Paper/Proposal Title
The University’s Role in Fulfilling the Right to Food and Shelter
Location
Room S2006, Curran Place; also presented remotely
Start Date
12-3-2021 4:00 PM
End Date
12-3-2021 5:30 PM
Keywords
Basic Needs Security, Higher Education
Abstract
The pandemic exacerbated food and housing insecurity for many Americans. Even before COVID-19, college students faced a higher prevalence, 1 in 3, of food insecurity than American households which had about 11%, for example. If basic needs, i.e. food and shelter, are human rights and hundreds of thousands of students do not have them securely what then is the university’s responsibility as a social institution in ensuring the right to food and shelter? Going to college increases the likelihood of being food and housing insecure which are highly correlated with health problems and weaker academic performance. Further, specific categories of students have a higher prevalence of insecurity and lower graduation rates. This presentation will begin by sharing the state of the research nationally as well as presenting a recent study done at the University of New Mexico during the pandemic. Using the work of Kathryn Sikkink it will then explore the duty of higher education in meeting fulfillment of the right to food and shelter.
Author/Speaker Biographical Statement(s)
Sarita Cargas, DPhil. is the co-chair of the University and College Consortium for Human Rights Education and Book Review Co-Editor for the Journal of Human Rights. She is an associate professor at the University of New Mexico and her primary interest is teaching human rights with a secondary interest in teaching the skill of critical thinking. She has created courses ranging from an Introduction to human rights to Solutions to Human Rights Problems. Her research and publications center on human rights education including, Human Rights Education: Forging an Academic Discipline (U of Penn Press, 2019) . Cargas earned her degrees at St. John’s College, Annapolis, MD (BA); Georgetown University (MA), and Oxford University (DPhil).
The University’s Role in Fulfilling the Right to Food and Shelter
Room S2006, Curran Place; also presented remotely
The pandemic exacerbated food and housing insecurity for many Americans. Even before COVID-19, college students faced a higher prevalence, 1 in 3, of food insecurity than American households which had about 11%, for example. If basic needs, i.e. food and shelter, are human rights and hundreds of thousands of students do not have them securely what then is the university’s responsibility as a social institution in ensuring the right to food and shelter? Going to college increases the likelihood of being food and housing insecure which are highly correlated with health problems and weaker academic performance. Further, specific categories of students have a higher prevalence of insecurity and lower graduation rates. This presentation will begin by sharing the state of the research nationally as well as presenting a recent study done at the University of New Mexico during the pandemic. Using the work of Kathryn Sikkink it will then explore the duty of higher education in meeting fulfillment of the right to food and shelter.
