Human Rights Program Planning
Requirements
To obtain a combined major in Human Rights, a student must complete requirements for the Human Rights program AND the major requirements for another department. The requirements for Human Rights are:
Introductory course (one required)
Introductory courses are intended to provide students with an overview of human rights as an idea and as a major social movement. These courses examine the breadth of the field, and enable students to evaluate human rights as a potential major.
- HRTS BC1025 Human Rights in Theory and Practice, or
- HRTS UN3001 Introduction to Human Rights
Core Courses (two required)
Core courses are intended to familiarize students with core Human Rights concepts and theories. In Core courses, the content of the course is entirely focused on Human Rights issues. Students must take at least two of the courses from the approved Core course list.
Please see the list of approved Core courses below
Related Courses (three required)
Related courses are intended to let students explore their own interests in Human Rights. It is advisable for students to use some of their Related courses to explore classes related to their planned capstone topic.
Courses are approved to count as Related if their content is related to Human Rights, even if the focus of the course is not entirely on Human Rights.
Please see the list of approved Related courses below
- Please note that any course on the list of approved Core courses may also be used as a Related course, but not vice versa. A least two of the five non-introductory courses must be from the Core list (to make sure that students become familiar with core Human Rights concepts and theories), but the other three courses could be either from the Core or from the Related list, depending upon the student’s interests.
- Please note note that up to three of the required human rights courses – Introductory, Core, or Related – may also satisfy requirements of the primary major, but no course may count for both the combined major and a major in a third department. Additionally, no class can count for the combined major and a minor.
For instance: if a student’s combined major is Political Science - Human Rights, then three courses that fulfill Human Rights requirements may also be counted towards Political Science requirements. But if a student is double majoring in Political Science - Human Rights and History, then no course that counts for either Political Science or Human Rights may also be counted for the History requirements.
Senior Thesis
Students must complete a senior thesis or project in the area of Human Rights. If possible, this should be written as part of the capstone or the senior thesis seminar of the primary major department. For instance: a Political Science - Human Rights major might write a senior capstone in the Political Science colloquia with a Human Rights focus, which would count as a combined capstone for both Political Science and Human Rights.
If it’s not possible to do a capstone with a Human Rights focus in the primary major department, then it may be possible to do a stand-alone Human Rights capstone in connection with an advanced Human Rights seminar or as an independent study. If you would like to do a stand-alone Human Rights capstone (as opposed to a combined capstone), then please contact Professor Vasko at tvasko@barnard.edu to discuss your options.
Completion of all of the above requirements must be approved by Professor Timothy Vasko, Director of the Human Rights Program.
Advising
Students should contact Professor Vasko to discuss their advising options. To ensure that courses meet the requirements for the major, students must confirm their selection with Professor Vasko before their final semester.
Core and Related Course Lists:
POLS UN3002 Human Rights and Immigration
HRTS BC3099 Independent Study
Please note: students who wish to register for HRTS BC3099 Independent Study must petition the Committee on Programs and Academic Standing (CPAS) using the form on Slate: https://slate.barnard.edu/register/indep_study.
