Building Bridges or Borders? Community, Citizenship, and Civil Rights in an Age of Authoritarianism
- Host: Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review, Volume 61
- Date: Friday, April 17
- Time: 8:30am—4:00pm
- Location: Austin 111 West | Harvard Law School
- Registration Form: Please register here.
In 1966, a team of Harvard Law School students gathered in the basement of Hastings Hall and assembled the first edition of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. In the decades since, each edition of this journal has sought to realize their aspiration “to be a review of revolutionary law.” Founded on the promise of the Civil Rights Movement, Harvard CR-CL is a distinctly practical and visionary venture. Today, as our democracy hurtles toward autocracy, we need realism to diagnose how our legal system is complicit in trampling civil rights and civil liberties. We need optimism to understand and capture the law’s ability to invigorate and transform our institutions.
On Friday, April 17, 2026, Harvard CR-CL will honor our founding members’ vision by hosting a 60th Anniversary Symposium. Our theme—Building Bridges or Borders? Community, Citizenship, and Civil Rights in an Age of Authoritarianism— responds to the state’s rapidly accelerating violations of the civil rights and civil liberties of non-citizens and U.S. citizens alike. Our speakers will explore these dimensions through the lens of immigration law enforcement. They hail from the ACLU State Supreme Court Initiative; the City Council of Saint Paul, Minnesota; the University of Minnesota Law School; Boston University School of Law; Boston College Law School; Harvard Law School; and Rutgers Law School.
This Symposium is dedicated to the memory of Professor Spencer H. Boyer, a co-founder of Harvard CR-CL, who passed away in November 2025.
Location: This event will take place in person at Austin Hall, Room 111 West, from 9:30am to 4:00pm. Registration will occur from 8:30 to 9:30am.
This Symposium would not be possible without the support of Bloomberg Law, the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program, Lambda, the West Coast Club, the Plaintiffs Law Association, the Harvard Black Law Students Association, the Systemic Justice Project, and the Law and Social Change Program.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at crcl@mail.law.harvard.edu. Attendance is limited to the Harvard community and invited guests.
If you or an event participant requires disability-related accommodations, please contact Student Support Services in the Dean of Students Office (WCC 3039) at studentsupport@law.harvard.edu or 617-495-1880.