Many Bard Students are strongly imbued with a desire to help make their society more just and humane. The purpose of the social policy program is to introduce students to one important way in which they can act on this desire, namely through the analysis of social policy options — analysis of questions such as what social interventions have been proposed to deal with social ills, which interventions have worked and why have they worked? The program provides the student with a basic introduction to domestic (American)* social problems, the analysis of policy choices, and the actual experience with policy change — for example to improve schooling, police work, prisons, health care systems, social security, income inequality, job satisfaction and security, employment growth or support for the arts in society. The student will also be introduced to the techniques that policy analysts use in assessing social programs. A crucial component of the program is a research apprenticeship, in which the student will be involved in the actual analysis of one or more social programs under the guidance of faculty and other experienced policy anlalysts.