POLS UN3173 Power, Rights, and Social Change: Achieving Justice
HRTS UN3190 International Human Rights Law
POLS BC3254 First Amendment Values
POLS UN3285 Freedom of Speech and Press
HRTS UN3360 Our Bodies and the Struggle to Define Personal Autonomy
POLS BC3410 Colloquium on Human Rights in a Diverse World
POLS BC3521 Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
HRTS BC3601 International Law and the United Nations in Practice
HIST BC3670 Seeking Asylum
RELI BC3671 Religion and Human Rights
HRTS BC3850 Human Rights and Public Health
HRTS BC3851 Human Rights and Public Health: Advanced Seminar
HRTS BC3855 Religion, Social Justice, and Human Rights
HRTS UN3900 Human Rights, Inequality, and Poverty
ANTH BC3911 The Social Contexts of U.S. Immigration Law and Policy
ANTH BC3913 Inequalities: Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality in U.S. Law and Society
HRTS BC3931 Seminar for Internships in Social Justice and Human Rights
ANTH BC3932 Climate Change, Global Migration, and Human Rights in the Anthropocene
HRTS UN3933 Mobilities: Migration and Disabilities
HRTS UN3934 Seeking Sanctuary in New York City
HRTS BC3935 Power, Politics, and Procedure in US Immigration Court
HRTS BC3936 Human Rights and Social Justice in NYC
SOCI UN3937 Sociology of Human Rights
HRTS UN3940 History of Human Rights
HRTS UN3960 Refugees, Rights, and Representation
HRTS UN3970 Introduction to Genocide Studies
HRTS GU4011 Indigenous Rights and Settler Colonialism in North America
HRTS GU4185 Human Rights and Global Economic Justice
HRTS GU4195 Topics in History, Memory and Transitional Justice
HRTS GU4210 Equality, Identity and Rights
HRTS GU4215 NGOs and the Human Rights Movement: Strategies, Successes and Challenges
HRTS GU4230 Refugees, Forced Migration, and Displacement
HRTS GU4260 Human Rights and Populism
HRTS GU4270 Social Media and Human Rights: Actors, Advocacy and Analytics
HRTS GU4300 Economic and Social Rights in Policy and Practice
HRTS GU4340 Human Rights Accountability & Remedies
HRTS GU4360 Menstruation, Gender, and Rights: Interdisciplinary Approaches
HRTS GU4380 Advocating and Campaigning for Social and Economic Rights
HRTS GU4400 Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Human Rights
HRTS GU4460 Climate Justice
CSER GU4484 Cultural Rights as Human Rights
HRTS GU4500 Socio-Economics Rights
CLEN GU4550 Narrative and Human Rights
HRTS GU4600 Human Rights in the Anthropocene
HRTS GU4650 Children's Rights Advocacy
HRTS GU4700 Ethical Dilemmas in Healthcare: A Human Rights Approach
HRTS GU4810 Religion and Human Rights
HRTS GU4850 Beyond Human Rights Critique
HRTS GU4880 Human Rights in the United States
HRTS GU4900 UN Human Rights Bodies: Impact – Reform – Advocacy
HRTS GU4910 Children's Rights, Armed Conflict, and Peacebuilding
HRTS GU4915 Human Rights and Urban Public Space
HRTS GU4930 International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
HRTS GU4940 Human Rights and Education
HRTS GU4950 Human Rights and Human Wrongs
HRTS GU4955 Narrative and Representation in Post-Conflict Societies
HRTS GU4965 Gender-Based Violence & Human Rights
HRTS GU4970 Refugees, Citizenship, Migration
HRTS GU4975 Borders, Surveillance, Rights
HRTS GU4995 Education in Conflict Zones
WMST BC1050 Women and Health
POLS UN1101 Political Theory I
SOCI UN1203 The Social Animal in the Digital Age
RELI BC2003 Religion and Political Thought
MDES UN2004 Conflicts: Race, Region, Religion
ECON BC2010 The Economics of Gender
ANTH UN2017 Mafias and Other Dangerous Affiliations
ECON BC2075 Logic and Limits of Economic Justice
PHIL UN2110 Philosophy and Feminism
WMST BC2140 Critical Approaches in Social and Cultural Theory
WMST BC2150 Intersectional Feminisms
ANTH UN2215 Culture, Society, and Catastrophe
HIST UN2222 Nature and Power: Environmental History of North America
HIST BC2321 Colonial Encounters
HIST BC2401 The Politics of Crime and Policing in the US
