Let's Talk Human Rights

By Maggie Cadman '20

As a senior at the University of Dayton, students learn to value every moment they have left on campus. There is a unique atmosphere to Dayton as the upperclassmen have the opportunity to live in houses in the student neighborhood with their friends. In the last months of the semester, campus is filled with students on their porches, classes being held outside, and celebrations for the graduating class. As students we learned to value time spent growing amongst peers, working at on-campus jobs, cheering on the athletic teams, and valuable moments experienced at various activities throughout campus. I learned to take in every “last moment” on campus from the last first day of school to watching the last home basketball games. 

With the COVID-19 outbreak, the University sent students home in March for the remainder of the school year. My initial reactions were confusion, frustration, and a tremendous amount of sadness. It seemed as if overnight the lives of students, especially seniors, got turned upside down. Students spend four years of college working hard in and out of the classroom. The last months of students’ senior year are supposed to be spent celebrating the accomplishments they have made throughout that time. Along with these celebrations comes the opportunity to accept closure of this critical chapter of life. There is supposed to be time to say goodbye to an experience  that shapes who a student will be as he/she goes forth into the professional world. This year, we seniors did not have the opportunity to focus on the transition from college to establishing ourselves outside of the academic setting; we also grieve the loss of thanking professors and classmates for the time they each invested in our growth throughout these four years. 

The graduating Human Rights Studies (HRS) seniors are a small but passionate cohort of students. We have grown especially close this year through our capstone class; to not be able to say goodbye in person to my peers and incredible advisor Dr. Hudson was heartbreaking. This group has all helped each other understand more deeply what it means to go into the world with an HRS degree. Another part of not getting this closure, for me, meant not getting to say thank you to people who have treated me like family at the Human Rights Center. 

I started my student internship during my sophomore year through Dr. Hudson. Since, I have attended conferences where I have learned from global and local advocacy leaders, participated in the Malawi Research Practicum, grown professionally, and have learned what it truly means to look at the world through a human rights lens. I have spent three years of college working for the Center, which has helped in shaping my view for future work. I have learned skills throughout these three years that I would not have learned inside the classroom. These skills range from supporting in the organizational efforts to host scholars and practitioners at the biannual conference, to communications and website management, to community outreach within the Dayton community. My college career would not be the same without the opportunities I received through the Center. The Center is made up of individuals who are extremely passionate about the research and initiatives they conduct. They have opened doors for students of all majors through student internships, projects, such as the Malawi Research Practicum and Moral Courage Project, scholarships, and initiatives across campus. 

This period of uncertainty has made it easy to focus on my grievances and frustrations. However, after reflecting on the bigger picture, it is crucial to look beyond the small inconveniences the pandemic has brought into individuals’ lives and focus on the human rights issues at hand. The ability to look beyond my own experiences and perspective and to understand is in essence what my experience with human rights has taught me at UD. All around the world, individuals are suffering, some much greater than others. Some of the most vulnerable are suffering due to the lockdowns impacting their ability to have access to food. The virus also sheds light on the right to health being a human right. This human right is being threatened by individuals not having access to healthcare while hospitals are overwhelmed with patients. The pandemic presents a platform to step back and recognize the global nature of such human rights. The pandemic has taught us this first hand as every country has to do its part to protect their citizens in order to stop the spread. It has given people the opportunity to express global solidarity to help protect the lives of those being threatened by the virus. It is also important to see the ways the virus has brought communities of people together. Acts of solidarity are seen by following the stay at home orders, donating to COVID-19 support funds, to small acts of showing support to the front line workers. 

While it is difficult to come to terms with senior year being cut two months short, I know that universities around the world needed to shut down in order to protect the health and well being of both the professors, staff, and students. In this sense, it is clear that we as seniors at UD are not alone. While students and professors are now spread out all across the country, I feel that the pandemic has allowed us to navigate this period as one community. The UD community can still be felt through sheet signs created at homes across the country, to moving graduation for the senior class to a virtual platform. While it feels as though a lot of “lasts” were taken away, I have learned that these lasts are being acknowledged through a different platform for this years graduating class. 

Maggie Cadman is a Human Rights Studies and Political Science graduating senior who has worked as a student intern in the Human Rights Center. She participated in the 2018 Malawi Research Practicum.