Long before today’s headlines made political division, ecological instability, and systemic inequality feel inescapable, there were already communities asking deeper questions about how those conditions arise—and what it takes to respond to them.

Naropa University emerged from that inquiry.

From the beginning, it brought together poets, spiritual teachers, and activists who were not interested in separating inner life from public life. Among them were Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman, who founded Naropa’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, and Ram Dass, who taught during Naropa’s first summer and helped shape its early direction.

What connected these figures wasn’t a single discipline, but a shared orientation: a willingness to look directly at suffering—personal and collective—and to explore how awareness, creativity, and action might work together in response.

Poetry readings became spaces to speak openly about war, repression, and liberation. Spiritual teachings engaged not only personal transformation, but questions of responsibility and ethics in the world. The boundary between reflection and action was never particularly fixed.

That orientation continued to take shape as the institution grew.

Environmental activist and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy, PhD, who later taught at Naropa, helped students connect issues that are often treated separately: ecological crisis, social injustice, and the emotional and psychological responses they evoke. Her work pointed toward something many are still grappling with today—that these challenges are not isolated problems, but deeply interconnected, and that responding to them requires more than policy change alone.

Across these different areas—arts, spirituality, ecology, psychology—a consistent line of inquiry emerged: how do you prepare people not only to understand complex systems, but to engage them with clarity, resilience, and care?

That question led to an approach grounded in values like compassion, non-harm, and interdependence—not just as ideals, but as tools for understanding systems and making decisions within them.

At Naropa, students learn to connect analysis with action: building skills in navigating conflict, working across differences, and staying engaged with difficult realities over time. The goal isn’t only to understand injustice, but to develop the capacity to respond to it—thoughtfully, ethically, and effectively.

These aren’t new concerns. But they feel increasingly urgent.

Naropa’s new BA in Political & Justice Studies, launching in Fall 2026, grows directly out of this foundation. Students will study political systems, social movements, and inequality alongside approaches like restorative justice—while also developing the awareness and practical skills needed to engage that work in real-world contexts.

As Dean Stephen Polk puts it:
 “There isn’t a more pressing time than now to engage our communities, our country, and the world with the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary for the pursuit of justice—for all people and the planet.”

Naropa has spent decades developing this approach—not only exploring these ideas, but training students to apply them in the world.

For those drawn to work in justice, advocacy, policy, or community leadership, the BA in Political & Justice Studies offers a way to build both the critical understanding and the practical skills needed to engage complex systems—and to participate in shaping something better.

Learn more about the program here.