Human Rights minor
Program Description
Human rights have become the moral language of today in fields as disparate as philosophy, international politics and health care, as well as other service professions. This program provides students with both intellectual and practical opportunities to engage with human rights in preparation for encountering a wide variety of twenty-first century political issues, social problems, and employment opportunities.
The Human Rights curriculum is distinctively interdisciplinary, mirroring the world of human rights today. Completing the minor will equip students with key concepts and opportunities within this world, such as:
- The political, philosophical, and legal development of human rights concepts within academic scholarship and political practice.
- The role of human rights in international relations and law.
- The growth of human rights institutions, courts, tribunals, and the emergence of human rights law as a profession.
- The explosive growth of humanitarian organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) dedicated to human rights activism and practice.
- The incorporation of human rights concerns in the corporate world regarding job relocation, human resources, and international investment.
Our Program
Why Study Human Rights?
- Human Rights enables students to recognize and interpret the nature of and need for human rights to respond to moral violations such as genocide, slavery and trafficking, torture, denial of liberty, and world poverty.
- Encourages students to identify, compare, and appraise diverse cultural and theoretical representations of human rights as evidenced in scholarship, literature and the arts, legal decisions, historical events and narratives, and cross-cultural traditions and norms.
- Prepares students to design and critically assess multidisciplinary connections to human rights both across the university and within their own educational programs.
- Enables students to participate in human rights practice through high impact student learning experiences, such as a capstone project, service learning, internships, or study abroad opportunities.
- Required, core, and elective courses for the Human Rights minor double count in complement other academic programs at GVSU, including but not limited to Criminal Justice, History, Integrative Studies, Political Science, Sociology, Global Studies and Social Impact, and Philosophy.
- Knowledge of human rights can be instrumental in a variety of careers, including law, criminal justice, international relations, health professions, social services, non-profit organizations, government, human resources, and business.
What are students saying?
"Not only has human rights study assured me that I am on the right path, it has been a vital piece in helping me to explain to others why studying human rights is so important. This is an amazing gateway for me to put in my two cents and be able to center the conversation to the idea of rights."
- Sydney W.
"Through studying human rights...it's almost like I put on new glasses and can finally see the world for what it is. I have learned to understand things from all perspectives."
- Angela P.
"No one's beliefs or ideas should be set in stone. People need to constantly struggle with competing positions in order to truly discover their own beliefs. For me, human rights study did exactly this and, as a result, has made me a more empathetic and understanding individual."
- Taylor B.
Past Events
Day of Dignity
Last October, a group of GVSU students, led by our Human Rights program coordinator Brian Johnson, traveled to Chicago to volunteer at the second annual Day of Dignity. The event, organized by the Chicago Refugee Coalition, is designed to provide essential resources, support, and a sense of community to those in need, particularly refugees and new arrivals.
One of our students was interviewed in this WGN segment on the event! To learn more about this important organization, visit www.chicagorefugee.org/
To learn more about the Human Rights Minor, offered by the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, visit www.gvsu.edu/humanrights/