When I told people at Wellesley that I would be studying abroad at Wesleyan, they laughed. Studying abroad implies leaving the country to study at an institution with an entirely different culture. People thought it was silly to say I was studying abroad if I was just going to Connecticut. Others didn’t understand the unique value of the advocacy and community-based training semester (ACTS) for human rights that I was doing until I mentioned that we get to “actually go abroad” after the semester is over to do field work in another country. 

Many were confused about why I would choose to spend a semester away at Wesleyan instead of somewhere like Oxford or Geneva, or at least in a different country where I would get to eat new foods and travel to different countries every week. But the ACTS program is the only “full time clinical human rights opportunity available to undergraduates,” run by the incredible University Network for Human Rights (UNHR). 

Wellesley students in the program did get to go “abroad” to Lisbon, Portugal, to take an intensive course on human rights standards at Nova Law School before starting the Fall 2024 semester, but that’s not what makes this domestic study abroad opportunity so valuable. 

Although “human rights” has a global and international connotation, one doesn’t need to relocate to other countries to make a positive impact. Because many human rights violations can be traced back to American foreign policy, we have more leverage as Americans who resist the American empire responsible for human rights violations across the world. UNHR also works to address domestic human rights violations such as those in New Orleans, Louisiana and Brooklyn, New York. Addressing domestic issues is part of the program’s teachings. They counter the idea that the U.S. is the beacon of human rights that must  “save other nations” from such violations. 

Wesleyan ACTS, as a domestic program, is important in fulfilling its mission as a genuine human rights program because it matters that students are trained on how to be just human rights advocates and work with impacted communities in the United States, not just advocates who parachute in or use marginalized communities as “learning props for foreign students.” The program might be newer and not nearly as prestigious as Geneva, but its professors are some of the top human rights experts in the field, who have come from more prestigious universities, if that’s something that matters to you. 

Throughout the semester, we did critical readings of the human rights movement and historical context that go beyond the neoliberal perception that narrowly focuses on the United Nations and humanitarian charities. We developed our research, writing and advocacy skills so we can support communities that UNHR has long-standing relationships with. We did a simulation exercise imitating field work that allowed us to learn and make mistakes before we went into the field. An ACTS education helps ensure that the next generation of human rights advocates is learning from the mistakes of the past.

I had the chance to apply my human rights advocacy learnings to activism at Wesleyan. Although it was scary to be in the U.S. during the first months of the Trump administration, our human rights classes built a supportive community that gave us the tools to actively engage in resistance amidst our fear. During my short time at Wesleyan, I felt empowered to get involved in their activism initiatives centered around immigration justice and protecting civil liberties. 

There were other benefits to my semester at Wesleyan. I lived in a house with my best friend from Wellesley, was a teaching apprentice for my dance choreography class and pursued creative passions I didn’t have the opportunity to at Wellesley. Wesleyan’s artistic programs are well-renowned, so I was able to perform stand-up comedy, sing at open mics, watch new films every week for free, perform in a student dance group, see student band concerts and more. Moreover, the differences in these institutions, from the lack of diversity to Wesleyan’s being a co-ed institution, made me think more critically about what I value at Wellesley. 

You might be able to do some of these things in other abroad programs, but to experience a similar yet completely different liberal arts college campus lifestyle is very valuable if you want to study abroad, but adjusting to new environments and cultures is a concern. Moving to Wesleyan was stressful, but because I was doing it with other Wellesley students and the schools had a lot in common, adjusting was easier. I’ve heard from Wellesley students that although studying at Oxford is a life-changing experience, the pub culture and other aspects of social life made their time very lonely and confusing. Ultimately, I’m glad I did a domestic program instead of an international one, where change might have been even more stressful. When I missed Wellesley and Boston, I could easily take a bus and see my friends again. 

Wellesley has countless other domestic exchange programs that students should definitely consider because they carry the same value and opportunities and are career-oriented, such as Spelman College in Georgia, Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and Williams-Mystic and National Theatre Institute in Connecticut. 

You don’t need to leave the country to have a life-changing semester. I have the rest of my life to travel and eat new cuisines. But for now, I’m committing myself to human rights advocacy domestically and globally.

Please contact the editors responsible for this article: Caitlin Donovan, Avery Finley

Correction: The article originally stated that the Marine Biological Laboratory is at the University of Chicago. The editors made the correction that the MBL is located in Woods Hole, Mass.