University’s human rights efforts now comprehensive program

When the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center was dedicated in 1995, the ceremony inaugurated a year-long series of events devoted to the theme of human rights.

Today, the University has a comprehensive human rights program, with a flourishing Human Rights Institute, and is becoming a nationally recognized center for research, teaching, and outreach.

Building the program
In 1999, the University signed a partnership with South Africa’s leading anti-apartheid organization, the African National Congress (ANC).

The partnership, under the leadership of history professor Amii Omara-Otunnu, included an agreement to deposit copies of ANC archival records at the Dodd Center.

The following year, the Marsha Lilien Gladstein Visiting Professor of Human Rights was established, bringing leading human rights scholars to the campus for one semester a year to teach and give public lectures.

And in 2001, an interdisciplinary human rights minor was created in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Also in 2001, the UNESCO Chair in Comparative Human Rights was established, with Omara-Otunnu as chair-holder.

Several years later, thanks to an endowment from Gary and Judi Gladstein, a permanent endowed Chair of Human Rights was created.

Richard A. Wilson, a social anthropologist, was appointed to the chair, and he established the Human Rights Institute.

“When I came to the University in 2003, the University had already laid the groundwork for building an interdisciplinary human rights program,” Wilson says.

“It has been a wonderful opportunity for me to help bring these projects and initiatives together.”

The Human Rights Institute, which annually hosts a major international human rights conference, coordinates the study of human rights at UConn, and promotes multidisciplinary research on human rights issues.

“When the Human Rights Institute was planned, we knew that in order for it to succeed, it had to be an integral part of the research, teaching, and outreach missions of the University,” says Veronica Makowsky, vice provost for undergraduate education, who was a member of the Gladstein Committee at the time Wilson was recruited.

“It has accomplished those goals through tenured and tenure-track faculty who focus on human rights in their research, teaching, and outreach. The conferences, speakers, symposia, and publications emanating from the Institute add luster to our reputation as a research extensive university.”

Establishing a minor
The University started offering human rights as a minor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in the fall of 2001.

About 80 students now minor in it, up from about 45 students last year, says Richard Hiskes, a professor of political science who directs the minor. He expects the number to continue growing.

“The students taking it are remarkable,” Hiskes says.

“They have a strong interest in human rights on all levels. They’re full of energy. A lot of them are very idealistic; many are pragmatic. They re-energize me.”

The minor, open to students in all schools and colleges, offers interdisciplinary instruction in theoretical, comparative, and historical perspectives on human rights through classroom courses, and practical experience in the human rights field through a supervised internship.

Students may intern with a human rights-related agency, group or organization.

Hiskes says faculty from a wide range of academic specialties have been “eager to help develop and teach courses in human rights.” There are about 30 courses offered as part of the human rights minor.

Courses are offered in history, anthropology, economics, philosophy, sociology, political science, English, allied health, Puerto Rican and Latino studies, and women’s studies. A labor rights concentration within the minor has recently been established.

Fifteen credits of course work are required.