Old Main 560
(360) 650-2993
pws@wwu.edu
Office Hours: Monday-Friday
8:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m.
Social Justice and Health
The relationship between dignity and health is gaining new appreciation and attention among health-care and public health professionals. As one researcher stated in a recent journal article, "It is increasingly evident that violations of dignity in our communities are pervasive events with potential severe and sustained negative effects on physical, mental, and social well-being." (Mann, 1999).
Several Prevention and Wellness Services programs address the relationship between social justice and health. These programs stimulate students to consider questions like these:
- How does a civil, caring, and tolerant campus community contribute to conditions in which all people can be healthy?
- What do poverty and limited access to quality health care in our communities have to do with Western students? Why should you care? What can you do?
- How does a hate crime on campus affect all students' perception of safety and acceptance?
- How does intolerance in a classroom affect students who are the object of that intolerance and students who are not its direct target?
- How do jokes based on sexual innuendo and role stereotypes contribute to a culture where violence against women is tolerated?
- What is the relationship between people who belong to groups who experience intolerance or discrimination on a daily basis and their level of stress-related illness?
- What does privilege mean and what is its relationship to health?
- How does working to understand people who belong to groups different from our own contribute to our health and wholeness?
Student Social Justice Groups
If you are interested in the relationship between human dignity and health, get in touch with one of these groups or attend one of their programs:
- Ally Building Network
Committed to encouraging and motivating students to: - support diversity
- speak up as allies in social and academic settings
- translate egalitarian beliefs into practical action on Western's campus and beyond
- Women’s Empowerment and Violence Education (WEAVE)
Committed to providing women information, resources, and opportunities to get involved in: - breaking the silence that masks sexual violence
- healing through mutual support and empowerment.
- Men's Violence Prevention Project
Committed to fostering awareness of men's roles in stopping sexual assault, violent crimes, and hate crimes by: - promoting activities that stop the cycle of violence in their lives and in the culture
- supporting each other in finding new, non-violent forms of masculinity
- fostering an understanding of how traditional masculine roles influence men's health and well-being
Click Here For Social Justice Information Resource Links
