Undergraduate Courses

This page provides an overview of our course offerings, to help students as they make decisions and plans for the academic year ahead. Please note that this schedule will be updated periodically and may be subject to change. Students are encouraged not only to revisit this page but also to confirm the course listings in the online Directory of Courses and Vergil, where fuller course descriptions and class meeting times will be posted.
  • Spring 2024 Courses Offered by ISHR    
  • HRTS UN3190 International Human Rights Law
  • HRTS UN3940 History of Human Rights
  • HRTS UN 3995 Human Rights Senior Seminar
  • HRTS UN 3996 Human Rights Thesis Seminar
  • HRTS GU4195 Topics in History, Memory, and Transitional Justice
  • HRTS GU4210 Equality, Identity, and Rights
  • HRTS GU4270 Social Media and Human Rights
  • HRTS GU4380 Advocacy for Socio-Economic Rights
  • HRTS GU4460 Climate Justice
  • HRTS GU4880 Human Rights in the United States
  • HRTS GU4915 Human Rights & Urban Public Space
  • HRTS GU4930 International Humanarian Law and Human Rights
  • HRTS GU4940 Human Rights and Education
  • HRTS GU4975 Borders, Surveillance, Rights
  •  
  • Courses listed as "pre-approved" under "Course Type" below may also 
  • be counted for the major or the concentration. Please submit all human rights
  • courses to ISHR for approval, prior to finalizing your schedule. 
 
Each semester, the program publishes a list of pre-approved courses that fulfill major or concentration requirements as well as a list of additional courses of potential interest. Courses that are not on the pre-approved list may also be approved for the degree if the student can demonstrate that he or she can complete substantial coursework specifically focusing on human rights in that course. We maintain this list as a courtesy to our students who seek interdisciplinary engagement.
Please note that, with the exception of certain HRTS courses, enrollment in a specific course is not guaranteed, nor is it required by ISHR to complete major/concentration requirements. It is determined solely at the discretion of the course instructor or the academic department offering the class. We advise you to identify backups, in order to ensure that you have a robust selection of courses that fulfill degree requirements. The following course list is subject to change upon receipt of additional course information. If you would like to suggest an addition or modification to this list, please email the relevant course information, including the syllabus if available, to uhrp@columbia.edu.
 

We try to keep this information as up-to-date as possible, but students should confirm course times and locations with the Directory of Classes  or the department offering the course.

Before each semester’s registration period, students should submit major or concentration worksheet to uhrp@columbia.edu in order to confirm that courses of interest will fulfill remaining degree requirements.

For additional information on requirements and course advising, please see the major and concentration requirements pages.

 

Major - Pre-approved distributional courses

In order to fulfill the distributional requirement of the major, students must take one course in three of these four categories: Politics and History; Culture and Representation; Political Theory and Philosophy; and Social and Economic Processes. Please see the major requirements for additional information about this program.
 
The following courses fulfill the distributional requirement of the major. Students wishing to take courses not on this list should refer to course advising procedure mentioned above.
 

Concentration - Pre-approved courses

All pre-approved distributional courses for the major may be counted towards the concentration.

Additional courses

These are additional courses that may be of interest to human rights students. Courses on this list, as well as others listed on the Directory of Classes, may fulfill degree requirements if the student can demonstrate that they can complete substantial coursework specifically focusing on human rights. Students who would like to count one of these courses towards the degree must consult with the program in advance to seek approval, sharing a syllabus for review. You can navigate to these courses using the drop-down menus below.

 

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Dept Course # Format Title Instructor(s) Credits
AMST UN3931 SEM Topics in American Studies: Race, Poverty, American Criminal Justice Price, Cathleen 4.0
AMST UN3931 SEM Topics in American Studies: The Supreme Court in American History Rosenberg, Benjamin 4.0
ANTH UN3465 LEC Women, Gender, and Politics in Muslim World Malmstrom, Maria F 3.0
CSER UN3928 SEM Colonization/Decolonization Jacoby, Karl 4.0
CSER UN3940 SEM Comparative Study of Constitutional Challenges Affecting African, Latino, and Asian American Communities Ouyang, Elizabeth 4.0
CSER GU4325 SEM Abolition Medicine: Medical Racism Dasgupta, Sayantani T. 3.0
HIST UN3241 SEM Global Urban History of Housing Justice Chazkel, Amy 4.0
HRTS BC1025 LEC Human Rights in Theory and Practice Brown, Widney 3.0
HRTS BC3601 SEM International Law and UN in Practice Flaherty, Martin 4.0
HRTS BC3851 SEM Human Rights and Public Health: Advanced Seminar Brown, Widney 4.0
HRTS BC3935 SEM Power, Politics, and Procedure in US Immigration Court Frank-Vitale, Amelia 5.0
HRTS GU4195 SEM Topics in History, Memory, and Transitional Justice Adler, Nanci 3.0
HRTS GU4210 SEM Equality, Identity and Rights Ikawa, Daniela 3.0
HRTS GU4270 SEM Social Media and Human Rights Perlmutter, Ted 3.0
HRTS Gu4380 SEM Advocacy for Socio-Economic Rights Rosenthal, Mila 3.0
HRTS GU4460 SEM Climate Justice Dugard, Jackie 3.0
HRTS GU4880 SEM Human Rights in the United States Chia, Joy 3.0
HRTS GU4930 SEM Int'l Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Cronin, Bruce 4.0
HRTS GU4940 SEM Human Rights and Education Mitoma, Glenn 3.0
HRTS GU4975 SEM Borders, Surveillance, Rights Molavi, Shourideh 3.0
HRTS UN3190 SEM International Human Rights Law Devos, Christian 3.0
HRTS UN3934 SEM Seeking Sanctuary in New York City Frank-Vitale, Amelia 5.0
HRTS UN3940 LEC History of Human Rights Mitoma, Glenn 3.0
HRTS UN3996 SEM Human Rights Thesis Seminar Holland, Tracey 3.0
HRTS W3995 SEM Human Rights Senior Seminar Molavi, Shourideh 4.0
HRTS W4915 SEM Human Rights and Urban Public Space Chasin, Noah 3.0
POLS BC3254 LEC First Amendment Values Franzese, Paula 3.0
POLS UN1601 LEC International Politics Schlesinger, Jayme 4.0
POLS UN3921 SEM American Politics Seminar: The First Amendment Amdur, Robert L 4.0
SOCI BC3202 LEC Structural Determinants of Health Momplaisir, Maati 3.0
SOCI UN3937 SEM Sociology of Human Rights McGunnigle-Gonzales, Rosemary 4.0
SOCI UN3960 SEM Problems of Law and Society - Law, Science & Society Cole, Jonathan 4.0
SUMA K5888 LEC Geographies of Environmental Justice and Sustainability Williams, John 3.0
SUMA PS5040 LEC ESG-Aligned Corporate Governance Wasser, Jessica 3.0
WMST BC2150 LEC Intersectional Feminisms Solomon, Marisa 3.0
WMST UN3915 SEM Gender and Power in Transnational Perspective Ahsan, Sonia 4.0