If you find yourself day-dreaming about human rights in your contracts lecture, you’ve come to the right place. The Center offers a variety of ways for students – yes, even first-years – to dive right into the human rights experience through experiential learning projects, our Student Advisory Board, human rights lectures and other creative opportunities to get involved. Our door is always open! The Center fosters an environment of dynamism and creativity, a place to bring nebulous ideas and turn them into tangible realities. Want to get involved? Here’s how:
BE AN ACTIVIST
Student Advisory Board
The Student Advisory Board (SAB) is a group of talented, creative students with a passion for human rights advocacy. SAB’ers are at the core of the Center’s dynamism and creativity, helping us plan key events and programs throughout the year, generating ideas and serving as Center ambassadors among WCL students. Plus, SAB members hone their tangible skills for effective advocacy and activism through monthly skills-building seminars that teach them how to write grant proposals, budget and liaise with the media. And members attend special SAB-only events and networking opportunities. SAB’ers commit to the Center for one year. Applications become available at the start of spring semester, so stay on the look-out.
BE A WRITER OR AN EDITOR
Human Rights Brief
The Human Rights Brief, a student-run publication of the Center, reports on developments in international human rights and humanitarian law and provides concise legal analysis of cutting edge human rights issues. The Brief is unique not only in its style but also in that it offers first-year students a wide array of opportunity, including serving as articles editors, staff writers and contributors. Established in 1994, the Brief maintains a strong commitment to supporting human rights practitioners and strengthening the community of human rights advocates around the world. Currently, the Brief reaches more than 6,000 subscribers in more than 90 countries. It is published three times a year and welcomes submissions from practitioners, students, and academics. To learn more, check it out at http://www.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief/.
SEE IT FOR YOURSELF
Experiential Learning Projects
Learning in a classroom is one thing, but it doesn’t give you the whole picture. Whether you know it or not, human rights are right here at home. The DC area offers invaluable opportunity to witness, explore and further understand a variety of complex, powerful human rights issues. In an effort to cultivate new perspectives for students on human rights at home, the Center sponsors a series of semester-long Experiential Learning Projects (ELP). ELPs take students from the classroom into the field to interact with the real people that live the issues we often discuss in the law school classroom. Our goal is to humanize the learning experience, complicate participants’ understanding of an issue and charge learning with transformative potential. Keep an eye out for applications in the fall semester by visiting the Center’s home page at the start of the year.
GET CREATIVE
Human Rights Film Series
Each year the Center collaborates with the AU Center for Social Media (CSM) on the Human Rights Film Series. The Series is another take on the human rights world. The Center and CSM screen four exceptional documentary films that exhibit excellence in filmmaking and explore a variety of human rights issues. The documentaries showcase the power of film to educate the public about human rights. Students can get involved by drafting background sheets about the films and the issues they explore. Interested? Check back with us in the fall for updated information on how to get involved.
BUILD YOUR RESUME
Professional Skills Seminars
Human rights is a multi-faceted field that requires attorneys to fend for themselves. That’s why the Center offers periodic workshops to teach you the hands-on practical skills you don’t necessarily learn in a classroom. In the past, the Center has brought in experts in grant writing and public speaking, all essential tools for a successful career in human rights. Check our home page often for upcoming workshops and seminars.
Dean’s Fellowships
Each semester, the Center hires several Dean’s Fellows – student employees – to help support our various projects and events. With the Center’s fast pace and dynamic agenda, being a Dean’s Fellow with us offers great exposure to a wide array of human rights issues and an insider view of human rights work. To be eligible, students must be 2Ls, 3Ls, LLMs or part-time 1Ls. Dean’s fellows receive a monthly stipend for up to 20 hours a week. Keep your eyes open for opportunities on our webiste or on MyWCL at the end of each semester.
LEARN THE BASICS
Munching on Human Rights
If your first semester of law school is steering you away from your human rights aspirations, then grab the wheel and take back control. Join us for the Center’s “Munching on Human Rights” series. This introductory lunchtime program is designed to engage, re-engage and educate students like you – especially 1Ls – about basic issues in international human rights and humanitarian law. Through a series of lunchtime discussions during fall semester, “Munching” gives you the chance to liaise in a less formal setting with WCL’s world-renowned faculty and get a “taste” of international human rights law. Check back with the Center often for upcoming dates and times!
Nuts and Bolts of Doing Human Rights Work
The Nuts and Bolts of Doing Human Rights Work lunchtime series is designed to provide students a glimpse into the real-life experiences and challenges that face human rights practitioners out in the field. Panels feature students, faculty, and guest speakers who share their insights and stories.
Human Rights Defender Speaker Series
What drives human rights defenders to risk life and limb to stand up for what’s right? In this lunchtime series, human rights defenders from around the world discuss the work they do and why they do it, sharing their personal journeys and a glimpse into the world of human rights advocacy. For more information on upcoming events, visit our home page.
