Don’t miss the winter 2012 issue of Northeastern Law Magazine.

Valerie Gordon Human Rights Lecture

The Honorable Manuel Cepeda (ret.), of the Constitutional Court of Colombia, delivered the 2010 Gordon Human Rights Lecture. Justice Cepeda spoke on “Justice at the Cutting Edge: Socio-Economic Rights in Colombia.”

The annual Valerie Gordon Human Rights Lecture, established in 1993, honors outstanding lawyers, judges, scholars and advocates who work to advance human rights and social justice. The lecture is named in honor of the late Valerie Gordon '93, a lawyer and advocate for human rights in the US and internationally. Her commitment to human rights and social justice shown is shared and celebrated by the Northeastern law school community.

Save the Date for the 2012 Gordon Lecture: March 23, 2012

Terry McGovern, Ford Foundation Senior Program Officer in the Human Rights Division, will speak on Reducing HIV/AIDS Discrimination and Exclusion

Visit our multimedia page for videos and photos of past Gordon Lectures.

Valerie Gordon Human Rights Lecturers

2011: Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Associate Professor of Law and Development and Director of the Program on Human Rights and Justice at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (watch now)
2010: The Honorable Manuel Cepeda, Constitutional Court of Colombia (watch now)
2009: Hauwa Ibrahim, Nigerian Human Rights Lawyer (watch now)
2008: Gay McDougall, Independent Expert on Minority Issues, United Nations
2007: Dean Harold Koh, Yale Law School
2006: Professor Carol Anderson, University of Missouri-Columbia
2005: Jaribu Hill (photo, left), Executive Director and Founder, Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights
2004: Professor, Gerard Quinn, National Univerity of Ireland, Ireland
2003: Professor Abdullahi An-Na'im, Emory University School of Law
2002: Professor Charles Ogletree Jr, Harvard Law School
2001: Dean Makau Mutua, SUNY-Buffalo School of Law
2000: Professor Adrien Wing, University of Iowa College of Law
1999: Loretta Ross, Executive Director, Center for Human Rights Education
1998: The Honorable Albert Louis Sachs, Constitutional Court of South Africa
1997: Franic Mading Deng, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
1996: The Honorable Nathaniel Jones, US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
1995: The Honorable Dessima Williams, UN Ambassador, Grenada
1994: Randall Robinson, Executive Director, TransAfrica

2007 Gordon Lecture BLSA Human Rights Essay Contest

Each year, in conjunction with the Valerie Gordon Lecture, the law school's chapter of the Black Law Students Association sponsors a human rights essay contest for first-year law students. The essay topic is announced annually by BLSA, and "The Spirit of Valerie Gordon Award" is presented at the Gordon Lecture each spring.