Public Service Inspires Graduating A&S Student's Time on Grounds

There are various ways to amplify and support social causes on a college campus, many of which involve academic lectures, panel discussions and policy-oriented papers. Graduating University of Virginia student Katherine Hu has organized most of those, including founding the student-run Humanitas Journal of Human Rights.

Ask her about the events she’s most proud of organizing in support of Humanitas Journal and the causes it supports, however, and the future law student quickly mentions the two “human rights house shows” she has organized with friends, featuring live music from student bands. Each of the house shows raised over $1,000 for their beneficiary causes: World Central Kitchen, which deploys teams globally to provide meals in response to humanitarian, environmental and community crises, and the Charlottesville Public Housing Association of Residents’ work amplifying the voices of local low-income residents.

“We wanted to branch out to more celebratory human rights programming,” said Hu, who is graduating from the College of Arts & Sciences this weekend with degrees from the Department of  Philosophy and the Political & Social Thought Program. “There’s a lot at stake when you consider human rights, and there’s a lot of troubling things happening in the world, which is often reflected in the traditional tone of human rights programming, especially in an academic setting. But for these two events, we thought it was important to advocate for these important global and local efforts while offering students an opportunity to have fun, hear a lot of good music, and rally around these unifying causes.”

Fueled by "an irrepressible joy"

Hu, known as “Kat” to her friends and professors on Grounds, is headed to Harvard Law School as an admit via their Junior Deferral Program after exploring opportunities in public interest law for two gap years. The Nashville native came to UVA originally planning to major in religious studies, but she declared her philosophy major instead after realizing that she was interested in wrestling more with the philosophical questions about how to live a good life and the ethical and societal debates concerning what it means to live in a human community.

Hu was admitted into the Echols Scholars Program as a second year, which afforded her more freedom to explore these interests across the College’s departments, leading her to join the small cohort of students accepted each year into the Political & Social Thought Program. For her PST thesis, Hu examined theories of prison abolition and reform, topics she hopes to continue exploring in her future career as a lawyer.

“Studying in the PST program is probably the defining characteristic of my undergraduate career,” said Hu, who also served as executive editor for the Virginia Undergraduate Law Review. “The program goes against the trend we’re seeing in higher education where it seems to be geared toward more pre-professional tracks of study, but that’s why I came to UVA — to explore invigorating and difficult questions, whatever disciplines or practices they might point me to.

“What I loved about my philosophy and PST classes in the College is that the work and the rumination don’t stop when you shut your laptop and leave class. There were so many times when questions like the one that eventually informed my thesis would keep me up at night. I would think about them while I was brushing my teeth, while I was making breakfast. For my personal interest and skill set, it was really rewarding to wrestle with these larger questions, both internally and in conversations in and out of the classroom with professors and peers. I think that is what Thomas Jefferson had in mind when he was constructing the Academical Village.”

Professor Ross Cameron, director of the Department of Philosophy’s undergraduate program, said Hu has “a fierce passion for making the world a better place.” That passion was demonstrated in Hu’s early volunteer efforts at UVA with the Charlottesville chapter of the International Rescue Mission. Early experiences like these led to Hu working with like-minded students to organize evens with Humanitas, including a recent “Community Café” event outside Peabody Hall where students could socialize with UVA facilities workers and other staff members as a way of building solidarity and understanding.

“I have learned and gained so much from teaching Katherine over the years, in subjects as different as logic and the philosophy of mathematics, on one hand, to restorative justice and prison abolition on the other,” Cameron said. “The passion and commitment Katherine brought, both to her classes and also to her many extracurricular projects, were truly inspiring.”

Another faculty member from Cameron’s department praised Hu’s ability to bring a philosophy seminar come to life.

“Not only is Kat whip-smart, but she also brings an irrepressible joy to every class discussion. And that joy is infectious — It’s hard not to have fun when you’re in the presence of someone who’s so keen to play around with new ideas, push arguments to their logical conclusions, revise her opinions, and riff on her classmates’ contributions,” said Jordan MacKenzie, assistant professor of philosophy. “Harvard Law is lucky to have her.”

A sense of belonging

Humanitas Journal will continue publishing twice a year online under the student leadership of Hu’s successors. Recent issues featured student articles on conditions in ICE detention centers, the reported crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada, and the freedom of movement of Palestinian athletes under Israeli occupation. The first issue featured an article about the history of the use of enslaved labor and racism at UVA.

“Part of my goal with founding Humanitas was that I didn’t want it to just be an outward looking, global examination of these little pockets of the wide world where human rights abuses are occurring,” Hu said. “I also wanted it to be a chance for students to turn the magnifying glass on their own community, whether that’s here or at home or somewhere else in the United States.”

As she plans her next steps toward law school, Hu said she will remain grateful for the home and community she found at UVA.

“UVA as an institution does such a good job of cultivating a sense of belonging and reinforcing this sense that I am a node in a really complex, beautiful web of relations. It’s helped me feel like I belong and that the things I’m passionate about matter.”