2020 Program Overview
Note: Below you will find the overview of our program pre-COVID. In May, we shifted the program to a completely virtual format. We will not be hosting a 2021 summer intensive due to COVID-19. We will begin accepting applications for our 2022 intensive in the fall.
About the Program: Our 8-week structured summer program consists of three parts. First, participants will work closely with University Network President James Cavallaro to learn about the growth and evolution of the human rights movement, challenges and approaches to human rights advocacy, and legal mechanisms governing the international human rights system. Other modules will be taught by world-renowned human rights educators and practitioners. To read more about the specific modules included in the summer 2020 program, please see our training curriculum page.
In the second portion of the program, students will develop key advocacy skills through an intensive simulation and practical training modules covering topics including fact-finding, documentation, videography, journalism, and media/communications strategies.
Finally, students will work with the University Network team to support our ongoing advocacy campaigns. Under the close supervision of University Network staff, small groups of students will work on domestic and/or international human rights projects in one or more of our seven issue areas. We expect that participants will continue working with us on their assigned project(s) throughout the 2020-2021 academic year.
Dates: June 8 2020 – July 31 2020 (8 weeks of full-time training and practical work). Students who require longer engagements for grant requirements (9 or 10 weeks) will be accommodated on a case-by-case basis.
Location: The University Network summer intensive will be held at our organization’s headquarters on the Wesleyan University campus in Middletown, CT.
Housing: Participants will be housed in the dormitories on the Wesleyan University campus. More information will be made available to accepted students in Spring 2020.
Cost/Funding: The University Network for Human Rights plans to cover all operating, housing, and boarding costs of our summer program. Students will be responsible for covering their travel costs to and from our program site. We are committed to working on a case-by-case basis to ensure that financial need does not hinder any student’s access to our program.
If you are accepted into our program and external funding sources (e.g. through your university or another third party) are available to you, we will work with you to secure funding to defray our program costs. Your participation in our program will not be contingent on receiving such funding, but we will ask you to apply and we will do everything we can to assist you during that process.
If you and/or your family are financially able and willing to defray program costs (e.g. by covering your own room and board), you are strongly encouraged to do so.