To introduce the new human rights minor at Grand Valley State University, the Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies will be hosting a kick-off event next week.

The event, on Feb. 25 from 4:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. in Kirkhof Center Room 2263, will address and provide facts about the new minor, which will become an official minor for the fall semester of this year.

Michael Goodhart, a professor in the political science department at the University of Pittsburgh, will be speaking to students on the topic of “Human Rights as Political Tools.”

“Establishing the minor is important because human rights is the new language of social justice in the world,” said political science professor Richard Hiskes.

Hiskes teaches classes on human rights and political theory at GVSU and is the former political science undergraduate director at the University of Connecticut, where he managed its human rights minor and established the biggest human rights major program in the world.

Hiskes emphasized that human rights is encompassed in areas such as philosophy, international politics and health care, and that the program at GVSU would then provide students the chance to look at human rights issues that occur in the world today.

“If you believe in human rights, you need to say at some point that there are issues and that there is a need to step in and rise up and say something,” he said.

A total of 19 credits are needed to fulfill the human rights minor. Classes range from an introduction to human rights course, a theory and practice of rights and a reflection on human rights.

Elective courses come from the anthropology department with classes such as perspectives on globalization and cross-cultural perspective on gender, to the women and gender studies department, like sexual orientation and the law.

Meghan Augsburger, an international relations major, said that introducing the human rights minor at GVSU is important for international relations majors and those who are interested in non-governmental organizations (NGO) activities and advocacy networks.

Augsburger studied abroad in Rwanda and said that her experience showed her why it is important that GVSU teaches the importance of human rights inside and outside of its classrooms.

“When I studied abroad in Rwanda with Global Youth Connect, I found my previous experience with human rights classes at GVSU very helpful,” she said. “I can only imagine how much more I would have understood before the trip and during the advocacy process if I had been able to add human rights as my minor.”

Hiskes said that he is happy that GVSU is embracing the idea to learn more about the history and the culture of humans and that he is excited to see what the university will do to make the world a better place to live in.

“The human rights minor redefines issues that are not considered issues and it will cover areas within history, politics and within social movements,” he said. “It will address the new language used and redefine what it means to bettering the world’s development.

A second kick-off event will be March 24, from 7 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. in Niemeyer’s Multipurpose Room.

For more information about the human rights minor, visit www.gvsu.edu/humanrights.