Information for Members

Gender Activism: Talk and Q&A with Zach Strassburger
When: Thursday, February 27 at 12:00 p.m.
Where: Pound Hall 102 – HLS

Join Zach Strassburger, the transgender rights activist who successfully campaigned for gender neutral restrooms at Wesleyan University, for a lunchtime talk and Q&A. Strassburger has been featured in the New York Times and the Huffington Post for hir student activism, which resulted in Wesleyan becoming one of the first universities to make the change in 2004.

Strassburger graduated from Wesleyan University in 2006 and went on to work at the Urban Justice Center’s Mental Health Project and the Legal Aid Society of New York City. He attended Yale Law School, graduating in 2012 and publishing the student note, “Disability Law and the Disability Rights Movement for Transpeople” in the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism. Strassburger is currently an Equal Justice Works Fellow in her hometown of Pittsburgh, PA.

Strassburger will discuss the philosophies underlying the gender neutral movement and the practicalities of changing policy. This session will also briefly discuss efforts to have HLS convert some of its restrooms to gender neutral restrooms. Thai food will be served (vegetarian and non-vegetarian options available).

This event is cosponsored by Advocates.

Civic Duty and Brain Drain: Challenges of an Afghan Pioneer
When: Thursday, February 27 at 12:00 p.m.
Where: WCC 2004 – HLS

Shabana Basij-Rasikh did much of her learning under the Taliban. She traveled dressed as a boy and crammed into a crowded living room with a hundred other girls to receive an extremely rare–and extremely dangerous–education. After the U.S. military invasion in 2001, a United States program called YES sent Shabana to Middlebury College in Vermont, where she graduated magna cum laude. She returned to Afghanistan to co-found the country’s first girl’s boarding and prep school with an American man, Ted Achilles. Ted had become disenchanted with the U.S. efforts to send young Afghans to foreign universities because, while Shabana was a success story, many students did not return to Afghanistan.

Join Shabana to discuss the challenges facing a pioneer in education: brain drain, student safety in an environment still hostile to women’s learning, and using education to create lasting Afghan and global stability.

Lunch from Clover will be provided.

This is an Armed Forces Association event sponsored by HLS WLA Women’s Venture Fund and cosponsored by Law and International Development Society.

Ambassador Cui Tiankai: China’s role in the Asia-Pacific region and China-U.S. relations
When: Friday, February 21 at 4:00pm
Where: John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, Harvard Kennedy School

As part of the Future of Diplomacy Project’s series looking at international actors in Asia-Pacific, the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the US, Cui Tiankai will offer his remarks at a John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum in partnership with Harvard’s Institute of Politics.

Ambassador Cui Tiankai is a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. He studied at East China Normal University and the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University. From 2007-2009, he served as the Chinese Ambassador to Japan. Before becoming Ambassador to the U.S. in April 2013, he served as Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Transforming the United Nations System – Designs for a Workable World,” with University of Minnesota Professor, Joseph E. Schwartzberg
When: Wednesday, February 19 at 1:00pm
Where: Perkins Conference Room (Rubenstein building, 4th floor) – HKS

Please join University of Minnesota Professor, Joseph E. Schwartzberg when he discusses “Transforming the United Nations System – Designs for a Workable World.” Professor Kathryn Sikkink moderates. Global problems require global solutions. However, the United Nations, as presently constituted, is incapable of addressing many global problems effectively. One nation-one vote decision making in most UN agencies fails to reflect the distribution of power in the world at large, while the allocation of power in the Security Council is both unfair and anachronistic. Hence, nations are reluctant to endow the United Nations with the authority and the resources it needs. Extensive reform is essential. Joseph E. Schwartzberg is Distinguished International Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota.

Negotiating Identity Talk and Kickoff Event with Bob Bordone
When: Monday, February 17 at 12:00pm
Where: WCC 1010 – HLS

Join us in WCC 1010 for to hear Professor Robert Bordone, Director of the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinic, discuss “The Negotiation Within: The Impact of Internal Conflict Over Identity and Role on Across-the-Table Negotiations.” Lunch will be served.

Professor Bordone’s talk will kick off the new Harvard Negotiator’s initiative, Negotiating Identity in the Workplace.  The initiative will use speakers, facilitated dialogues and social events to discuss how we navigate and negotiate identities (racial, gender, sexual orientation, religious, and political, among others) and roles (for example, “daughter,” “father,” “lawyer,” or “teammate”) both internally and externally, when we work and plan our careers. The first facilitated dialogue will take place on February 25 . RSVP and more information here.

Calling all 1Ls: Register for the 61st Annual Williston Negotiation Competition by Feb. 17

Sign up for HLS’s annual simulated negotiation competition for 1Ls, hosted by the Harvard Negotiators and the Board of Student Advisors. No experience necessary–just sign up with a partner or as an individual for this contract negotiation and drafting competition. The competition will take place from Mar. 3 to 10 and involves negotiating with your team on your own time. Average time spent is 10 to 20 hours. Cash prize and names on a plaque in Langdell! Questions? Contact Natasha (nsarin@jd14.law.harvard.edu).

Register with this form by Feb. 17: http://tinyurl.com/Williston2014