As an employee at the Human Rights Program, Whitney has assisted in successfully carrying out countless human rights events, which have served to raise awareness on many different critical human rights issues. Without a doubt, these events have inspired many students to become more involved in the promotion and protection of human rights--inspiration made possible through Whitney. Whitney's contribution to the human rights program has enhanced the program's ability to reach out to the student body and to provide these students with diverse opportunities in human rights advocacy. Acting as an extension of the program, Whitney has incorporated many new students into the human rights field and has served as a stellar example for these students to follow. According to the nomination letter submitted on her behalf, Whitney "has an unfailing aptitude for influencing lives in a positive way" and "never turns down an opportunity to help others, often dropping what she is doing in order to lend a hand or volunteer". We think Whitney is a most deserving recipient of the Sullivan Ballou Award, and are honored to announce her as such.

Katie Menke, recipient of the Inna Meiman Award, has devoted herself to human rights scholarship. Her summa thesis examines the work of a Salvadorian organization, Pro-Busqueda, to reunite families with children who were kidnapped during the country's civil war. In addition to her academic attention to issues of human rights and social justice, Katie has given freely and extensively of herself to advocating on behalf of human rights, particularly in relation to youth, homelessness and inequality. This past winter, Katie took the initiative to spread information about resources for the homeless in Minneapolis, including a program established by St. Stephen's Outreach that would provide free transportation to shelters for homeless individuals. The call center at St. Stephen's quickly became overloaded, rendering the transportation services inaccessible. Confronted with a situation in which she tried to help but was stymied for reasons out of her control, Katie thought creatively about what she could possibly do to improve the situation. In this case, that was buying and distributing hats, gloves, and socks to the homeless people she encountered and simply spending time with them throughout the day. Few people give of their time so readily.

During the fall/winter of 2010-11, Katie volunteered with the Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha (CTUL), working throughout the Twin Cities specifically on their retail cleaning campaign, which focused on bringing attention the poor working conditions of retail cleaners. The extraordinary part of this example is that, months later, Katie followed up on her experience volunteering with CTUL. She independently organized a group of students to engage in a flash mob at Cub and pass out information about the unethical working conditions faced by cleaners who worked for Cub. Katie's creativity, enthusiasm and compassion are hard to beat, and through these characteristics she serves as an inspiration to all those around her. According to her nomination letter, Katie "is incredibly generous with her time and energy, and fundamentally devoted to the spirit of human rights. Every day, Katie brightens the lives of those around her, doing whatever she can with a positive and joyful attitude." It is moving to see such a bright and heartfelt individual devoting herself to the service of others, and the Human Rights Program and Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies could not be more pleased to celebrate her achievements with her.

Both Whitney and Katie are highly deserving of this award and recognition for their work in the human rights field. We congratulate these two passionate activists, wishing them all the best as they continue their work of advancing human rights.

The Awards
The Inna Meiman Award is given in recognition of the friendship between Inna Meiman, a Soviet era Jewish refusenik who was repeatedly denied a visa to seek medical treatment, and Lisa Paul, a graduate of the University of Minnesota, who fought tirelessly on her behalf, including a 25-day hunger strike that galvanized a movement for Inna's freedom. The friendship between Paul and Meiman is memorialized in the book, Swimming in the Daylight: An American Student, a Soviet-Jewish Dissident, and the Gift of Hope.

The Sullivan Ballou Award is named after Major Sullivan Ballou, an Army soldier killed at the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. Ballou became the inspiration for this award because of the heartfelt commitment he expressed in a letter to his wife before the battle. The award carries on Ballou's spirit by honoring a student who acts from the heart and devotes heartfelt energy to those around them.

The celebration is hosted by the Human Rights Program in the Institute for Global Studies and the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota.

"This project is just the beginning of that journey for me," said Bell. "It is a journey of personal and professional exploration. It is a journey that I likely will spend my entire life pursuing. Not only do I want to bring greater awareness of this issue to the broader audience, I want, in the long run, to use the research, awareness, and stories I get to compile into a book-length collection of true stories of unheard heroes, the survivors of modern-day slavery."

