In 2010 businessman and philanthropist George Soros gave $100 million to Human Rights Watch (if the same sum was matched in private contributions). This time a more modest but still considerable sum goes Connecticut. Georges Soros and Gary Gladstein (a UConn alumnus and former chief operating officer and partner with Soros Fund Management) together are to donate $4 million to the Human Rights program of the University of Connecticut (if they raise another 2 million in matching contributions).
This gift is the largest donation ever to the international program and would give the institute a $6 million endowment and provide scholarships to undergraduates majoring in human rights. “This provides a stability and support to an institution that does things that you would normally see a private institution do,” said Kathryn Libal, who directs the institute. “We are able to bring in extremely important and high-level speakers, experts, educators in the field of human rights, not only in the U.S., but globally…Often you can see those things at a Harvard or a Columbia, but it’s much less common to see that kind of activity happening at that caliber in a public institution“.
The institute’s cross-disciplinary research teams of faculty and graduate students focus on three distinct areas: economic and social rights, humanitarianism, and global health and human rights.
Source: Soros And UConn Alum Donate $4 Million For UConn Human Rights – Hartford Courant
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 
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