The Major prepares students for the interdisciplinary and critical study of human rights, through coursework examining the social, legal, historical, political, cultural, environmental, technological, and economic dimensions of human rights theory, processes, and practices.
The Human Rights Major's interdisciplinary design and high degree of flexibility are defining features of the program. The program provides a rigorous academic grounding in the foundational theories, laws, institutions, and practices of human rights, and allows students to consider a range of disciplinary approaches, as well as develop a focus area for specialization. The Major appeals to students interested in justice, international law and institutions, non-governmental organizations and social movements.
Students complete 10 courses for a minimum of 31 academic credits. For detailed rules and requirements, consult the school bulletins, linked below.
Major Requirements & Thesis Track
Human Rights Majors complete all three core courses.
Introduction to Human Rights (HRTS UN3001)
International human rights is a powerful idea in our time, but also the focus of numerous controversies. It not only embodies a set of ideals but also functions as a political tool, which different forces try to bend to their own ends. The result of this struggle is a process of norm contestation and norm change that this course seeks to understand. The course looks at the laws and institutions that define human rights as an international regime, in the context of key intellectual controversies and political puzzles surrounding human rights theory and practice. It discusses how human rights norms change, and it analyzes some of the challenges of contemporary human rights advocacy.
International Human Rights Law (HRTS UN3190)
This course will introduce students to the international law of human rights, and give a basic orientation to fundamental issues and controversies. The course has two principal focal points: first, the "nuts and bolts" of how international law functions in the field of human rights, and second, the value and limitations of legal approaches to a variety of human rights issues. Throughout the course, both theoretical and practical questions will be addressed, including who bears legal duties and who can assert legal claims, how these duties might be enforced, accountability and remedy for violations. Attention will be given to how international law is made, what types of assumptions underlie various legal mechanisms, and how the law works in various contexts.
Human Rights Senior Seminar (HRTS UN3995)
The senior seminar is a capstone course required for the human rights major. The seminar provides students the opportunity to discuss human rights from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and to explore various theoretical approaches and research methodologies. Students undertake individual research projects while collectively examining human rights through directed readings and discussion. **Students may apply to complete the full thesis sequence in lieu of this requirement (HRTS UN3994 + HRTS UN3996 as specified below, which entails a full year commitment).
Distributional Courses provide students with a breadth of understanding on different human rights issues and topics from different disciplinary perspectives.
Students take one course in three of these four categories (three courses), for a minimum of 9 credit points:
- Politics and History
- Culture and Representation
- Political Theory and Philosophy
- Social and Economic Processes
One distributional or specialization course must be a seminar.
Please see the undergraduate course list for the current list of courses that fulfill the distributional requirement of the major. Students may petition for one non-pre-approved course to be considered to fulfill this requirement.
Specialization Courses equip students with the tools of a specific discipline related to the study of human rights.
Students take four courses for a minimum of 12 credit points offered by a single department. Students must inform the human rights program of their intended specialization before taking courses to fulfill this requirement.
One distributional or specialization course must be a seminar.
Any other Major listed as an academic program in the CC or GS bulletin is approved for the specialization requirement. Courses listed that major fulfill the human rights specialization requirement. Exceptions include, language acquisition and studio courses which may not be taken to fulfill the specialization requirement.
Students are encouraged to take any core and/or methodology courses offered by their specialization program. Students are also encouraged to take specialization courses that focus on human rights issues. However, any four courses within the same program will fulfill this requirement. For example, if a student's specialization is Political Science, they can complete the specialization requirement by taking any four POLS courses.
Students may opt to complete a senior thesis in their final year of study. The Thesis Track provides an extensive research and writing experience in place of the Senior Seminar Core Course capstone requirement.
Students interested in writing a thesis must consult with the department and apply in the semester before their final year to be considered. Accepted students complete a two semester course sequence during their final year of study. In the fall, students take HRTS UN3994 Human Rights Senior Seminar: Research Methods, which introduces students to various research methods and guides them through the proposal development process. In the spring, students take HRTS UN3996 Human Rights Thesis Seminar, where students will present their work and participate in discussions, as well as meet individually with the course instructor. Applications due March 28. APPLY HERE.
Completion of a thesis of exceptional quality is required for departmental honors consideration. In addition, a student must satisfy all the requirements for the major and maintain a 3.6 GPA in both for the major and in their overall academic record. A thesis is required of all students who wish to be considered for honors, but does not guarantee honors. Students who graduate in October, February, or May of a given academic year are eligible for honors consideration in May. Normally no more than 10% of graduating majors receive departmental honors in a given academic year.
*All seminar courses must be taken for a letter grade.
Student Advising
Advising is available to all students enrolled in or considering the Major. Contact us to schedule an appointment.
Major Worksheet
To assist with planning and track progress, students should complete and update their major worksheet regularly.
Students pursuing the Major are encouraged to consult with the program during each semester's registration period in order to verify that selected courses fulfill degree requirements.
Academic Policies
Academic and administrative policies for all human rights majors are outlined below and are available on the human rights bulletins for Columbia College and General Studies.
All Core Courses (Introduction to Human Rights, International Human Rights Law, and Senior Seminar) must be taken for a letter grade.
No course with a grade of D or lower is credited towards the major.
One course can be taken for Pass/D/Fail (with the exceptions described above). The student must receive a grade of P for the course to count towards the requirements of the major. All other courses must be taken for a letter grade.
All seminar courses must be taken for a letter grade.
Human rights majors may transfer a maximum of three courses or nine Columbia-equivalent credits from other institutions. This includes study abroad credit.
- No more than one Advanced Placement course can be counted for the major.
- Transfer courses may not be used to fulfill Core Courses requirements.
- No more than one transfer course can count toward the Distributional requirement,
- Up to three transfer courses may be used to fulfill the Specialization requirement.
The application of transferred courses to the major must be approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies or the undergraduate adviser. Students wishing to count transfer courses toward the major should email [email protected] with their Transfer Credit Report, the syllabi of the courses they want to count toward departmental requirements, and a statement of how they want to apply the transfer credits to the requirements.
In accordance with the academic policies of their school, students pursuing another program of study (a major or a minor) may double‐count a maximum of two classes towards the Human Rights Major, provided that the classes are approved to fulfill a requirement for each program. Students should consult the academic policies of their school for specific information regarding the double-counting of courses taken to fulfill Global Core or other school requirements.