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“It’s only in proximity that we get close enough to problems to understand how to solve them and understand their complexity,” Bryan Stevenson, lawyer, author, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative.

This one credit S/U course examines why migrants leave their home countries, what they encounter at the border, responses from U.S.-based citizen and faith groups, and the effectiveness of U.S. enforcement policies. Students will engage with these questions in the Tucson, Arizona borderlands area during Spring Break (March 8 – March 14). While there, students will have the opportunity to observe legal proceedings, attend a humanitarian aid training, tour a Border Patrol facility, listen to stories from migrant families, visit the border wall, hear from Catholic and other faith leaders about their justice work along the border, visit a border community, and participate in a humanitarian desert trip. Before and after the trip, students will meet to learn about and reflect upon the experience of migration and possible responses inspired by Catholic Social Teaching.

This course is open to all students. We will fly from South Bend to Tucson on Saturday, March 8, 2025, and return on Friday, March 14, 2025. Transportation, food, and lodging are provided.

Class Dates: Saturday, March 1, and Saturday, March 22, noon–2:00 p.m.
Immersion Dates: Other class sessions will take place during the immersive experience. Transportation, food, and lodging are provided.
Instructor: Felicia Johnson O’Brien

Credits: 1
Associated Term: Spring 2025

So that we may book flights and make other arrangements, students who add this class will be required to sign a participation agreement by December 6, 2024. For questions, please contact Felicia Johnson O’Brien, Program Director of Justice Education, Institute for Social Concerns (f.obrien@nd.edu).