Honors
A passion for social justice
Africana studies major wins fellowship to study at Oxford
During his four years at Rutgers, Corbin Laedlein pursued both a major in Africana studies and a passion for social justice.
That passion led him to organize fundraisers for literacy and to help children afflicted with AIDS, help form an interracial campus student group, intern with a nonprofit educational program in Brazil for disadvantaged students, and spend an alternative spring break helping the hungry and homeless in Washington, D.C.
Laedlein, a senior from Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, now has the chance of a lifetime to pursue his goal of fusing social policy with globalization. He was just awarded the prestigious Clarendon Scholarship, established by Oxford University Press to enable international students to study at Oxford University in England.
Corbin is an excellent example of everything positive about Rutgers – Associate Professor Kim Butler, Department of Africana Studies
The Clarendon Scholarship is highly competitive: Last year only 150 recipients were picked from a pool of more than 3,200 applicants. The scholarship covers a full year tuition and expenses. There are currently about 250 international scholars at Oxford from 43 different nations, with the largest number from the United States, Australia, Canada, and China
After he completes his year at Oxford, Laedlein hopes to continue his studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He was accepted there this fall to pursue a master’s degree in environment and development, but will defer that enrollment for a year in order to study first at Oxford University.
“With the two programs, I hope to be able to tackle issues of social policy as well as sustainable development,” Laedlein said.
“Corbin Laedlein is exactly the kind of young leader the world needs now – someone with intellect, grounded experience, vision, an understanding of the large forces that prevent and enable change, and a passionate commitment to making a difference in the lives of local people,” said Arthur D. Casciato, the director of Rutgers’ Office of Distinguished Fellowships. “It didn’t surprise me a bit that the University of Oxford chose to honor Corbin with the Clarendon Scholarship.”
Laedlein said that he and his older brother grew up in an interracial family in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area. His mother Sharyn is now an administrator at the Amber Charter School in Brooklyn, and his father Rowland most recently worked for the city housing authority. When he was growing up, his mother taught at P.S. 261 Philip Livingston School in Brooklyn and enrolled him in a gifted program there, which Laedlein said might have inadvertently started him on his social justice path.
“I kept thinking about all the other kids who didn’t have the avenues that were open to me. I wondered what could be done to help them,” Laedlein said.
Laedlein’s hobby of capoeira, a Brazilian martial art that combines elements of music and dance, led to his interest in African culture and history. He said his interest in African-American and African history, as well as issues of race and social justice, led to his enrollment at Rutgers’ New Brunswick Campus as an Africana studies major.
“Corbin is an excellent example of everything positive about Rutgers,” said Kim Butler, Rutgers’ associate professor of history at the Department of Africana Studies. “For him, social action is not just something to be studied and discussed – Corbin’s incorporated it into everything he’s done here at the university.”
Butler noted that Laedlein’s work illustrates how a degree in Africana studies grooms globally focused students well versed in social justice issues. Now entering its 40th year, the Department of Africana Studies is one of the nation's first in the discipline and offers both an undergraduate major and minor.
Laedlein spent last spring semester in Brazil interning for the Steve Biko Cultural Institute in the city of Salvador helping disadvantaged Afro-Brazilians empower themselves through educational programs. His work was part of an innovative option in the department allowing students to shape their own study abroad projects on any topic in Africana studies.
Laedlein, who learned to speak Portuguese while in Brazil, said he became fascinated by the African elements that remain firmly embedded in local Brazilian cultures. “Being able to see and experience the different ways that African culture is expressed in the different communities [in Brazil] was eye-opening,” he said.
Laedlein also spent a summer interning for the New Demographic, a diversity education firm based in New York City and dedicated to promoting productive conversations about race. He was part of the firm’s Addicted to Race podcast team, and one of his projects included a lengthy podcast discussion on issues of Eurocentrism in education. He also interned at New Leaders for New Schools, a national education reform organization.
On campus, Laedlein was co-chair of GOYA (Galvanizing and Organizing Youth Activism at Rutgers) and helped organize GOYA’s annual Walk for Literacy Partners, cosponsored by the Global Literacy Project, Inc. The walk’s proceeds last year went not only to schools in New Brunswick and Roselle but also helped educational projects in Kenya and South India.
Laedlein and his friend Phillip Handy helped found Rutgers’ first mixed-race student group, Fusion. Laedlein was also active in the Keep a Child Alive, a network of college students who raise funds to provide medication and services to children and their families with HIV/AIDS in Africa.
He is currently completing his senior thesis in the Africana Studies Scholars Project and will graduate in May with highest honors, according to Butler.
“At a time when students are rightfully concerned about how their education may help their prospects for future employment, it has been wonderful to see how Corbin pursued his passion for social change and his interest in world cultures, now so richly and deservedly rewarded,” Butler said.