Written by Whitney Taylor.

Written by Anna Meteyer.

In his talk, Mr. Basnet described both his past experiences during the conflict and his current work to bring true peace to Nepalese society. Following the atrocities of the civil war, a dominant atmosphere of impunity threatens Nepalese activists' efforts to bring justice and healing to the nation. Violence against women, disregard for press freedom and freedom of expression, and the absence of rule of law persist in the country, and human rights advocates continue to face severe danger. Despite these challenges, Mr. Basnet contains a persevering hope in his country and in humanity as a whole. His enduring love and devotion to humankind following his own first-hand experience of unfathomable cruelty is stunning and humbling. We are immensely grateful to Mr. Basnet for making the journey to Minnesota to share his heartbreaking story, his inspiring will to bring positive change, and his profound hope with us; his words certainly moved all of those who attended.

Mr. Basnet came to speak at the U of M with the help of Peace Brigades International (PBI), an organization that strives to create a symbolic, non-violent, non-partisan barrier between human rights activists and dangerous oppositional forces that threaten them with serious harm. Through their interaction with Mr. Basnet, PBI has worked tirelessly to keep him safe and to facilitate his efforts as an advocate.

Written by Anna Meteyer.

Written by Wren Bentley and Whitney Taylor.

Who is eligible?
• Must be a full-time undergraduate during the academic year for which you are applying.
• Students from ALL undergraduate majors are encouraged to apply.
• Everyone, from first-semester freshmen to seniors, is welcome to apply.

What are the desired qualifications?
• Commitment to the HRP mission to provide the University with opportunities related to human rights in the classroom, through research, and through direct actions, such as projects, internships, and fellowships.
• Prior organizing, advocacy, activism, and leadership skills.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Able to make time for weekly meetings and occasional events

Why get involved?
• Hone tangible skills for effective advocacy in the field of human rights.
• Engage and network with human rights faculty and staff within the Program and the broader University, as well as with fellow students with a keen interest in human rights.
• Contribute to the HRP through action, advocacy, and leadership.
• Space and support to think and act creatively in human rights activities at the University.

How do I apply?
• Submit a CV/resume AND a brief cover letter detailing why you would like to be a part of the SAB and the leadership qualities, skills and ideas you would bring to the board.
• Applications due on Friday, April 12, 2013 to Claire Leslie via email at hrp@umn.edu or via hard copy to 214 Social Sciences.

Questions?
• Contact Claire Leslie at hrp@umn.edu or 612.624.8543

Sullivan Ballou Award
The Sullivan Ballou Award is supported by the Sullivan Ballou Fund and is named after Major Sullivan Ballou, an Army soldier killed at the First Battle of Bull Run in the U.S. Civil War. The award honors Major Ballou's memory by recognizing a student who devotes heartfelt energy to promote human rights. The Sullivan Ballou Fund gives $1000 awards to celebrate and affirm people acting from the heart. They provide compassion, services, or advocacy to their local communities, the poor, homeless, children, victims of violence and mistreatment or the disabled. Some give of themselves to those around them through their art, their music, their words, or their presence.

Nomination Information
Eligibility
The awards are open to all full-time undergraduate students at the University of Minnesota.

Criteria
The student has demonstrated a personal commitment to the promotion and protection of international human rights through significant work on a human rights cause during their time as an undergraduate;

Through their efforts, the student has raised the visibility of a particular human rights issue among the University community or the broader public;

The student has made a positive difference in the life of others, and has given voice to those who might otherwise not be heard.

Nominations
Nominators should submit a letter of 750 words or less describing the human rights activities undertaken by the nominee during his or her time as a student at the University of Minnesota and a CV of the student being nominated;

Students may be nominated by faculty, staff or other students at the University of Minnesota.

Self nominations must be accompanied by a letter of recommendation from faculty, staff, and students who can attest to the achievements.

Address and Deadline

Letters should be submitted by email to the Human Rights Program, hrp@umn.edu, or delivered to the Human Rights

The nomination deadline is Friday, April 12, 2013 at 5:00 p.m.

