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Honors Program > Our Mission > Honoring Diversity

Honoring Diversity

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​At DePaul University, social justice is a core tenet of our Vincentian values. The Honors Program is committed to creating an educational environment of respect and inclusion that celebrates differences, challenges prejudice, and allows all members to be their authentic selves safely and openly.  ​​​​​​

DePaul Honors Program Diversity Statement​​​​​​​​

​The DePaul University Honors Program recognizes that our collective strength lies in the diverse perspectives and experiences contributed by all members of our community. To empower our students to become compassionate, global citizens, we commit to the teaching of a critically anti-racist curriculum while ensuring the equitable inclusion of diverse voices in all Honors classes and spaces.

A Curriculum Grounded in Social Justice

The DePaul University Honors Program believes in the power of a globally-focused liberal arts education to transform graduates into socially-conscious, justice-oriented, compassionate citizens of the world who are prepared to find creative solutions to the complex challenges faced by society.
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To see our curricular commitment to social justice in action, browse the following selection of our course offerings.​
 

Course Description

Students will choose from a variety of seminar offerings, each focusing on systems of power, oppression, and privilege through a social justice lens. Students will investigate the underlying structures that create injustice in contemporary society, and they will study the ways in which racism and the legacy of colonialism perpetuate inequality and oppression. 

Course Description

Students will investigate the history of race in American policing by exploring a number of related phenomena, including racial profiling, excessive policing, mass incarceration, and failure to punish those who kill or otherwise abuse Black people. This class discusses the origins of urban policing and slave patrols, lynching, police and judicial repression of the civil rights movement, modern police militarization, and police killing. 

Course Description:

On the street and at the ballot box, LGBTQ+ communities have waged defiant protest movements against the “straight state” by forming vibrant queer social spaces, engaging in equal rights campaigns, and demanding public and cultural visibility. By examining historical inflection points, including the Stonewall Riots, AIDS epidemic, and recent campaigns for marriage equality and Transgender rights, students will evaluate the strategies that LGBTQ+ activists employed and investigate how participants of these movements experienced, harnessed, and promoted “PRIDE!

Course Description

This course introduces students to philosophical inquiry by way of recent philosophical work on the concept of race. This course will explore the metaphysics of race, the place of race in the history of modern western philosophy, the phenomenological and existential import of race, as well as ethical and political considerations such as the morality of racism and racial injustice. 

Course Description

Cannabis has been recognized throughout history as a pharmacological agent to treat a variety of conditions. This history was interrupted by a series of prohibitions and criminalization policies that were driven by racism in the U.S. and elsewhere. This course examines systems of power that have perpetuated the criminalization of cannabis, the suppression of research into its viability as a pharmacological agent, as well as contemporary efforts to promote social justice and racial equity in the wake of the War on Drugs. 

​To learn more about our liberal arts curriculum and academic requirements, please visit our Academics page.​​

Honors as a Safe Space​

The Honors Program works to provide a safe space where all members can be their most authentic selves. We recognize the importance for students to see and hear from leaders and peers with shared experiences and identities. 

The Honors Program is committed to providing students with regular opportunities to hear from speakers of diverse backgrounds, to participate in service projects to support the needs of fellow Chicagoans, and to find community among peers with similar identities through our Affinity Program.

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