Social Justice College Courses Fall 2011

Select from the menu of courses using the Online Residential College Request Form.

RESC 098 14 CRN: 15815
Change the World
Prof. David Kristjanson-Gural, Economics

Fulfills the following requirements:
First-Year Course, Writing Level 1

We will explore the contributions of writers and activists who have inspired movements for social justice with the intention of developing and defending our own views of important social issues -views informed and perhaps inspired by these important thinkers.  We will critically assess these theories and the movements they have inspired to inform our own positions on issues related to social justice.

RESC 098 15 CRN: 15816
Gandhi: Man, Myth, Legacy
Prof. Karline McLain, Religion

Fulfills the following requirements:
First-Year Course, Writing Level 1

This course will examine Mahatma Gandhi's concept of justice and its impact within India and in the United States and around the world.  Together we will read and discuss some of Gandhi's autobiographical writings, will examine the debates that Gandhi engaged in about justice with eminent Indian political and religious leaders (including Jawaharlal Nehru, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Rabindranath Tagore, and B.R. Ambedkar), and will explore how Gandhi's teachings have been employed by such figures as Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King, Jr., The Dalai Lama, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu in their varied quests for social justice.  Throughout the semester we'll ask: What changes was Gandhi trying to achieve in his lifetime, and why?  What changes do we want to achieve in our lifetimes, and why?  Are any of Gandhi's teachings relevant in our society and in our own lives?  What impact can one person have upon the world?  Given Gandhi's insistence that education must go hand-in-hand with community action, this course also incorporates a service-learning component.  Service-learning is a credit-bearing educational experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility.