justice certificate provides a critical examination of the many facets of the criminal legal system, including law enforcement, courts, and corrections. Courses from several disciplines and an intensive fieldwork/internship/research experience offer students the opportunity to learn about and understand the dynamics of this field. An outstanding feature of this certificate is that students complete an internship, offered by more than a hundred agencies providing services relating to mental health, social justice, substance abuse disorders, youth initiatives, prevention programs, legal representation, policing, community corrections, and programs that focus on people who have been victimized.
The Law and Humanities certificate promotes the interdisciplinary study of law through the lens of the humanities. It brings together fields that focus on law and literature, legal history, philosophy, legal theory, law and cultural studies, law and religion, and law and media. Law and Humanities is about understanding the broader cultural, ethical, and historical contexts of law. In studying these areas, students develop transferable skills in critical reading, writing, and analysis. Such a cross-disciplinary dialogue among law and other fields opens the door to a broader and more complex understanding of law and justice.