Over the past several years, the world has seen a rise in social movements, like the Me Too movement and Black Lives Matter, just to name a few. In addition, this past year, the number of attacks on Asians has drastically risen during the pandemic. If you want to learn more about these movements; how you can raise awareness for them; and how they function in today’s world, look no further than the Criminal Justice course called Race and Justice.

Taught by Adam Saeler, Ph.D., the class is currently only for Criminal Justice majors, but starting in the fall 2021 semester, five seats will be offered for non-majors in every section. Major, minor and non-major students can expect to learn a lot in this course.

“Students can expect to examine their own biases, where those biases come from, to critically examine the impact of categorizing people, and to analyze the role that race plays in the United States’ criminal justice system,” said Saeler.

This class is extremely important in this day and age, so students can expect to have their eyes opened to a whole new world.

“If students have a better understanding of the historical context of race relations in the United States, beyond the traditional talking points, they can better react to contemporary issues they are seeing or will see,” Saeler said.

Overall, this an engaging class for students and teachers alike.

“I love teaching Race and Justice because it is challenging. It’s a topic that few people feel comfortable discussing, but we have to continue to bring the topic up, to face those uncomfortable conversations and topics because that is what moves the bar forward. This topic is and should be everyone’s concern,” said Saeler. “It is no secret that the relationship between the criminal justice system and people of color in the United States is strained. Knowing that strain is nothing new prepares our students, who will be entering that system, to make the small, everyday changes necessary to begin addressing that strain in meaningful ways.”

No matter if you’ve been a long-time advocate of these movements or you want to know how to get started, Race and Justice is the perfect course. Keep on the lookout for this class next fall and you could learn a lot about how these movements are changing our country and the world around us.