Our Mission
The University Network for Human Rights facilitates supervised student engagement in the practice of human rights at colleges and universities in the United States and across the globe. The University Network partners with advocacy organizations and communities affected or threatened by abusive state, corporate, or private conduct to advance human rights at home and abroad; trains students in interdisciplinary human rights protection and advocacy; and collaborates with academics and human rights practitioners in other parts of the world to foster the creation of practical, interdisciplinary programs in human rights.
Our History
The University Network for Human Rights grew out of an informal collaboration between undergraduate students at Stanford University and its law school’s Human Rights Clinic, which was directed by James Cavallaro until 2019. At the time, although undergraduate curricula generally include a range of courses, certificates, internships, and even majors in human rights, there are virtually no supervised, structured opportunities for college students to engage critically in the practice of human rights.
Over the course of three academic years, undergrads participated in the training sessions of Stanford Law School’s Human Rights Clinic. In 2017, the Human Rights Clinic began incorporating undergraduates in its work on a volunteer basis — mostly through supervised desktop research.
In early 2018, the clinic developed a field research program as part of a larger project challenging environmental racism by multinational corporations in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley. In response to a call for participation, the clinic received an outpouring of interest from undergraduates seeking to spend their spring break working on the project.
The clinic ultimately selected fourteen students, provided them with specialized training, and then supervised their implementation of a household health survey over ten days in March 2018. Twelve more undergrads volunteered over the subsequent year to work on several projects in partnership with law students, the clinic instructors, and a range of grassroots organizations and community advocates.
As the year came to a close, James Cavallaro and Stanford Law School graduate Ruhan Nagra brought these efforts together to launch the University Network for Human Rights. The University Network is the formalization of an organic process that began at Stanford — a process driven by and designed for students often excluded from practical training in human rights advocacy.
Today, the University Network facilitates supervised, interdisciplinary engagement in human rights practice at universities across the country and beyond. University Network supervisors train undergraduate and graduate students in human rights fact-finding, documentation, and advocacy that centers communities directly affected by rights abuse.
