Advanced Spanish Service-Learning: Migration, Asylum, and Human Rights at the Border

This community engaged learning workshop is exclusively available to students who are concurrently enroll in SPANLANG 108SL. Within the HUMRTS 108 program, students will have the unique opportunity to apply their advanced Spanish language skills and their understanding of the US immigration detention system, acquired in the class, by volunteering with an organization dedicated to immigrant rights. In this capacity, students will receive training to operate a hotline responsible for monitoring conditions in over 200 immigrant detention centers. They will engage directly with people in immigration detention to document instances of abuse, reveal dehumanizing conditions, and connect them with their loved ones. Human rights lawyer Penelope Van Tuyl will serve as a guest lecturer, providing students with legal context. Additionally, we will have the privilege of hosting migrants and refugees who will share their personal stories of being in US detention and seeking asylum, along with other experts in fields such as law, mental health, media, and art activism. To enroll, please ensure that you qualify to enroll in a third-year Spanish class and contact Instructor Vivian Brates at vbrates@stanford.edu to request a class code. Please be aware that this course requires a minimum of 3 units and must be taken for a letter grade to be eligible for Ways credit. It is also certified as a Cardinal Course by the Haas Center for Public Service.