The Law and Social Change minor is offered through Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts.
This minor introduces you to the world of law in the context of a critical and socially conscious New School liberal arts education. The key objective of the minor is to enable you to employ the law as an instrument of social change. You develop an understanding of how law and legal institutions exert power and control and how the law produces systemic forms of harm. At the same time, you deepen your understanding of the practice of law as a means of addressing and undoing harm and as a mode of democratic transformation.
The minor offers you opportunities to go beyond classroom education to engage with and learn from activist legal practices in New York City. Moving beyond the technical jargon typical of legal education, the minor is designed to demystify the law, making it relevant to your life experiences and to your other scholarly interests. The minor enables you to understand, use, and challenge the law as a critically engaged agent of democracy. Learn more about the Law and Social Change program.
This minor requires successful completion of at least 18 credits. Students will complete the required ULEC course and select four to five elective courses that fulfill requirements.
Course availability may vary from semester to semester. Some courses may be in development and offered at a later time.
| Subject Area |
Course Options |
Credits |
| Introduction to Law and Social Change (required) | ULEC 2862 Law and Social Change | 3 |
| Law or law-related courses | Choose from approved electives. See the course catalog for fall 2026 approved electives. | 15 |
| Total credits: 18 | ||
A student who has completed this graduate minor will:
The Law and Social Change minor is available to undergraduate degree students across The New School.
Students can retroactively apply successfully completed courses toward a minor upon declaring or applying. After a student successfully completes a minor's requirements, the minor will appear on the student's academic transcript at graduation.
Program Contact
For questions about this minor, please contact Sandipto Dasgupta, program director of Law and Social Change, at dasguptas@newschool.edu.
Pre-law Advising
Pre-law advising appointments with Alicia Meehan are available:
To schedule an appointment, please email meehana@newschool.edu.
General guidelines for declaring a minor are available here. Current students can declare or change a minor by logging in to my.newschool.edu, clicking on the Academics tab, and then clicking on the link to Major/Minor Declarations.
Contact your Student Success advisor to discuss how a minor will fit with your degree requirements.
Declare or change a minor on my.newschool.edu in the Academics tab.
The New School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.