In addition, the IOP hopes to draw new students with a student-led study group called Politics for Dummies, which is limited to Harvard first-year students and aimed at students who have little or no political background.

Dobbs said he believes the turnout at a study group open house on Thursday night shows that the changes are increasing student interest in the IOP.

"The tremendous turnout at our workshop is an indication that the changes are moving us in a positive direction," he said.

The study groups offered this year include The Paradox of the European Union; The War Room 2000: An Insider's Look at the 2000 Presidential Election; Building the Future in Latin America: Democracy's Promise?; The State of Health Care in America; God and Politics; Put Away: The Crisis of American Prisons; Terrorism: American Response to the Foreign Threat; The Ethics and Policy of Biotechnology; Persuasive Speaking for Leaders and Advocates and Politics for Dummies.

The study groups will begin the week of Oct. 10.