Minor in Human Rights

Offered Prior to Fall 2020

Offered by Eleanor Roosevelt College

The purpose of the human rights minor is to encourage students to treat human rights as an intellectual and practical question. Students will engage openly with the history and the implementation of human rights, explore its origins and trajectory, the passions it arouses, and the range of its influences and effects. The development and multiple meanings of human rights, its institutional advocates and adversaries, the attendant moral dilemmas are all recognized today as topics of profound interest and objects of study. Many of the courses in the minor have a clear international content but a good portion has a U.S. or comparative approach. This program helps to prepare students for a career in research and teaching, working in NGOs that advocate for and monitor human rights compliance, government agencies, or law.

To receive a minor in Human Rights, a student must complete seven four-unit courses (twenty eight units): including two required courses (HMNR 100 and HMNR 101), and five courses from the list of approved courses (see below), at least two of which should be from the list of Core Courses. Since the human rights minor is an interdisciplinary program, students are allowed to take no more than three courses in any one department. All courses must be taken for letter grade.

Required Courses

HMNR 100: Human Rights I: Introduction to Human Rights and Global Justice
Explores where human rights come from and what they mean by integrating them into a history of modern society, from the Conquest of the Americas and the origins of the Enlightenment, to the Holocaust and the contemporary human rights regime.

HMNR 101: Human Rights II: Contemporary Issues
Interdisciplinary discussion that outlines the structure and functioning of the contemporary human rights regime, and then delves into the relationship between selected human rights protections—against genocide, torture, enslavement, political persecution, etc.—and their violation, from the early Cold War to the present.

Core Courses

COMM 114F Law, Communication, & Freedom of Expression (4)

COMM 163 Concepts of Freedom (4)

ETHN 152 Law and Civil Rights (4)

HITO 134 International Law-War Crimes & Genocide (4)

HIEU 157 Religion and Law in Modern European History (4)

HIUS 155B Religion & Law in American History (4)

LAWS 101 Contemporary Legal Issues (4)

PHIL 162 Contemporary Moral Issues (4)

PHIL 167 Contemporary Political Philosophy (4)

PHIL 168 Philosophy of Law (4)

POLI 104B Civil Liberties - Fundamental Rights (4)

POLI 104C Civil Liberties - The Rights of Criminals & Minorities (4)

POLI 110 B Sovereigns, Subjects, & the Modern State (4)

POLI 122 Politics of Human Rights (4)

POLI 140A International Law (4)

POLI 140D International Human Rights Law: Rights of Migrants (4)

SOCI 163 Migration and the Law (4)

Additional Courses

ANSC 135 Indigenous Peoples of Latin America (4)

ANSC 144 Immigrant and Refugee Health (4)

ANSC 155 Humanitarian Aid: What Is It Good For? (4)

COMM 108D Politics of Bodies: Disability (4)

COMM 128 Education and Global Citizenship (4)

HIUS 136 Citizenship and Civil Rights in the Twentieth Century (4)

HIEU 139 The Origins of Constitutions (4)

HIUS 152A A Constitutional History of the United States to 1865 (4)

HIUS 152B A Constitutional History of the United States since 1865 (4)

HIUS 155A Religion and Law in American History (4)

LTCS 125 Cultural Perspectives on Immigration and Citizenship (4)

LTCS 131 Topics in Queer Cultures/Queer Subcultures (4)

LTCS 173 Topics in Violence and Visual Concern, Violence Onscreen (4)

LTWL 151 Religion and Politics (4)

ETHN 103 Environmental Racism (4)

ETHN 109 Race and Social Movements (4)

POLI 104I Law and Politics—Courts and Political Controversy (4)

POLI 104M Law and Sex (4)

POLI 110EB American Political Thought from Civil War to Civil Rights (4)

POLI 110EC American Political Thought: Contemporary Debates (4)

POLI 140D International Human Rights Law: Migrant Populations (4)

POLI 142D Weapons of Mass Destruction (4)

POLI 145B Conflict and Cooperation in International Politics (4)

SOCI 106M Holocaust Diaries (4)

SOCI 125 Sociology of Immigration (4)

SOCI 138 Genetics and Society (4)

SOCI 140F Law and the Workplace (4)

SOCI 147 Organizations, Society, and Social Justice (4)

SOCI 169 Citizenship, Community, and Culture (4)

SOCI 175 Nationality and Citizenship (4)

SOCI 177 International Terrorism (4)

SOCI 178 The Holocaust (4)

SOCI 188i/POLI 124 The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (4)

SOCI 189G Chinese Society (4)

CGS 106 Gender Equality and the Law (4)

CGS 107 Gender and Reproductive Rights (4)

Declaring the Minor

This minor is open to all undergraduate UC San Diego students.

To declare the minor, students must use the Major/Minor Tool in Tritonlink and input the seven courses or 28 units they plan on using to complete the minor (see REQUIRED COURSES FOR THE MINOR above for details). Students may also use the HR Minor Requirements Worksheet to assist them in planning out their courses.

Facts About Minors:

Lower-division classes can overlap with your major, GE requirements, and your minor.
Two upper division courses may overlap between your major and minor (pending department approval).
Students cannot overlap upper-division courses for their minor and any other minor requirements.
Because AIP 197 and 199 courses are offered as Pass/No Pass, students must be careful not to exceed the 25% limit. Each student should check with their college to determine their Pass/No Pass eligibility.
Minors are considered optional and are not required for graduation. If you are unsure whether a minor fits into your graduation plan, please make an appointment with your college academic advisor.