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OCTOBER 2000

CENTER TO FOCUS ON HUMAN RIGHTS

A bomb in Sierra Leone blows the arms off a child.
Soldiers in Kosovo take turns raping a woman.
Hooded intruders in La Paz abduct a newspaper publisher.

Meanwhile, a student at Florida State University sees the pain and decides to fight for human rights.
But what is the first step?

This fall, the answer to that question at FSU is in the making.

The Center for the Advancement of Human Rights has opened its doors at 426 Jefferson St. to make an unprecedented offer: Provide academic courses in human rights for Florida State students and involve faculty in human-rights research and publication.

And, going one step further, the Florida State human-rights program proposes to offer courses in a variety of disciplines, not only to students in fields such as law and medicine (those areas traditionally associated with human rights advocacy), but also to students majoring in non-traditional areas, such as film and criminology.

"This sets it apart from other human-rights centers," said Terry Coonan, the newly-hired director of the Center. "It's a compelling vision."

The minds behind the concept are those of FSU President Sandy D'Alemberte and a Florida Panhandle attorney who was seized by the idea and made a sizeable anonymous contribution to create it."He is a Florida State graduate who wants students trained to go out in the world as human-rights advocates," Coonan said.

During the last week of August, Coonan, a veteran human-rights advocate, paused from the steamy hot task of settling into the renovated center on Jefferson Street to offer some details to the proposals for the human-rights program.One of the goals of the FSU plan is to offer students courses that will introduce them to human-rights work and ways to become involved in it.

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Another goal is to combine the academic world at FSU with contacts in grassroots human-rights organizations throughout the world. Those organizations include both the local and international chapters of Amnesty International, as well as victims' groups in Latin America, Kosovo, and Rwanda.

The professors will communicate with other academics with an eye toward advocacy, Coonan said. On campus, some of that networking has begun. Currently FSU criminology faculty are working with international human rights groups focusing on domestic violence in Kazakhstan.

Other plans for the human-rights project include establishing an advisory board, which will recommend policies for developing the program.
In addition, the board will select a senior scholar who has an established record of academic research and publication in human rights.

Coonan also wants to bring on campus guest speakers renowned in the work of human rights to talk to the FSU community as well as others.

Overall the concept has its enthusiastic supporters.
"It's going to be a real plus for us," said Robert Bradley, director of FSU's Institute of Science and Public Affairs, which oversees the center. "We are excited for the university and the opportunities."

Those interested in contributing to the Florida State University Center for the Advancement of Human Rights may call 850.644.2007 for information.

- Dana Peck