We're continuing to review applications! You're going to love being a Saxon, and we would be so happy to have you.
The Social Justice Studies program seeks to raise questions about structural inequality from a variety of perspectives, fostering dialogue across disciplinary boundaries and ideological lines. We want to engage students, faculty, and staff not in a particular political project but in a habit of critical inquiry, a willingness to examine our society and our own positions within it.
School/Division
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Campus Locations
Main Campus - Alfred, NY
Major
none offered
Minor
Social Justice Studies
In the Social Justice Studies minor, you will acquire familiarity with social movements and strategies that have been used historically to dismantle systemic inequality and to effect social change. You'll also examine your own identity and actions in light of your learning. You'll engage in experiential learning, getting outside of the classroom environment to develop and implement action plans and then reflect on your experience.
The course of study will include both the breadth of a team-taught introductory core course and the depth and autonomy of a faculty-supervised capstone experience. You'll also take courses from a variety of disciplines and are strongly encouraged to take advantage of experiential learning opportunities.
Throughout the program, you will work closely with faculty who participate in the Social Justice Teaching Collective. Instructors in the program meet regularly to share readings and exchange ideas, so the minor is more than a collection of isolated courses. You will learn from teachers who learn from each other.
With the successful completion of the Social Justice Studies program, you'll have demonstrated an understanding of different concepts of justice, acquired familiarity with social movements and strategies that have been used historically to dismantle systemic inequality, and examined your own identities and actions in light of your learning.
Courses for the Social Justice Studies Minor are listed in our digital Undergraduate Catalog.
Social Justice Studies is an interdisciplinary minor that reflects Alfred University’s commitment to social justice and honors the university’s roots in 19th century social justice movements. Social justice movements work toward a society characterized by equitable distribution of various kinds of resources (political, economic, cultural, etc.) to all identity groups.
In the Social Justice Studies minor, students develop the tools to analyze and the vocabulary to talk about systems of advantage and disadvantage that perpetuate inequality at the interpersonal, institutional, and cultural level. They acquire familiarity with social movements and strategies that have been used historically to dismantle systemic inequality and to effect social change. They examine their own identities and actions in light of their learning, and engage in experiential learning—getting outside of the classroom environment to develop and implement action plans and then reflecting on their experience.
The course of study includes both the breadth of an introductory core course and the depth and autonomy of a faculty-supervised capstone experience. Students also take courses from a variety of disciplines and are strongly encouraged to take advantage of experiential learning opportunities.
No. However, we encourage students to take the core course as soon as possible.
We strongly recommend SOCI 110 as a foundational course, particularly because it's the prerequisite for advanced courses in Sociology that may be of interest to a student in the SJS program.
Four credits of SJST electives can double count for other majors and minors. At least ten elective credits must be unique to the SJST minor. (However, general education requirements can double-count as SJST electives.)
Students interested in working in government, in social work, as community activists or organizers, in non-profit work locally or NGO’s internationally—among other careers—would find an SJST minor valuable. An SJST minor will also help prepare students for graduate work of all kinds.