AHIS UN2425 Visual Activism
ANTH BC2427 Anthropology of Climate Change
SOCI UN2500 Mass Incarceration and Beyond
HIST UN2523 Health Inequality
ARCH UN2530 Life Beyond Emergency
HIST UN2533 US Lesbian & Gay History
HIST UN2671 The Cold War in Latin America
HIST BC2681 Women & Gender in Latin America
PSYC UN2690 Frontiers of Justice
HIST UN2719 History of the Modern Middle East
HIST BC2963 History of Globalization
HIST UN2972 Unsettling Science
ECON BC3011 Inequality and Poverty
JOUR S3019 War Reporting: The Coverage of Armed Conflicts
ECON BC3029 Empirical Development Economics
HIST UN3030 Immigration and Citizenship in American History
POLS BC3035 Feminist Political Thought
ECON BC3039 Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
EDUC BC3040 Migration, Globalization, and Education
EDUC BC3041 Grace Lee Boggs Learning Lab
MDES UN3042 Palestinian and Israeli Politics and Societies
EESC BC3043 Water, Sanitation, and Health
ECON BC3049 Economic Evaluation of Social Programs
ANTH UN3052 The City Jail
EDUC BC3055 Arts and Humanities in the City: Critical Literacy and Digital Storytelling
GRKM UN3070 Picturing Antigone
POLS UN3100 Justice
POLS BC3102 Colloquium on Race and Modern Political Thought
POLS UN3112 Gandhi, King, and the Politics of Nonviolence
POLS UN3122 Citizenship, Rights, and Immigration
POLS UN3124 Gender and Political Theory
WMST UN3125 Introduction to Sexuality Studies
MDES UN3131 Crisis and War in the Horn of Africa
WMST BC3131 Women and Science
WMST BC3132 Gendered Controversies: Women's Bodies and Global Conflicts
ENGL BC3214 Latinx and the ICE/Prison Industrial Complex
SOCI BC3214 Sociology of African American Life
SOCI BC3219 Race, Ethnicity & Society
AMST BC3220 Abortion in Context
SOCI UN3235 Social Movements
SOCI BC3236 Arab New York
POLS UN3245 Race and Ethnicity in American Politics
SOCI UN3246 Medical Sociology
SOCI BC3248 Race, Ethnicity and Education in the US
AFEN BC3253 Before 'Black Lives Matter'
POLS UN3255 Race and the US Carceral System
ENGL BC3281 Illegal Is Not A Noun: Disrupting Narratives of the Immigrant Experience
CSER UN3303 Whiteness, Sentiment, and Political Belonging
POLS BC3307 Colloquium on Racial Violence
WMST UN3312 Theorizing Activism
URBS UN3315 Metropolitics of Race & Place
RELI UN3323 Religion and Medicine in South Asia: Psychiatry & the Politics of Madness
MDES UN3331 Urban Space & Conflict in the Middle East
WMST UN3335 Gender and Wars: Perspectives from the Global South
POLS BC3370 Domestic Reality of American Foreign Policy
POLS UN3401 Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe
POLS BC3402 The Comparative Politics of Gender Inequality
POLS BC3407 Democracy's Guardrails
RELI UN3407 Muslims in Diaspora
POLS BC3411 Colloquium on Building Peace
RELI UN3415 Climate, Religion, and the Anthropocene
POLS BC3435 Law and Violence
HIST UN3437 Corporate Behavior and Public Health
WMST UN3450 Topics in Sexuality and Gender Law
ANTH UN3465 Women and Gender Politics in the Muslim World
URBS UN3480 From Homelessness to Foreclosure: NYC Geographies of Shelter and Home
CSER UN3490 Post 9/11 Immigration Policies
POLS BC3505 Colloquium on Making Democracy Work
WMST BC3514 Historical Approaches to Feminist Questions
HIST UN3518 Columbia University & Slavery
CSER UN3522 War, Gender & Migration
POLS UN3528 New and Old Forms of Political Protest
POLS BC3543 Non-State Governance in Settings of Crime and War
POLS UN3565 Drugs and Politics in the Americas
AFRS BC3585 Poor in America: The Experience and Impact of Financial Deprivation
AFRS BC3589 Black Sexual Politics in U.S. Popular Culture
POLS UN3604 War, Peace, and International Interventions in Africa
POLS BC3605 The Global Politics of Climate Change
PSYC UN3615 Children at Risk
POLS UN3619 Nationalism and Contemporary World Politics
POLS UN3623 Ending War & Building Peace
ANTH UN3703 Climate Change and Colonialism
