A World-Class Research and Policy Institute
The Human Rights Institute is a research and policy institute in the heart of Silicon Valley. To ensure its lasting success and for those looking to invest in effective policy solutions and distinguish SJSU as a new center for human rights scholarship—anonymously or to leave a deliberate legacy—there are plenty of opportunities to give.
San Jose State University's Human Rights Institute, in partnership with UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center, has created the “Afghanistan Emergency Fund” on behalf of our campuses to respond to the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan and the urgent need to help journalists, lawyers, and other academics—especially women—flee the country. Our goal is to raise $100,000 quickly -- by Friday, August 27, 2021. If we reach $100,000, the UC Berkeley Vice Chancellor for Research Opportunity Fund has pledged to match it, dollar-for-dollar to enable emergency travel and placement in the Bay Area. Please make your gift today to support this crucial initiative. Our first priority is immediate support for a leading women’s rights activist and journalist with five small children. She and her family are at acute risk and desperately trying to escape Afghanistan. We are also working quickly to secure placement for a law school dean, and with Scholars at Risk, an international network organized to support academic freedom, to bring others to Berkeley. We are coordinating with contacts in the United States and Afghanistan, including university and U.S. government officials, the Scholars at Risk program, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and others who are responding to this crisis. We hope our universities will inspire other institutions to help the women, men, and children facing grave risks in Afghanistan to find refuge. Please make your gift today. Thank you for your consideration and support. If you have any questions, please contact hrc@berkeley.edu.
An annual report on the state of inequality and quality of life for San José and Silicon Valley residents. Its inspiration can be found in Professor Bill Quigley's Katrina Pain Index following the devastating 2005 storm. The SVPI measures are meant to reflect fundamental (IBHR) International Human Rights and to serve as one of many potential illustrations of Santa Clara County’s [SCC] performance as a “human rights county.”
SJSU Spring Research Colloquium on Human Rights and Social Change: Equity in the Age of COVID-19
The HRI and ISSSSC recently hosted San Jose State's first annual Research Colloquium for Human Rights and Social Change. The purpose of this conference was to engage scholars, students, and community organizations in conversations on research, reporting, and advocacy relating to human rights and social change. The event included a keynote speaker and concurrent thematic student-led presentation of research and an awards presentation for students, faculty, and community partners.
2021 Human Rights Lecture Series
Live Watch Party: Free Angela & All Political Prisoners
This event kick-offed Black History Month and the Lecture Series with a live watch party of the award winning documentary, Free Angela and All Political Prisoners by Shola Lynch (2012). The film details the early life of Dr. Angela Davis as a scholar, political figure, and temporary fugitive who would defend herself in an epic 1972 trial that became an international stage for revolutionary Black feminism. The live watch party featured a live Q&A with Dr. Bettina Aptheker, who appears in the film.
Teach-In Panel Discussion: Dr. Angela Davis and the Indispensability of Black Feminism and Socialism in 2021
This event featured a virtual teach-in panel discussion of Black Feminism and Socialism by internationally known scholars, Drs. Barbara Ransby, Bettina Aptheker, and Neferti X.M. Tadiar. Each guest presented a brief, but provocative talk before engaging directly with questions from the viewing audience.
Keynote Lecture with Dr. Angela Davis
The culminating event for the SJSU HRI Human Rights Lecture Series, featuring the 2021 keynote human rights lecture from Dr. Angela Davis (UC Santa Cruz, Distinguished Prof. Emerita). Following the lecture, Dr. Davis discusses how these ideas are shaping political struggles in our region and across the country.
The HRI faculty include award-winning authors, educators, and journalists who partner with one of the most diverse student bodies in the country and some of the most impressive organizations in the region to inform policy and practice according to international human rights law, standards, and scholarship.
In partnership with the SJSU Human Rights Minor Program, students gain access to a wealth of applied and scholarly experience in human rights law, philosophy, advocacy, policy design, and reporting.
A central goal of the SJSU HRI is to demonstrate the potential for critical scholarship and human rights frameworks to address the many challenges that confront our local and global communities. The HRI creates and engages policy at the local, state, and federal level, working with stakeholders and policy makers to craft effective policy solutions.
The SJSU HRI facilitates and supports groundbreaking scholarship that continues to shape the broader field of Human Rights. Beyond traditional publications, research is often conducted in partnership with students and community organizations to create, improve, and inform policy solutions to pressing social problems.
