Nov 02, 2024  
2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog

Social Justice, B.A.


Return to {$returnto_text} Return to: Programs of Study (A-Z)

Minimum number of credits required to graduate:  124

Minimum cumulative GPA required for the major:  2.5

Minimum number of credits to complete the major:  36

 

School: School of Arts and Sciences

Department of Humanities  

Learn more about the major

 

The Social Justice major provides students with the opportunity to turn their passion for social change, human rights, and a more just world into a fulfilling career. Students will gain extensive theoretical, analytical, and experiential knowledge in the field. This interdisciplinary program has been designed to prepare students for the demands of a world in which our awareness of injustice and our responsibility to address social issues has grown nationally and across the globe. It combines a strong understanding of ideas of social justice with  practical application. Given that social justice work connects with different fields, skills, and knowledge areas, students take courses across different departments and programs. Students also complete a required internship in a community-based organization or non-governmental organization. Our majors have done internships relating to law, food security, education, accessibility, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Students can tailor their degree to their interests, choosing from a range of subject areas to concentrate on such as global justice and human rights, law and justice, immigration justice, health justice, food justice, and racial justice, to name a few.  Each student will develop a concentration with their faculty adviser. Sample concentrations include:

  • Global Justice and Human Rights
  • Law and Justice
  • Advocacy and Social Change
  • Immigration Justice
  • Food Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Racial Justice
  • Gender Equality

Because of its interdisciplinary focus, the major in Social Justice prepares students for rewarding work in a variety of fields. Career opportunities include employment in law, policy, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, education, research institutes, consulting firms, corporations, social work, media, community-based organizations, human rights organizations, and more. Students are also encouraged to participate in the annual Social Justice Month, an initiative that brings renowned speakers to campus and aims to raise awareness of contemporary social justice issues, such as gender equality, racism, discrimination, immigration justice, and food security. 

Because of its interdisciplinary focus, the major in Social Justice prepares students for rewarding work in a variety of fields such as law, policy, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, education, research institutes, consulting firms, corporations, social work, media, community-based organizations, human rights organizations, and more. In the Social Justice major, students will learn to:

  • Demonstrate a critical understanding of how the practices of marginalization and domination give rise to social injustice and the social and cultural responses to them.

  • Demonstrate a critical understanding of human rights (including civil, political, social-cultural, and economic rights) and other theories of social justice.

  • Apply the principles listed above to real-life situations.

Major Requirements


This B.A. in Social Justice requires completing a minimum of nine courses (36 credits), as specified below, including an internship.

Students are required to engage and actively participate in events organized by the program, such as field trips, Social Justice events, documentary viewings, and lectures.

Core Course Requirements


Complete the following two required courses and a required internship experience:

Required Electives


Students must select seven courses from those approved for the Social Justice major, with at least one course from each of the following four areas (approved courses are listed below):

Global Justice
Ethics and Theory
Legal, Political or Economic Perspectives
Historical or Cultural Perspectives

A minimum of two of these seven courses must be at the 3000 level or above. Only one non-Social Justice (SOJ) course can be taken at the 1000 level. 

A maximum of four of these seven courses may be taken in one department or program. No more than three courses can be counted towards another major or minor.

Legal, Political or Economic Perspectives on Social Justice


Choose at least one course from the following:

Historical or Cultural Perspectives on Social Justice


Choose at least one course from the following:

Concentrations in the Major in Social Justice


The Social Justice major also has four pre-approved concentration areas:

  • Advocacy and Social Change
  • Global Justice and Human Rights
  • Law and Justice
  • Social Justice and Religion

To declare a concentration area (self-designed or pre-approved), all students must complete the “Social Justice Concentration Declaration” form, which is available from the Program Director.

Students are encouraged to design, together with the director of the program or with selected advisors, a concentration area of their own that best represents their interests and selected field of work/study. Ideally, students declare this concentration before the end of the sophomore year so an adequate internship or Study Abroad experience can be selected and a course of studies may be laid out.

Student advising in the Social Justice Program will require close coordination and oversight, especially given the interdisciplinary curriculum. 

Return to {$returnto_text} Return to: Programs of Study (A-Z)