The Justice Lab

For next semester's Justice Lab, Profs. Jaime Kucinskas, Jeff McArn, Heather Sullivan, and Joel Winkleman will teach four connected courses on community building and social change. The Lab will be rooted in two experiential learning opportunities. Professor Kucinskas will co-teach her course with the Rev. Sharon Baugh of Hope Chapel AME Zion Church where students will help develop poverty alleviation programming in Rev. Baugh’s neighborhood in Utica and across congregations in the city. The Lab also involves a popular education methodology component in Prof. Winkelman's course, with a required spring break retreat (March 11-14) at the legendary Highlander Research and Education Center led by Prof. Margo Okazawa-Rey and with all expenses paid for by the Levitt Center. Prof. Sullivan will be teaching a course on the politics of equality in which students will think systematically about the kinds of inequalities that they will be working to address in Utica as well as pathways for change. And in Prof. McArn’s course on social justice at Hamilton College, students will have the opportunity to think about the history of social change in their own campus community.

There are no prerequisites for these courses. The Lab schedule is akin to an ordinary semester’s schedule. This means that student-athletes will be able to get to practice, and students can work out schedules for on-campus jobs. Course times are noted in their descriptions below. Students who cannot participate in all four courses because of inflexible course commitments (for example, senior seminar) may apply and request to take only three of the four Lab courses. More details can be found in the application form. 

How have human rights developed? How are they defined, and who enforces them?  These questions are immediately relevant to migrant and refugee populations, the movement for racial justice, the status of indigenous populations, as well as the protection of civilians in times of war. Most basically, the study of human rights asks how we can guarantee personal dignity and the ability of all people to live free from persecution, discrimination, and bias. In Fall ’23, the Justice Lab will take up these questions historically and legally at the international, national, and local levels. Courses required for the Justice Lab include: 

• Justice Lab Experience and Observation (GOV/Public Policy 274W) Prof. Andrea Peña Vasquez (Government)
• International Law (GOV 254) Prof. Alan Cafruny, Bristol Professor of International Relations: An introduction to international law (Government)
• Humanitarianism and Human Rights (HIST 255) Prof. Kevin Grant, Graves Professor of History (History) 
• The American Constitution and Human Rights (GOV 269) Prof. Frank Anechiarico, Maynard-Knox Professor of Government and Law (Government)

In the past decade, the global refugee population has more than doubled according to the UN with over 80 million people who have been forcibly displaced worldwide. The Utica area has played a prominent role in refugee resettlement in the United States since the 1970s. The Spring 2023 Justice Lab will be a four-course semester focused on issues of resettlement, religious traditions, and ethical questions related to asylum and immigration policy, both locally and globally.

Courses for the Spring 2023 Justice Lab include: 

• Politics of Asylum with Professor Andrea Pena-Vasquez (Government)
• Religion and Immigration in Central New York with Professor Brent Rodriguez-Plate (Religious Studies)
• Philosophy of Immigration with Professor Alessandro Moscaritolo Palacio (Philosophy)
• Justice Laboratory: Internship and Observation with Professor Andrea Pena-Vasquez

Community wellness is a holistic concept that includes public safety, care of vulnerable populations, and access to quality medical services and public health (vaccination, mental well-being, sanitation, etc.). The Justice Lab this semester focuses broadly on these issues with particular attention to the homeless population in Utica. Students take four-courses concurrently which includes an internship and regular interaction with local leaders in public health, community wellness, and civic institutions.

Courses for the Fall 2022 Justice Lab include:

• Health Care Systems with Professor Herm Lehman (Biology)
• Urban Homelessness and Social Policy in the US with Professor Gwen Dordick (Government) 
• Utica in the Context of US History with Professor Phil Bean (History) 
• Justice Laboratory: Internship and Observation with Professor Frank Anechiarico

New York State passed two major legal system reforms in 2019 that had a substantial effect on the Oneida County Criminal Justice System: the abolition of cash bail for most offenses and an accelerated and expanded evidence discovery process, both of which took effect in January, 2020. These reforms gave students the opportunity to observe and participate in the implementation of significant changes in criminal procedure. The inaugural Justice Lab featured two concurrent courses, a traditional seminar course taught by Professor Frank Anechiarico and an internship and observation course co-taught by Professor Anechiarico and Utica City Court Judge Ralph Eannace.