Ceremony
The Sullivan Ballou and Inna Meiman Award winners will be recognized publically at an event on May 3, 2013.

In her research, Whitney pursued the causes of such negative opinion in Serbia, considering the role of the media, society's general lack of trust for information on the ICTY, and the quality of information being spread through human rights organizations and through the efforts of the tribunal itself. Whitney found that a lack of information on the ICTY was not the cause of negative perception in Serbian society, but proposed instead that several barriers existed that obstructed an accurate translation of court proceedings to the Serbian public. These barriers included the juridical logic behind sentences and the physical distance of the tribunal from the societies it hoped to affect. Whitney suggests that these obstacles were then exaggerated by beliefs entrenched in Serbian national identity and by already held political-historical perceptions, which amplified Serbians' negative feelings toward the legitimacy of the ICTY. A lively discussion followed the presentation, as many distinguished faculty in the human rights field offered insightful feedback and praise on Whitney's research, and posed thoughtful questions.

Written by Anna Meteyer.

Image source: Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

Brown spent 24 years working with the United States Air Force, and, in 2008 he was assigned to the Office of Secretary Defenses Personnel. Brown is a happily married man, whose wife also served in the US military. He said he had always been "not anti-gay," and when DADT first came out, he thought it was plausible and valid when it came to military and social science. But soon he realized that being "not anti-gay" was not enough. Brown remembers a turning point in his views on DADT, when he was stationed in Korea. A fellow colleague of his came to him one day and told him that he was gay, and that he did not want to continue working for the military anymore because of the pressures of DADT. His colleague asked to be discharged, and Brown granted him this, but was upset that the military had lost a talented employee over such a case. "This began my self discovery that being 'not anti-gay' was not enough," Brown said.

Brown recalled that prior to the change in administrations in 2009, "Nobody wanted to touch this issue, they feared it would put their jobs on the line." Brown then decided to take on the issue himself. He decided to work for the repeal of DADT in part because he felt the military was narrowing their chances of getting talented, dedicated people to work for them. One of his jobs while working as senior personnel administrator was to attract and retain talented people for the military. DADT excluded a segment of the population, which other competitors without anti-gay policies could take advantage of.

The struggle to show that DADT was a harmful policy that needed to be repealed took two and a half years. Brown believes in a "right is right" approach, and he knew that repealing the policy was the right thing to do politically and ethically, but was still unsure if it was the right thing to do military-wise. During his first year of working on the repeal, he was the one and only person taking on the task. Brown often felt like he had bitten off more than he could chew. The military thought his views were "too pro-gay," and the gay community thought his views were "too pro-military." However, by 2010, the momentum started and Brown felt like his appeal had a chance. More people worked on the repeal alongside Brown, and, in 2011, DADT was dismantled.

Now that DADT has been dismantled, openly LGB individuals can serve in the U.S. military. Brown says that in terms of recruiting more LGB to the military, "It will take time for them to trust the military again. But I one day hope that the US military will be posted in the New York Times as gay friendly workplace."

Written by Wren Bentley

When asked what is necessary for development projects to be effective, Professor Atwood cited a theme that has become more and more apparent through research and evaluation: the countries receiving funds for development, especially post-crisis, must feel that they possess full ownership of the efforts; if the recipients do not feel like they have a "stake in the game," the relevant development projects will not maintain enough interest and, therefore, will eventually fall short of their intended outcome. Both Atwood and Dean Schwartz also strongly stated their disapproval of "tied aid," or development funding that can only be employed in compliance with specific conditions and stipulations. This, according to Atwood, was a significant obstacle to the aforementioned sense of ownership that makes for successful development projects.

Schwartz and Atwood also spent much of their time dispelling skepticism as to the efficacy of development programs, often referring to specific examples from their experiences in USAID and the State Department. There are significant accountability mechanisms in place that track the use of development funding, assured the dean, and, although there is room for improvement in this area, foreign development aid is an important tool in efforts of poverty alleviation, crisis resolution, and peacemaking. Both professors asserted that providing peacetime development monies is significantly more effective and efficient than recovery funding provided after disasters and other crises. According to Atwood, the distinction between humanitarian and development aid is an important one: humanitarian provisions help people, while development financing helps people to help themselves. The timeline for aid following international emergencies, such as wars or natural catastrophes like the 2011 tsunami that had severe ramifications in Japan and throughout the Pacific, follows a progression from humanitarian aid immediately after the crisis to later, preventative development aid, added Schwartz.

