Class meets August 30-October 18
The Bridging Disciplines Program in Public Policy has two goals: to introduce you to a substantive arena of policy, and to familiarize you with the policy-making process. Underlying these goals is an attitude toward the sources of change in a society, which is this: major transformations do not always begin with powerful leaders or large institutions; often, they begin with a scientific discovery or an act of protest. A journalist’s inquiry into the effects of agricultural chemicals, for example, gave rise to the environmental movement; and a black woman’s refusal to yield her bus seat to a white man galvanized the civil rights movement. In other words, this BDP provides insights into how change happens.