2008 Conference Agenda

Greetings
Margot Stern Strom, Executive Director Facing History and Ourselves

Welcome
Martha Minow, Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

The Fourth Pillar: Education and the Right to a Future
Jacqueline Bhabha, Harvard University Jeremiah Smith Jr. Lecturer, Harvard Law School and Director of the Harvard University Committee on Human Rights Studies  

International human rights law guarantees the right to education, but what does this mean in practice for some of the world's most marginalized and deprived children- refugees?  What efforts have been made to address some of the existing obstacles to enjoyment of that right?

Educating in Diverse Societies
What does equal opportunity mean in diverse schools? What's happening in schools with high and diverse immigrant populations? How best can schools reconcile commitments to reproducing nationhood with respect and acknowledgement of pluralism? Do schools with diverse student bodies encourage development of one common identity or instead foster distinctive group identities? What possibilities and restrictions apply to the right to education which requires an allocation of resources, not government power?

Moderator: Adam Strom, Director of Research and Development, Facing History and Ourselves
Panel: Sir Keith Ajegbo, John R. Bowen, Viola Georgi, Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, Patrick Weil

Universality and Identity or Confrontation and Aspiration in what is called an Age of Terror and Globalization
With increasing contact inside of countries of people from different cultures, what is the aspiration that societies should have? Is it coexistence, integration, multiple jurisdictions, tolerance?  What political structures are most likely to produce what you think is the best arrangement?

Moderator: Martha Minow
Panel: Jocelyne Cesari, Noah Feldman, Maleiha Malik, Olivier Roy, Ayelet Shachar, Richard Shweder

Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World
What can we learn from a life wrestling with acting on humanitarian commitments while recognizing and accommodating to political realities?

Samantha Power, Anna Lindh Professor of Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Introduction by Martha Minow

Closing
John Sexton, President of New York University