Arrupe Social Justice Scholars Program | Cleveland, Ohio

About the Program

Who are we?

ADVOCACY IN ACTION

The Arrupe Social Justice Scholars teaches and grows social justice leaders. Here's a breakdown of the program name:

Arrupe, Pedro [Noun]: A Jesuit who said we must all be men and women for and with others; also, our program's namesake.

Social Justice [Noun]: Society is stratified in significant and far-reaching ways along social group lines; inequality is structural, and we must actively seek to change this.

Scholar [Noun]: A person who does advanced study in a specific field.

The Arrupe Social Justice Scholars program is made up of two components -- the academic curriculum, and the co-curricular experience that extends beyond the classroom. Taken together, these components challenge students to grow in the following four areas:

1. Intellectual Development - Arrupe Social Justice Scholars will seek to analyze social justice issues from the viewpoint of multiple academic disciplines and ask questions that help them to understand the complex social, cultural, political, economic, and moral dimensions of injustice.

2. Active Reflection - Arrupe Social Justice Scholars will be reflective learners, integrating their curricular and co-curricular learning experiences and using them to inform their understanding of social justice issues.

3. Commitment to Solidarity - Arrupe Social Justice Scholars will demonstrate a commitment to social action grounded in sustained engagement with people facing injustice. The job of an Arrupe Social Justice Scholar is not simply “to help others” but rather, to learn from our community partners and bear witness to the suffering of those facing injustice in our world.

4. Advocacy - Arrupe Social Justice Scholars will apply their knowledge and abilities to advocate for positive social change. Through course work and experiential learning projects, Arrupe Social Justice Scholars will develop the knowledge and skills necessary to be a voice of support for those facing injustice in our world. During their four years at John Carroll, students will identify a particular area of injustice — for example, human trafficking, Fair Trade, wrongful convictions, or environmental justice– that they will concentrate their efforts upon. Students will then construct and carry out an action and advocacy project as the capstone experience of the Arrupe Social Justice Scholars program.

The Arrupe Social Justice Curriculum

Senior Advocacy Projects

The Arrupe seniors run capstone advocacy projects during the course of their final year. Past projects have included podcasts on various social justice issues, authoring a book on girls for children, creating a week-long event on immigration, leading a daily SNAP challenge, and a poverty simulation, among others.

Arrupe Senior Project: Immigration Awareness — One example of the culmination of an Arrupe Senior Advocacy Project

Podcasts by Arrupe Seniors

Members of the Arrupe Social Justice Scholars Class of '21 created podcasts focused on different areas of social justice. Click on the thumbnails below to listen to each podcast.