Committed Values
The Advocacy for Social Justice and Sustainability concentration embraces a deep commitment to sustainablility, respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, social and economic justice, democracy, nonviolence, and peace. We affirm both the Earth Charter and the Principles of Environmental Justice, which were adopted at the 1991 National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington, DC.Citizen Action Focus
The Advocacy for Social Justice and Sustainability concentration places its primary emphasis on educating current and future leaders, staffers, and volunteers of grassroots and nonprofit advocacy groups. In particular, we stress the skills of organizing, coalition-building, constructive programs, and popular education as the most direct means of building a globally oriented, grassroots movement for sustainability and social justice.Ecological Awareness
The Advocacy for Social Justice and Sustainability concentration deepens students' scientific understanding of the earth's ecological systems, environmental vital signs, natural history, and human ecology, including such key issues as peak oil and climate change. It also aids students in understanding key ecological debates, working with scientists and resource managers as allies in advocacy efforts, and interpreting scientific research for the general public.Critical Thinking
The Advocacy for Social Justice and Sustainability concentration looks critically at how environmental destruction and social injustice are rooted in cultural patterns of domination and the way we organize and conduct our economic and political lives. It places particular emphasis on developing a deeper understanding of global political economy, social oppression, and consumer culture.Becoming Practical Visionaries
The Advocacy for Social Justice and Sustainability concentration encourages students to envision desirable and sustainable ways of life, grounded in a broad environmental and social ethic, and made practical through programmatic thinking about creative innovations in our underlying social, political, and economic institutions at local, regional, national, and international levels. Strategic Savvy
The Advocacy for Social Justice and Sustainability concentration helps students deepen their understanding of social action strategies and how to organize powerful grassroots movements that can cooperate effectively on local, regional, national, and transnational levels. Emphasis is placed on social movement history, the dynamics of social power, and "best practices" for our efforts in coalition-building, citizen lobbying, media work, electoral campaigns, nonviolent direct action, and creating alternative institutions.Sustained Inspiration
The Advocacy for Social Justice and Sustainability concentration pays attention to the development of the "whole person" and the affective dimensions of social change and personal growth. Emphasis will be placed on spirit, imagination, celebration, connection to the natural world, emotional and artistic expression, building an affirming community, and sharing reflections on the personal challenges we face as advocates. Such work will help students avoid burn-out and foster ways of connecting more meaningfully with each other--and the sources of their own deepest passions--to help sustain them for the long haul.Empowering Education
Finally, the Advocacy for Social Justice and Sustainability concentration encourages students and teachers to work together as co-creators and interpreters of the knowledge and skills needed for effective environmental advocacy. Emphasis will be placed on honoring multiple learning styles, posing problems of emerging relevance to students, fostering critical thinking and participatory dialogue, encouraging personal reflection and cooperative learning, supporting student learning initiatives, and integrating theory and practice through field experience and experiential education.
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“I am so glad that I ended up at Antioch! I don't think there could be a better fit for me anywhere. The environment—from the institutional mission to the staff, faculty, and students—is really so supportive. It's gratifying for me to see that this holistic model of education—where the whole person is taken into account—really works. And I do see it working, in all of us in this class.”
— Andrew Capen, '09 |
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