“I am very interested in service work, and going abroad," Mankowski says. "I am very interested in all the subjects we talk about. I’m pre-med, so I’m hoping to get involved in something like Doctors Without Borders and having human rights as a major could help me a lot with my future and pursuing Doctors Without Borders and going abroad and also doing the Peace Corps.”

John Potts, a junior in mechanical engineering, is impressed SMU has established a degree in human rights. He says the school is perceived as being conservative and not particularly open to change. He sees the human rights major a progressive step for SMU and its students.

“I think the class is very interesting. It’s a lot more discussion-oriented than I expected," Potts says. "But I think it’s good for us to raise issues that make us uncomfortable like we did today, discussing our parents’ opinions of race and our partners.”

And now, thanks largely to Rick Halperin, SMU students can not only raise and pursue tough issues and their interests in human rights, but can major in it. Eighteen of SMU’s 200 human rights minors have now made it their major. And Halperin has heard from others around the country who tell him they'll apply to the school specifically to pursue the new major.