Sequence on human rights to be offered in autumn

A new three-course interdisciplinary sequence on human rights will be offered beginning in autumn quarter 1997. The courses, covering topics from the evolution of international agreement to the philosophical foundations of human rights, will be taught by such distinguished faculty members as Alan Gewirth and James Bowman.

The sequence has been arranged by the Center for International Studies in response to an increase in student and faculty interest in efforts to solve human rights conflicts, said Jacqueline Bhabha, Associate Director of the center and Lecturer in the Law School.

"We want to provide a more general perspective on human rights," Bhabha said. "With the end of the Cold War, human rights issues are not so much a matter of conflicts between the East and the West, but rather between developed nations and developing nations.

"The divide becomes apparent, for instance, in the way the United States and China pursue their relationship," she added.

The human rights sequence will be available to advanced College students as well as to graduate students in the Humanities and Social Sciences and students in the professional schools.

The autumn-quarter course will be taught by Alan Gewirth, the Edward Carson Waller Distinguished Service Professor in Philosophy, and will introduce the philosophical foundations of human rights. The course will include lectures by Martha Nussbaum, the Ernst Freund Professor in the Law School, and Jean Elshtain, the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor in the Divinity School.

The winter-quarter course will be taught by Michael Geyer, Professor in History, and William Novak, Assistant Professor in History. The course will provide an historical overview of the institutional and legal formation of modern human rights, the evolution of international agreement and the development of forced migration.

The spring-quarter course, taught by Bhabha, along with James Bowman, Professor Emeritus in Pathology and Medicine, and Robert Kirschner, Clinical Associate in Pathology and Pediatrics, will examine contemporary legal, medical and ethic issues in human rights.