“Thank you for being who you are, continue being who you are, and I can’t wait to hear what you all will accomplish,” said Hugo Slim, assistant director of the Oxford Consortium for Human Rights (OCHR), at the 2024 OCHR final banquet in Oxford University’s Merton College.
This sentiment was echoed by the 40 students and 16 faculty supervisors who spent the first week of July immersed in inspiring dialogue and productive debate surrounding human rights and new technology. At the formal High Table dinner, students listened to Slim speak, and then they stood from their seats to share their gratitude for fellow attendees and esteemed faculty, with whom they found light and friendship. It was clear to all that when top scholars from diverse backgrounds come together, they can create a community of mutual understanding, critical thinking, human flourishing and positive change — the byproduct is breathtaking.
Below are some photos, courtesy of Bernie Galewski, from the 2024 OCHR Gala Dinner. Please read the accompanying captions for context.
- Oregon Ducks at the OCHR
- Full OCHR Cohort
- Ruby Wool's OCHR Completion Certificate
- OCHR Cocktail Reception in Merton College Chapel
- High Table Dinner to Conclude the OCHR
(L to R) Sophia Barghouti, Byronie McMahon, David Frank, Miriam Yousaf, Ruby Wool and Colleen Uzoekwe represent the University of Oregon at the 2024 Oxford Consortium for Human Rights. The five-day workshop, from July 2-6, focuses on human rights in the face of artificial intelligence and new technology. Frank, an emeritus professor of rhetoric and political communication at the UO and former dean of the Clark Honors College, serves as the lead faculty supervisor for the Oregon student group. Throughout the week, the Ducks contribute to the OCHR by bringing knowledge from their respective areas of expertise, ranging from prison education to journalism and exercise physiology.
This year’s OCHR cohort, with students and faculty hailing from Connecticut State Community College to Kyung Hee University in South Korea, celebrates the conclusion of the week-long workshop at the historic Merton College on July 6, 2024. Established in 1264, Merton College is the first fully self-governing College in the University of Oxford. It was founded by Walter de Merton, who served as Chancellor of England and later became Bishop of Rochester.
Ruby Wool (center) holds her OCHR Certificate of Completion at the final banquet in Merton College, which Tamara Niella (left) and Hugo Slim (right) presented to her. Wool is a senior in the Clark Honors College studying journalism and global health at the UO. Niella holds a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the UO and is a postdoctoral researcher at the Cognition, Values, and Behavior lab at Ludwig Maximilian University Munich. Slim is a Senior Research Fellow at the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice at Blackfriars Hall at the University of Oxford. All three people share a desire to create a world that promotes positivity, peace and progress.
Oregon’s Ruby Wool (third from the left) stands with fellow OCHR attendees at the banquet’s cocktail reception in the Merton College Chapel, a place of worship and prayer for over 750 years. The medieval Chapel contains one of the finest pre-Reformation lecterns in England, which was originally given to the college in 1504. Today, the Chapel is home to a lively Christian community and holds daily services throughout the term. The Choir of Merton College, which consists of 30 undergraduate and graduate students at Oxford University, is present at regular services and offers guests a special way to experience the program and famous 13th-century Chapel.
Students and faculty gather at the OCHR High Table Gala Dinner for an evening full of reflection, food and rejoicing. In line with tradition, the students sit and eat in the main space of the dining hall, while the fellows, who are the faculty leaders, sit above the students at the high table. The formal arrangement is meant to visually reinforce the social hierarchy of the college. To begin the meal, OCHR Assistant Director Hugo Slim reads the grace, the “Benedictus benedicat.”