The Human Rights of College Students

Instructor(s): Sarita Cargas

Course Description

This is a brand new course to the university which focuses on your human rights!  That  is, the human rights of college students.  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights list 30 rights.This course will focus on those rights which are particularly germane to you.  We will study the rights to food and shelter, the right to education, free speech, and the right to be free from discrimination.  We will analyze why 1 in 3 college students have low food security and why over 40% are housing insecure at UNM.  This will entail discussion of the right to fair and equal education because students who suffer the most insecurities include racial/ethnic minorities (American Indians, Hispanic, and Black) as well as LGBTQ+ students.  How student debt figures into these social problems will also be examined.  We will also look at the right to free speech and how that is being curtailed on campuses throughout the country (perhaps by students themselves).  And finally, on our agenda will be an examination of the universities’ responsibility in responding to the maintenance of your human rights.  I rely on active learning in the course so we will engage in a variety of activities while in the classroom.  Lastly, we’ll engage in experiential learning because your final project will be to design an intervention to address a human rights problem at the university.   

Texts

The readings will be in a course reader including chapters from the books: Introduction to Human Rights; Food Insecurity on Campus; Food Bank Nation; Indebted; The Color of Law; Free Speech on Campus; and peer reviewed articles on homelessness and housing insecurity in higher education 

Requirements

Requirements include reading assignments each week, several short writing assignments, a short paper, and a project. 

About the Instructor(s): Sarita Cargas

I have been with the Honors College for over a decade and my primary teaching and research area is human rights.  I am leading a project on the food and housing insecurity in college students.  I love teaching inthe Honors College!  I have an undergraduate degree from St. John’s College and a doctorate from Oxford Univesity in the UK.