SOCI UN3721 Social Justice: Connecting Academics to Action
PHIL UN3752 Philosophy of Law
RELI UN3771 Indigenous Enlightenment
PHIL UN3800 Philosophy, Justice, and Social Activism
POLS BC3810 Colloquium on Aid, Politics & Violence in Africa
HIST BC3870 Gender and Migration: A Global Perspective
ANTH UN3878 Neoliberal Urbanism and the Politics of Exclusion
RELI UN3881 Indigenous Peoples in International Law: The Doctrine of Discovery
SOCI BC3909 Ethnic Conflict and Unrest
SOCI UN3914 Seminar in Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility
SOCI UN3915 Stigma and Discrimination
WMST UN3915 Gender and Power in Global Perspective
SOCI BC3918 Gender and Inequality in Families
CSER UN3924 Latin American and Latina/o Social Movements
CSER UN3928 Colonization/Decolonization
HIST UN3928 Comparative Slavery and Abolition in the Atlantic World
SOCI BC3934 Global Activism
CSER UN3940 Comparative Study of Constitutional Challenges Affecting African, Latino, and Asian American Communities
AHIS BC3949 The Art of Witness: Memorials and Historical Trauma
SOCI UN3960 Law, Science, and Society
SOCI UN3974 Sociology of Schools, Teaching, and Learning
WMST GU4000 Genealogies of Feminism
PUBH GU4200 Environment, Health, and Justice: Concepts and Practice
AMST GU4300 Latina/o/x NY
CPLS GU4325 Abolition Medicine: Medical Racisms
CSER GU4340 Visionary Medicine: Racial Justice, Health and Speculative Fictions
MDES GU4349 Concentration Camps from Cuba to East Asia
MDES GU4357 War, Genocide, and Aftermath
POLS GU4409 Political Activism and Social Movements
ECON GU4438 Economics of Race in the U.S.
POLS GU4474 Politics, Justice and Human Rights in Southeast Asia
ECON GU4480 Gender and Applied Economics
WMST GU4506 Gender Justice
HIST GU4518 Research Seminar: Columbia and Slavery
PSYC GU4612 Frontiers of Justice
SOCI GU4801 Israel and the Palestinians
POLS GU4852 Insurgencies and Civil Wars
RELI GU4999 Global Indigenous Religious Histories
SIPA U6700 Inside the Situation Room
Forms
- If you would like to count a Barnard or Columbia course which is not already on the approved course lists above towards your Human Rights major requirements, then please submit the Human Rights Course Credit Request Form; please note that your request is not complete until we have received the syllabus for the course as well as the form. Please also note that the syllabus must show all of the course readings and assignments; the Program Director needs to know the details of what the course requires in order to make a decision.
However: please note that while requests to count courses not on the list as Related are often granted, requests to count courses not on the list as Core are seldom granted. This is because – as noted above – Core courses must be entirely focused on Human Rights, while Related courses need only be related to Human Rights. There are many classes that can count as Related, and we add to the list all the time! There’s much more flexibility in the Related courses than in the Core courses, so it’s best if you plan your Core courses soon after declaring your major
- If you would like to request that a study abroad or transfer credit course be counted towards your Human Rights major requirements, then please submit the Slate form. Please note that the Program Director will need to see the syllabus for the course in order to make a decision; please upload the syllabus when you submit the Slate form.
- All majors must submit the Human Rights Major Requirements Form during the semester before they graduate. You are also free to use this form to plan your courses and track your progress in the major. You may re-submit the form as often as you wish, but please make sure to submit the final version at least 60 days before your graduation date.
For course descriptions, please see the Barnard Course Catalogue.
For all offerings in a particular semester, please see the Columbia Directory of Classes.