Winning Student Videos in Applied Jain Studies
Sometimes as an educator, I realize afresh how attuned my students are, and have been, to the social harms they've witnessed during their relatively their short lives.
In Spring 2026, upper-level undergraduate students in the Applied Jain History (REL ST 126/PHILOS 117) class surprised me again with this attunement. In their final project, students demonstrated their eagerness to research a topic of deep concern and flexed their growing ability to summarize and analyze key dilemmas within a complex issue.
Drawing on a new metaphysical and logic system of the ancient Indian Jain tradition, students utilized new concepts and practices—through a growing vocabulary of Sanskrit terms—to craft possible Jain responses to a contemporary ethical issue of their choice.
You can see the three winning videos here.
1. A Possible Jain Response to Factory Farming
Sahil Chekuri ('26, Major: Business Administration)
2. A Possible Jain Response to Post-9/11 Stereotyping of Arab Americans
Jolie Harby Khalil ('27, Major: Political Science; Minor: Humanities and Law)
3. A Possible Jain Response to Book Banning of Children's Literature in the United States
Curtis Le ('26, Major: Neurobiology; Minor: Philosophy)
Several other student projects could have certainly been listed as honorable mentions, exploring possible Jain responses to:
- U.S.-Iran War
- Microplastics
- Autonomous Weapons Systems
- California Wildfires
- White Christian Nationalism in the U.S.
- Dairy industry
- Anti-Latino violence
- End-of-life decision making
- Fast Fashion
- U.S. Animal Welfare Act
- American Government's Use of Palantir
- U.S. Torture During the War on Terror
- and others
Congratulations to all for your good work.
Image caption: Students also visited the Jain Center of Southern California for an educational tour and helped pack vegan meals for unhoused neighbors in Long Beach (spring 2026).
