Program Overview
The Human Rights minor gives a firm grounding in the international human rights system and then allows students the flexibility to choose electives according to their specific interests. The minor can accompany any major.
Minors
Internships, Research Opportunities and More
The Source Project offers a two-course human rights sequence that enables first-year students to learn research methodologies drawn from social sciences and the humanities. In these courses, students look at the various ways scholars and human rights workers define research questions about human rights past and present and how research can be used to protect and promote human flourishing in difficult times.
Students design their own research projects, participate in ongoing research and learn how to communicate their findings. The program's courses count toward the human rights minor, as well as the global, humanities and social sciences general education requirements.
Coursework
Some courses to consider in your first year:
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HMRT 100 - Human Rights
What are human rights, where do they come from, and how do they operate in political and legal spheres today? Who has access to human rights? This course considers culturally diverse and universalist approaches to rights. It introduces students to the study of human rights across disciplines as well as to the work of practitioners and activists. Course materials include important contemporary human rights issues. Offered every spring semester. 4 credits.
Levels: Undergraduate
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HMRT 176 - Human Rights: Concepts&Methods
This course will introduce students to human rights as an interdisciplinary area of study and practice. We will examine human rights in historical, political, legal and cultural contexts, asking what human rights are, how they function, and what their limitations might be. The course also considers different methodologies for studying human rights and prepares students for further coursework, research opportunities, and hands-on engagement with human rights issues. The course will culminate in the design of a research project to be continued in the spring semester. Freshman only. Offered fall only. 4 credits.
Levels: Undergraduate
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HMRT 276 - Research in Human Rights
This research‐intensive course completes The Source Project in Human Rights. The course is open to students who have completed HARP 176: Human Rights Concepts and Methods. Under the
direction of faculty affiliated with the Human Rights Institute, students will participate in and contribute to ongoing human rights research projects, learn how to frame and pursue research questions, and gain experience in disseminating human rights research to diverse audiences. Prerequisite: HARP 176. 4 credits. Spring only.
Levels: Undergraduate
For more information,
visit the Human Rights website.
