Florida State University has taken the exciting step of approving a new interdisciplinary major in Human Rights and Social Justice.
Beginning this fall, FSU undergraduates will pursue coursework in preparation for an ever-growing number of 21st century careers that require mastery of human rights norms and practices – careers in law, business, medicine, social work, film, and education.
A vital part of this new major is its interdisciplinary structure. Students will draw from over 50 courses throughout the university that feature human rights content. This includes offerings as diverse as Introduction to Human Rights Concepts (Philosophy, Religion, and Political Science); Human Rights & State Crime (Criminology); International Human Rights & Film (Film School); Literature of Human Rights (English and Modern Languages); International Social Work (Social Work School); and Human Rights & Sustainability (College of Entrepreneurship).
Importantly, the major will also include civil rights courses offered through our African American Studies Department and will operate in close partnership with FSU’s Civil Rights Institute.
In what will make this program unique in the nation, the FSU Human Rights major will be based in FSU’s Religion Department. This is a natural home for a program that seeks to instill in students a strong sense of ethics, a dedication to global justice, and an inclusive worldview.
The new major is also a testimony to the enduring vision of the late FSU President Sandy D’Alemberte, who 20 years ago established the FSU Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, inspired by his conviction that human rights should inform every student’s education and make them global citizens.
But perhaps most importantly, this new FSU major is meant to meet the pressing needs of a deeply divided nation and world.
The human rights movement is a far cry from a pollyannaish enterprise. It arose from the ashes of the Second World War and the Holocaust. It now comprises what many argue is the single best idea of recent centuries: that all persons are endowed with certain inalienable rights without regard to their color, nationality, religion, or economic status.
Human rights principles are based on the consensus of the world’s nations and have become the lingua franca of the international community. To no surprise, they draw strongly on the best of our U.S. tradition of political and constitutional rights.
The framework and language of human rights are a vital blueprint to the success of future generations of FSU students. Our graduates will live and work in an ever-more globalized world and economy. They will also have to contend with persistent challenges to human rights—be they brutal military incursions such as Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine or closer to home the illiberal violence of Americans themselves as witnessed in the events of January 6.
Human rights provide a neutral and consistent set of principles around which deeply divided societies can find common ground. They have provided a roadmap for countries that have suffered periods of acute human rights violations — whether South Africa, Chile, or Kosovo — to move forward and reclaim a better future.
The constantly evolving toolkit of human rights includes models of healing and restorative justice that our FSU students will study and pursue. By way of example, FSU law students in the course that I teach on International Human Rights Law explore what a truth commission process might offer the United States as it contends with its history of racial injustices and the legacy of slavery.
When asked where human rights begin, Eleonor Roosevelt famously responded “in small places close to home.” FSU will now be one of those places where human rights can be systematically studied and championed.
A practicing human rights attorney, Professor Terry Coonan is the founding executive director of the FSU Center for the Advancement of Human Rights.
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