The final question of the discussion best captured the sentiment of the Forum: "How do we change the world?" Encouraged by the large number of students in attendance, Eric P. Schwartz stressed the significance of embracing educational opportunities and tempering them with worldly experience. The dean exhorted students to seek out and advocate for those issues for which they are most passionate. Professor Atwood highlighted the power of creative diplomacy in foreign affairs to secure and maintain international peace.

Written by Aidan Breen

Nussbaum offers an alternative to education for economic profitability: education for human development. Education for human development directly addresses the major impediments to democratic citizenship on an individual level. Rather than deference to authority and local situation, education for human development encourages the growth of democratic values. Nussbaum articulated three core components of this alterative approach.

First, this paradigm of education develops the capacity for individuals to think critically about their own reasoning and the reasoning of others, which fosters deliberative dialogue across perceived categories of difference. The ability to imagine alternative arguments, in particular, facilitates social inclusion. Critical thinking underpins liberal education pedagogy, but is largely absent from technical training.

Second, the human development approach to education allows students to situate themselves in the global political and historical reality. Nussbaum pointed out that to know is not to guarantee democratic or inclusive behavior, but to remain ignorant is almost to guarantee anti-democratic and exclusionary behavior. An education focused on widening awareness and promoting democratic engagement would offer exposure to world history and alternative historical narratives, depth of knowledge in at least one unfamiliar tradition, and significant training in at least one foreign language.

Third, Nussbaum's proposal focuses on the growth of the narrative imagination and the cultivation of sympathy. The arts and humanities are uniquely situated to refine the ability to imagine walking in someone else's shoes. Such an approach to education can be catered to particular cultural or personal blind spots. Furthermore, the arts bring together individuals in a nonhierarchical way--something rarely done in society and something that is inherently democratic.

Education for profitability amplifies the weaknesses of democracy, including its susceptibility to greed, haste, groupthink, and selfishness, whereas education for human development, a project that insists on the criticalness of the art and humanities, develops the personal qualities necessary for a robust democratic society. Nussbaum's education for human development offers individuals within nations the chance "to overcome fear and suspicion in favor of democratic debates."

Nussbaum's talk was sponsored by the University of Minnesota's Imagine Fund for the Arts, Humanities, and Design.

Written by Whitney Taylor.

As such, reform was seen as necessary from both a criminal law approach and a human rights perspective. The criminal justice system disproportionately convicts the poor, suffers from an overall lack of professionalism, and is extremely inefficient. Moreover, the institutional structure of the system, particularly with regard to arrest quotas for the police and prosecutorial reliance on confessions, encourages overly harsh treatment and even torture of those arrested. Torture occurs throughout the criminal justice system in Mexico, and following the militarization of the fight against drug cartels, the use of torture increased dramatically.

The 2008 reform actually had two sides: one that addressed some of the shortcomings of the criminal justice system and one that created a state of exception for organized crime. The danger of this state of exception becomes apparent when considering the loose definition of organized crime. Any time a group of three or more people engages in any criminal activity, it counts as organized crime. This means that whether the three people involved had conspired to engage in drug trafficking or to paint graffiti, both count as organized crime. Positive reforms have encouraged the switch from a private, written inquisitorial procedure to one that is more transparent and offers more substantial rights guarantees. The reform implementation process was anticipated to extend into 2016, but it appears reform efforts have stagnated on the federal level, as political will has all but disappeared.

The limited reforms that were actually implemented have not addressed the institutional factors that have rendered the Mexican criminal justice system both ineffective and criminal in and of itself. Those innocent of any crime appear more likely to be arrested, tortured, and imprisoned than those actively participating in organized crime. Legal recourse for those who have been subject to unfair trials or mistreatment in the criminal justice system remains elusive.

Written by Whitney Taylor.