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John Carroll University / Academics / ​Beyond the Classroom / Mission-Based Programs / Arrupe Social Justice Scholars / About the Program

John Carroll University is committed to inspiring individuals to excel in learning, leadership, and service in the region and in the world. The Arrupe Scholars Program is a mission-based scholarship and learning opportunity tailored specifically toward creating leaders for social action. Rooted in the wisdom of our 450-year-old Jesuit heritage, this program aims to produce graduates that are both trained in the academic study of inequality and committed to using their knowledge and abilities for the promotion of justice.

In order to do this, the Arrupe Scholars Program challenges students to grow in the following four areas:

  • INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
    Students will develop their intellectual curiosity. They will seek to analyze social justice issues from the viewpoint of multiple academic disciplines and ask questions that help them to understand the complex social, cultural, political, economic, and moral dimensions of injustice.
  • ACTIVE REFLECTION
    Arrupe Scholars will be reflective learners. They will seek to integrate their curricular and co-curricular learning experiences, using them to inform their understanding of social justice issues.
  • COMMITMENT TO SOLIDARITY
    Arrupe Scholars will demonstrate a commitment to social action grounded in sustained engagement with people facing injustice. The job of an Arrupe Scholar is not simply “to help others” but rather, to learn from our community partners and bear witness to the suffering of those facing injustice in our world.
  • ADVOCACY
    Arrupe Scholars will apply their knowledge and abilities to advocate for positive social change. Through course work and experiential learning projects, Arrupe Scholars will develop knowledge and skills necessary to be a voice of support for those facing injustice in our world. During their four years at John Carroll, students will identify a particular area of injustice – for example, human trafficking, Fair Trade, wrongful convictions, or environmental justice – that they will concentrate their efforts upon. Students will then construct and carry out an action and advocacy project as the capstone experience of the Arrupe Scholars Program.

The Arrupe Way

Following the traditions of Rev. Pedro Arrupe, S.J., the Arrupe program envisions social justice as a framework for systemic change. In order to bring about change, we must be the change; we must be “men and women with and for others.” Our co-curricular path allows for that to occur.

  • Student-led advocacy events in fall and spring (one required, one optional for each semester)
  • “Arrupes in the City” initiative: taking what we learn and using it in the city we live in
  • Social Justice Conference Collaboration (Spring—planned and implemented by sophomore and junior class)
  • Membership on Student Advisory Committee and/or Arrupe Advisory Board
  • Arrupe Senior Advocacy Projects (mentored by the Arrupe program director, along with faculty and staff)
  • Arrupe Freshmen Advocacy Projects (mentored by the Arrupe program director, along with faculty and staff)
  • Arrupe Guest Speaker Series (spring and fall)
  • Arrupe program meetings (spring and fall)
  • Participation in “Celebration of Scholarship: Scholarship as Advocacy”
  • Social events
  • Committee leadership

A commitment to social justice entails the formation of an ethic of social action that embodies Rev. Arrupe’s ideal of “a commitment to promote justice and to enter into solidarity with the voiceless and the powerless.” The humanism of today’s Jesuit University is not one that removes young men or women from life but one that prepares them to take their place in life with conviction that their talents are not talents until they are directed to help other people. Our program strives to lead students to a deep understanding of their own agency, as well as a personal sense of social responsibility toward and with others and society as a whole.

St Ignatius Statue at dusk with flowers in front of statue Hear from Arrupe Students Hear from three students and alumni about their experiences in the Arrupe Scholars Program.

What You'll Learn

Arrupe Scholars are challenged to think critically and grow intellectually while at John Carroll University. To facilitate this, the program offers a number of social justice-oriented courses that students take together as a cohort while fulfilling the requirements of JCU’s Integrative Core Curriculum. In addition, our academic advisors help students to reflect upon and integrate their passion for social justice with their major field of study. In the Arrupe Scholars program, we have students interested in business, the humanities, the social sciences and the physical sciences–our students encompass all of the majors at JCU, and our professors teach in many disciplines. Indeed, it is this diversity of thought and academic expertise that allows our students to grow by learning from one another.

