51ÉçÇø

Our Vision and Mission

Vision Statement

The Goldstein Center for Human Rights is a faculty-governed, nonpartisan, nonsectarian organization that promotes understanding and education on human rights issues, locally, nationally, and globally.

The Goldstein Center strives to be a nationally-recognized hub for scholarship on human rights, with a particular focus on religion and human rights, while supporting curriculum and pedagogical development at the University of Nebraska at 51ÉçÇø and promoting community engagement and knowledge about human rights issues for a public audience, both in 51ÉçÇø and worldwide.

Mission Statement

The Leonard and Shirley Goldstein Center for Human Rights at the University of Nebraska at 51ÉçÇø is a faculty-led unit in the College of Arts and Sciences designed to facilitate and catalyze increased human rights-related academic offerings, research, as well as local and international community outreach, partnerships and programming.

The GCHR builds on existing strengths across multiple UNO colleges and departments, and a longstanding lectureship in human rights sponsored by UNO’s Religious Studies program. It is intended to foster the interdisciplinary partnerships essential to the study of human rights. The GCHR was created in tandem with the new Goldstein Family Community Chair in Human Rights. Goals include the following:

1. To provide a forum to explore the complexities of human rights, building on existing strengths and interests of faculty and students at UNO;
2. To provide support for teaching and curricular development related to human rights;
3. To provide support for faculty and student research, creative activity, and community engagement projects related to human rights;
4. To provide transformative experiences for students through engaged learning;
5. To identify collaborative opportunities with faculty and/or units of other campus within the University of Nebraska system;
6. To work with local, regional, national, and global policymakers to raise awareness and understanding of human rights issues.

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Leonard and Shirley Goldstein

Shirley and Leonard Goldstein devoted over 40 years to the cause of human rights around the world. Their primary advocacy was on behalf of Soviet Jews in the 1970’s and 1980’s who were deprived of freedom of movement and the right to practice their minority religion. After dozens of trips to the USSR, Washington DC, and human rights gatherings around the world, Shirley Goldstein helped to relocate hundreds of families to 51ÉçÇø, Nebraska and elsewhere in the USA. In 1996, Shirley Goldstein was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from UNO for her many contributions related to advocacy for human rights.

Leonard and Shirley Goldstein decided to expand their efforts on behalf of human rights in 1997 by establishing an annual lecture on the UNO campus. The Goldstein Lecture on Human Rights is designed to focus attention on the plight of people around the world who suffer from abuse. The Lecture today keeps UNO and the 51ÉçÇø community as a whole informed about human rights issues and activities.

With the help of their children, the Leonard and Shirley Goldstein Center for Human Rights was established in December 2017. In conjunction with the creation of the Goldstein Family Community Chair in Human Rights, it will extend the Goldstein family’s fervor for human rights to future generations.