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.

The 2013 Valerie Gordon Lecture was held on Wednesday, March 27 at noon. This year’s lecture was delivered by Philip Alston, the John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law at New York University School of Law (photo, above). Philip Alston's teaching focuses primarily on international law and international human rights law. Professor Alston was UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions from 2004 to 2010, and chaired the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights from 1990 to 1998.

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

Valerie Gordon Human Rights Lecturers
2013	Philp Alston, John Norton Pomerory Professor of Law, New York University School of Law (watch video)
2012	Terry McGovern, Senior Program Officer, Human Right Division, Ford Foundation (view photos)
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 Schoo
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

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.