The Hope Lewis Visiting Lecture: Gay McDougall

The inaugural Hope Lewis Visiting Lecture will be held on March 26 in honor of the late Hope Lewis, a globally renowned legal scholar and advocate for human rights. This annual event honors Professor Lewis’ enduring legacy by bringing together the Northeastern Law community and the public to engage with pressing human rights issues. Each year, the lecture features a keynote address by a distinguished advocate, jurist or scholar who has effectively championed human rights in the United States or internationally.

Human Rights and the UN System

Keynote Speaker:
Gay McDougall
Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence
Leitner Center for International Law and Justice, Fordham University School of Law

The inaugural visiting lecturer is Gay McDougall, a human rights leader, attorney and distinguished scholar in residence at Fordham Law’s Leitner Center for International Law and Justice. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, known as a “genius grant,” McDougall has been a leader in human rights within the United Nations for more than three decades, holding several important positions, including as the first UN independent expert on minority issues. McDougall currently serves as vice chair of the UN Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, which oversees compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. She played a pivotal role in ending apartheid in South Africa, serving on the electoral commission for the country’s first democratic elections, and was awarded the Order of O.R. Tambo Medal for her extraordinary contributions.

McDougall will deliver her keynote address, Human Rights and the UN System, on March 26, during a three-day visit to Northeastern Law (March 25–27). She will also engage with students, faculty and staff, sharing insights from her work on issues of race, equity and justice in the global context.

The lecture series will open with a celebration in Northeastern University’s Curry Ballroom on March 25, featuring a musical tribute by award-winning R&B singer-songwriter Danielle Ponder ’11, a former student of the late Hope Lewis.

Moderator:
Zinaida Miller
Professor of Law, Co-Faculty Director, Center for Global Law and Justice, Northeastern University School of Law

Northeastern Law’s Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR) proudly hosts this lecture series.

This program is made possible by a gift from the estate of Hope Lewis and Blossom Stephenson to the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern University. Hope Lewis was a beloved professor at Northeastern University School of Law from 1992 until her untimely death in 2016. Professor Lewis, an extraordinary advocate and mentor to students and colleagues, was internationally recognized for her scholarship in the area of human rights, the rights of non-citizens and persons with disabilities.

> Read more about Professor Lewis