The Political Science Department offers a major in Law and Public Policy that allows students to combine law and public policy classes, with an emphasis on ethics. Many students are concerned about important challenges that face our society in the future such as climate change, availability of health care, budget deficits or the prevalence of terrorism. When courts, executives, government agencies or legislatures are involved in trying to address such social problems, we call what they do "public policy." Majors in Law and Public Policy will address policy issues by grappling with the following questions: What can we do? (What are the legal and constitutional constraints that shape policy options? What legal claims might be brought? What existing laws already impact this issue?) How should we do it? (How do we get this issue on the public agenda? What are the advantages and disadvantages of different policy responses? How might we formulate and implement effective public policies? How can we measure their effectiveness?) What should we do? (What tradeoffs in values are implicit in these legal and policy responses? How do I analyze the competing views of what is best for society? What incentives might our policy responses generate that would create moral hazards for either administrators or beneficiaries or both?)

Majors have the opportunity to participate in a number of organizations such as Pi Sigma Alpha and our local chapter of Upsilon Iota, that organizes, advertises, and participates in lecture series, discussion groups, attracting guest speakers, and a host of other activities. Other organizations include: College Republicans Young Democrats Pre-Law Club The Mercer International Affairs Organization (MIAO) Mercer International Mock Conference Association (MIMCA)