Arrupe Core

Students complete 18 credits of Arrupe-designated coursework, nine of which also satisfy University Core Requirements:

Foundational Competencies (Six Credits)

  • English 125 ^
  • Communications 125^

Jesuit Heritage (Three Credits)

  • Issues in Social Justice (ISJ)

Program Specific-Requirements

First Year

  • AR 150A Fall Semester (One credit)*
  • AR 150B Spring Semester | Introduction to Social Action (One credit)*
  • Arrupe Scholars First-Year Retreat

Second Year

  • AR 250 Issues in Social Justice (Three credits)

Third year

  • PJHR 350 Social Justice Research (Three credits)*

Fourth year

  • PJHR 450 Advocacy & Action (Three credits)
  • Arrupe Scholars Capstone Retreat

^ Indicates a require course for incoming first-year Arrupe Scholars. If students earn credit for an equivalent course, those credits will count as elective credits at JCU.

*Indicates course has a service-learning component.

Arrupe Academic Course Sequence

Arrupe Core
Students complete 18 credits of Arrupe-designated coursework:

Courses that fulfill University Core Requirements:
Foundational Competencies (Six credits)
• English 125^
• Communications 125^

Jesuit Heritage (Three credits)
• Issues in Social Justice (ISJ)

Courses that fulfill program-specific requirements:
First year:
AR 150A Introduction to Arrupe Scholars Program (One credit)*
AR 150B Introduction to Social Action (One credit)*

Second year:
PO298/AR250 Issues in Social Justice (Three credits)

Third Year:
PJHR 350 Social Justice Research (Three credits)*
Planning for Advocacy (monthly meeting with Program Director)

Fourth year:
PJHR 450 Advocacy & Action (Three credits)

The Arrupe program also includes a retreat experience both in the first and fourth year.
The Arrupe program provides all the texts for the students in the program for the Arrupe required courses listed above.

^Indicates this is a required course for incoming first-year Arrupe students. If student has earned credit for an equivalent course, those credits will count as elective credits at JCU.

*Indicates course has a required service learning component.

Local and Global Impact

Arrupe Scholars learn about social issues by actively engaging in the world around them. Indeed, we believe that our students academic coursework is strengthened when they are able to learn from, reflect upon, and participate in meaningful off-campus learning experiences. These include:

Local Service: All Arrupe Scholars participate in weekly service-learning projects in the Greater Cleveland Area. They tutor students in Cleveland public schools, mentor local teens, provide citizenship test prep for recent refugees, assist persons with special needs, provide companionship to nursing home residents, and learn about our community by engaging in many other community-based projects. Beginning their freshman year, Arrupe Scholars work with JCU’s Center for Service and Social Action to identify an off-campus service-learning opportunity that is that is meaningful to their course of study. (For a list of our current community partners click here.) By reflecting upon their service-learning initiatives in the classroom, our students are thus given a context and framework with which they can begin to understand the problems and challenges faced by those in our local community.

Global Learning: Arrupe Scholars also participate in experiential learning opportunities that allow them to explore their understanding of social justice through a number of global contexts. While these experiences differ by student, most Arrupe Scholars participate in at least one of the following global learning opportunities during their time at John Carroll:

  • Arrupe Scholars participate in international and domestic immersion experiences sponsored by Campus Ministry at JCU. Recent experiences have included students learning about fair trade in Guatemala; performing long-term hurricane relief in New Orleans, Louisiana; working with a Women’s Cooperative in Nepal; and doing community organization work with a coalition of farm workers in Immokalee, Florida.
  • Students participate in internships sponsored by JCU’s Career Center that focus on social justice issues. Of particular interest to Arrupe students are summer internships sponsored by the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty.
  • Arrupe Scholars participate in study abroad opportunities sponsored by JCU’s Center for Global Education. Some students chose to go on short study courses which take them abroad for a few weeks, while other students prefer to devote an entire semester to learning abroad.