Human Rights in the United States Human Rights in the United States: A Special Issue Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law School: Foreword

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Human Rights Institute (HRI) at Columbia Law School. Appropriately, it also marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the foundational instrument of the modern international human rights regime. When HRI was founded in 1998, it was established as a crossroads for human rights at Columbia, which would bridge theory and practice, human rights and constitutional rights, and law and other disciplines. From its inception, HRI has been a partner with the university-wide Center for the Study of Human Rights, which was established twenty years earlier as an interdisciplinary program to bring human rights scholarship into many academic fields. The Law School-based Institute was the brainchild of Professor Louis Henkin, who, as a founder of the university-wide program, recognized the need to train a new generation of human rights advocates, scholars, and teachers through scholarship regarding the law of human rights. This special volume celebrates one of HRI\u27s signature programs: Human Rights in the United States. While the United States played a leading role in the creation and development of modern international organizations and human rights law regimes, and there has been a bi-partisan commitment to advancing human rights in U.S. foreign policy for many decades, it has been less consistent in promoting international standards guaranteeing human rights as part of U.S. domestic law and policy. The Human Rights Institute was a path-breaker in recognizing that human rights do not involve merely scholarship and activism regarding what happens out there, but that human rights are implicated in domestic U.S. policies as well. This goal of affirming human rights at home was part of Henkin\u27s holistic vision of human rights as protected through a fluid regime of national, sub-national, and international instruments. To Henkin, constitutions have been every bit as important as treaties. Human rights around the globe are typically protected through domestic law, and the U.S. Constitution and U.S. domestic statutes are no different. Indeed, the U.S. Constitution has a particularly intimate relationship to the international human rights movement, since U.S. constitutionalism featured centrally in the creation of the modern conception of human rights

Reckoning With Privilege in Appalachia and Higher Education: A Project of Critical Consciousness

This dissertation sought to interrogate the ways in which White, rural students from West Virginia conceptualized diversity before, during, and since their transition to a large PWI in their home state. Using Critical Whiteness Studies and intersectionality as driving theory, student participants and I engaged in deconstruction of privilege through individual and culture circle conversations. Then, participants engaged in self-reflection using codes established in Critical Whiteness (White normativity, White complicity, epistemologies of ignorance) as well as participant-drive codes that reflected other forms of identity-based power. Three waves of reflection demonstrate the participants’ continued cycle of praxis (reflection, action, repeat) and deconstruction of ways in which they unknowingly replicate stereotypes and protect privilege. Implications for research, policy, and practice are discussed. In Chapter 1, I outline the problem and purpose of the present research, which is followed by an overview of literature that explores conceptualizations of diversity and Whiteness in Appalachian and in higher education. Chapter 2 provides the conceptual frameworks that guide the research—intersectionality and Critical Whiteness Studies—and integrates background and critique on previous approaches to Whiteness studies to demonstrate how approaches to studying White privilege/supremacy have evolved. In Chapter 3, I outline the methods and methodologies that were deployed during this study, as well as a discussion of researcher positionality. Chapter 4 presents the results of the individual and culture circle conversations; this chapter also embeds reflections and analyses of participants as demonstrations of their ongoing praxis. Finally, Chapter 5 concludes the dissertation with a discussion of theoretical and methodological implications as well as implications for policy and practice in higher education and communities and schools; this chapter additionally explores opportunities to expand the current work

Evaluating the responsiveness of the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS) : group and individual level analysis

Background: Mental well-being now features prominently in UK and international health policy. However, progress has been hampered by lack of valid measures that are responsive to change. The objective of this study was to evaluate the responsiveness of the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) at both the individual and group level. Methods: Secondary analysis of twelve different interventional studies undertaken in different populations using WEMWBS as an outcome measure. Standardised response mean (SRM), probability of change statistic (P̂) and standard error of measurement (SEM) were used to evaluate whether WEMWBS detected statistically important changes at the group and individual level, respectively. Results: Mean change in WEMWBS score ranged from −0.6 to 10.6. SRM ranged from −0.10 (95% CI: -0.35, 0.15) to 1.35 (95% CI: 1.06, 1.64). In 9/12 studies the lower limit of the 95% CI for P̂ was greater than 0.5, denoting responsiveness. SEM ranged from 2.4 to 3.1 units, and at the threshold 2.77 SEM, WEMWBS detected important improvement in at least 12.8% to 45.7% of participants (lower limit of 95% CI>5.0%). Conclusions: WEMWBS is responsive to changes occurring in a wide range of mental health interventions undertaken in different populations. It offers a secure base for research and development in this rapidly evolving field. Further research using external criteria of change is warranted

Effectiveness of Art-Based Interventions for Reducing Stress among Caregivers of Cancer Patients

Background Occupational therapist (OT) frequently work with patients with a cancer diagnosis along with their caregivers. Approximately 50% of family caregivers report decreased time for social activities, decreased energy, emotional well-being, physical functioning, and ability to cope with stress (Lang & Lim, 2013). One approach reducing caregiver stress may be art-based therapy. Art-based therapy has been effective for promoting health in a variety of populations although the impact of on cancer caregivers is less understood

An assessment of scup (Stenotomus chrysops) and black sea bass (Centropristas striata) discards in the directed otter trawl fisheries in the Mid-Atlantic Bight

This study was undertaken to re-assess the level of scup (Stenotomus chrysops) discards by weight and to evaluate the effect of various codend mesh sizes on the level of scup discards in the winter-trawl scup fishery. Scup discards were high in directed scup tows regardless of codend mesh — typically one to five times the weight of landings. The weight of scup discards in the present study did not differ significantly from that recorded in scup-targeted tows in the NMFS observer database. Most discards were required as such by the 22.86 cm TL (total length) fish-size limit for catches. Mesh sizes ≤12.7 cm, including the current legal mesh size (11.43 cm) did not adequately filter out scup smaller than 22.86 cm. The median length of scup discards was about 19.83 cm TL. Lowering the legal size for scup from 22.86 to 19.83 cm TL would greatly reduce discard mortality. Scup discards were a small fraction (0.4%) of black sea bass (Centropristis striata) landings in blacksea-bass−targeted tows. The black sea bass fishery is currently regulated under the small-mesh fishery gearrestricted area plan in which fishing is prohibited in some areas to reduce scup mortality. Our study found no evidence to support the efficacy of this management approach. The expectations that discarding would increase disproportionately as the trip limit (limit [in kilograms] on catch for a species) was reached towards the end of the trip and that discards would increase when the trip limit was reduced from 4536 kg to 454 kg at the end of the directed fishing season were not supported. Trip limits did not significantly affect discard mortality

Human Rights in the United States

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Human Rights Institute (HRI) at Columbia Law School. Appropriately, it also marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the foundational instrument of the modern international human rights regime