2009 Summer Institute Introduces High School Students to Human Rights Study


The second annual Webster University Institute for Human Rights is history, but the human rights awareness generated by the June institute lives on.

2009 summer institute participants

Led by Andrea Miller, Ph.D., with the assistance of recent Webster graduate Angela Hagans, nine St. Louis area high school students devoted eight days to discussing human rights topics with guest speakers, going on field trips, and watching human rights-related films.

Director Andrea Miller listens to a student's comment during a discussion of corn in the American diet.

The institute director said students’ enthusiasm for the subject was heartfelt. “Many had a good working understanding of some current issues,” she added, “but the institute helped them reach a more critical level of analysis.”

Miller said the institute’s human rights activities led students to comment that their previous understanding of human rights
had been shaped by textbook bias.

“All nine of the students had or were taking AP history classes but had never discussed the human rights abuses of this century,” she said.

Institute participant Paula Vickers said the institute was a “shocking and positively overwhelming experience.”

“The institute shared information that I’d heard before but didn’t hold back on all the information,” Vickers said. “I was never aware of America’s negative involvement—or no action—with so many human rights violations.”

Jeremy Hubenschmidt said the institute heightened his human rights awareness.

Activist Bill Ramsey speaks to institute students.

“For example, after the institute I saw an article in the paper about the Doe Run Company violating people’s human rights,” he said. “Since we had seen their smelter down in Herculaneum (Mo.) during the institute, I read the whole article. Before the institute, I don’t think I would have done that.”

The College of Arts & Sciences’ 2009-10 Year of International Human Rights is focusing on the world’s right to food and water; thus, the summer institute examined some of the human rights issues in those areas. Attendees discussed the world hunger crisis, performed a water taste test, and investigated the overwhelming prevalence of corn products in the American diet.

“Students were asked to bring in their favorite packaged snack food,” Miller said. “Once gathered, we read the ingredients, and all nine reported ‘corn starch, corn syrup’ as the first ingredient.”

A student listens to genocide survivor Olive Mukabalisa's narrative.

Other institute subjects included regional human rights problems, human rights in Latin America, genocides and displaced persons, and wartime atrocities. The group listened intently as Webster student Olive Mukabalisa described her harrowing experiences in Rwanda’s civil war.

Besides visiting Herculaneum, Mo., a town near St. Louis that has been beleaguered by lead problems, participants visited an organic/local foods restaurant.

“Students couldn’t believe the variety of food they could eat that was made with fresh ingredients,” Miller said.

The institute director said she was amazed by this year’s students.

“I have no doubt that these future adult citizens will be global citizens as they continue to think and learn about human rights issues,” Miller said.