Recently, UConn Today spoke with Eli Wolff, Neag School of Education Sport Management instructor and sport and human rights expert. Wolff offers his perspective on how and why athletes are being silenced, what they can do to combat this, and ultimately, what needs to shift to allow athletes to perform their job, but also exercise their right to free expression.

Supporting the rule of law by holding officials accountable, constructing an accurate account of the recent past, and recommitting to human rights at home are essential to restoring the confidence in government that underlies our shared national life. Such work can help create a new sense of community, which is a fundamental aspect of a healthy democracy.

“We’re living in an era of this kind of vicious Russian nesting doll of crises,” Glenn Mitoma, director of Dodd Human Rights Impact, said, drawing attention to the concerns toward the pandemic, racial inequality, political environment and climate running parallel to one another. “Interconnection, interdependence, and indivisible human rights are all really at the forefront of each and every one of these choices…what I learned in this kind of framework is a strategy for how universities and companies can respond.”

Black lives matter. We share the grief, sadness, and anger at the loss of George Floyd, whose murder follows so closely on that of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and so many others. Each of their lives, like each and every Black life in our community and around the world, is unique, beautiful, and irreplaceable, and deserving of respect and dignity. The great and abiding shame of our nation is our inability to acknowledge, confront, and redress the legacy of white supremacy and the failure of our institutions, particularly our law enforcement institutions, to respect the human rights of black and brown people.

A Kaplan Test Prep survey finds that 76 percent of future college students are more interested in topics regarding politics, human rights, and activism than they were two years ago. Such data is no surprise given the current heightened political atmosphere, said University of Connecticut professor in human rights Glenn Mitoma.

This past month, human rights education groups submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council a joint stakeholder report — based on research done through the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center and the Neag School of Education — in anticipation of the U.S. mid-term review process for the Universal Periodic Review. Glenn Mitoma was among the researchers who prepared the report.

With 80 students currently majoring in the University’s human rights undergraduate program and another 40 to 50 enrolled as human rights minors, UConn stands out as one of just a handful of universities in the nation offering a degree program in the field of human rights.

But educating students in human rights issues need not be exclusive to college campuses, as Glenn Mitoma, assistant professor of human rights and curriculum and instruction, can attest.