Reposted from Greenwich Time
MIDDLETOWN — The University Network for Human Rights and Wesleyan University have joined forces to create a pilot program in human rights advocacy for undergraduates.
The initiative, modeled on the law school human rights clinic model, will provide academic instruction, intensive training, and hands-on, supervised experience in human rights practice, according to a press release.
Students in the program will first study human rights advocacy with Professor James Cavallaro, president of the University Network. Cavallaro has 30 years of experience in human rights practice and teaching, including nearly two decades overseeing the human rights clinics at Harvard and Stanford law schools, the release said.
Eight students will participate in an intensive practical training session in human rights fact finding led by Cavallaro and University Network Executive Director Ruhan Nagra, a former clinical supervisor at Stanford Law School.
In early 2020, students selected from the pilot group will undertake supervised human rights fact finding and documentation in the United States. In the spring semester, these and other students will continue to work on concrete advocacy projects under the direction of Cavallaro, Nagra and staff of the University Network, according to the release.
“We are very excited to launch this program with the University Network for Human Rights,” Wesleyan president Michael Roth said in a prepared statement.
“Wesleyan students are deeply engaged in the world, and profoundly interested in social justice right here in Middletown, in this country, and globally. This pilot program will provide them with unique opportunities for project-based learning that makes a positive difference in the world,” he added.
Roth, who has written extensively on pragmatic liberal education, has underscored the need to prepare undergraduate students broadly and rigorously for constructive engagement in a complex and changing world, the release said.
“This program is consistent with the vision of learning promoted at Wesleyan — one that provides a wide range of educational experiences while encouraging students to bridge the gap between their studies and the public realm,” Roth added.
The University Network established its headquarters on campus at Wesleyan last month. While the organization is developing programs with a number of universities in the Northeast and in other countries, it chose Middletown to establish its main offices and launch this pilot program.
“At all levels, we found professors, staff, and students who support our institutional mission — to provide training and opportunities for students from a range of disciplines to promote social justice through human rights advocacy,” Cavallaro said in the statement. “We felt at home here as in no other college or university.”
The University Network issued three major reports this year, all of which employ the supervised student engagement model recently launched at Wesleyan.
In September, the University Network released Waiting for the Flood, a report on the human rights impacts of India’s Sardar Sarovar Dam on Adivasi (indigenous tribal) communities. The report and accompanying video were based on weeks of supervised student visits to dam-affected areas and in-depth interviews with Adivasis.
In July, the University Network released a groundbreaking new report on cancer and illness in a predominantly black community living near a chemical plant in “Cancer Alley,” Louisiana. The report contains the results of a household health survey conducted by trained and supervised undergraduate students. It was issued along with an accompanying video and website featuring the stories of more than 20 area residents in their own words.
In March, the University Network and Yemeni human rights organization Mwatana released Day of Judgment, a report documenting the role of U.S. and European weapons in Saudi/UAE-led Coalition attacks on civilians in Yemen.