Notre Dame undergraduates interested in a deeper study of civil and human rights may now choose a 15-credit minor beginning fall 2022.
The new academic program comes at a time of heightened student interest in both domestic and international justice. Undergraduates from across the university will now to able to take advantage of a wealth of curricular offerings to enhance their major areas of study, while participating in an intellectual community engaged with key questions oriented toward the support of civil and human rights.
The Klau minor takes a distinct approach, emphasizing a unified study of domestic and international civil and human rights. Core courses will introduce students to the most pressing issues of civil and human rights today, in the United States and abroad. Elective courses then allow students to continue their studies by deepening their focus on a particular topic or expanding the breadth of their understanding of a fuller range of civil and human rights issues.
"It will build global citizens who meet the challenges of the current moment with a normative grounding in human dignity."
To develop the foundation necessary for a lifelong commitment to pursuing civil and human rights within their chosen professions, the minor includes a policy-and-practice based capstone project in which students will produce a substantial policy brief or white paper on the topic of their choosing.
Associate director Dory Mitros Durham explains her hopes for the program. "Our minor will allow undergraduates from across all colleges and schools to contextualize their work in their primary programs through a civil and human rights lens," she explains. "It will build global citizens who meet the challenges of the current moment with a normative grounding in human dignity."
Details about the minor in civil and human rights can be found here.