The following is a work of satire. Quotes attributed to named individuals are the Editorial Board’s projection of their anticipated remarks and do not represent their actual statements. The Editorial Board considers this distinction important. Several lawyers also consider it important.
The symposium, billed as a forum for critical inquiry, features a UN housing expert who writes about Israel, a refugee law professor who writes about Palestine, a transitional justice scholar whose transitions are exclusively Palestinian, and a criminal law professor suspended for pro-Palestinian protests. The room is named after a Jewish donor. The chair of one panelist is named after his father. Harvard has determined the conversation is critical.
Harvard Law School will host a symposium on April 8 titled “Colonialism, Empire, and Race: Critical Conversations on Law, Movements, & the University.” It promises to foster, in its own words, “a critical space.” It has five scholars. The five scholars hold, between them, one view. It will be held in Wasserstein Hall. It will be moderated by a scholar whose methodology is defined by not speaking directly about a subject. The Editorial Board reviewed the speaker list. Our findings are below.
Speaker Viewpoint Assessment · Office of Critical Conversation Diversity
Balakrishnan Rajagopal · MIT
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing
Has called Israeli actions in Gaza “international crimes,” urged all countries to halt weapons exports to Israel, praised Palestine’s performance at the ICJ, and compared the Palestinian cause to the Jewish people’s post-Holocaust struggle for accountability. Official mandate: housing. Primary output: Israel.
Professor Streva, speaking nearby: “The dispossession speaks its own coordinates.”
Susan M. Akram · Boston University
Professor and Director, International Human Rights Clinic
Author of “The Failure of the Two-State Solution: Prospects of One State in the Israel-Palestine Conflict.” The one state she has in mind has not been specified. It has been strongly implied. Contributor to the Journal of Palestine Studies. Faculty member at Al-Quds and Birzeit Universities in Palestine. Has argued that Israel constitutes apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. Has not argued for the Israeli right to exist.
Professor Streva, speaking nearby: “The failure of the solution is itself a form of arrival.”
Zinaida Miller · Northeastern University
Professor of Law and International Affairs
Expert in “transitional justice.” Rwanda transitioned. South Africa transitioned. Germany transitioned. Palestine has not transitioned, which is why Professor Miller has written about it exclusively for twenty years. The transitions that succeeded have been referred to colleagues.
Professor Streva, speaking nearby: “The transition that does not come is itself a form of coming.”
Andrew Manuel Crespo · Harvard Law School
Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law
Suspended from Harvard’s library for participating in pro-Palestinian protests. Published “Harvard ‘Embraces Diversity’ on Day of the Dead, Unless the Dead Are Palestinian” in Truthout. Used his Harvard Law School graduation address to denounce injustice in Palestine and praise the courage of anti-Israel student protesters. Holds the Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Chair.
Professor Streva, speaking nearby: “The chair knows who sits in it.”
Juliana Streva · Harvard Law School
Fellow, Institute for Global Law & Policy · Organizer
Transdisciplinary legal scholar and independent filmmaker. Organizer of this symposium. Her academic practice involves, in her own words, “sonic methodologies and audiovisual experimentation, grounded in principles of unmastery and speaking nearby.” Speaking nearby is an academic methodology defined by not speaking directly about a subject. Professor Streva has been appointed to facilitate a conversation. The Editorial Board notes that a person whose academic methodology is defined by not saying what they mean has been placed in charge of a critical conversation.
Morris Wasserstein came to America from Poland and started a ribbon company. His son Bruce attended the Yeshiva of Flatbush, went to Harvard Law School, became one of the most powerful investment bankers on Wall Street, and gave Harvard $25 million. Harvard named the building after the son and the professorship after the father. The professor who holds the Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Chair will spend April 8 in that building discussing how institutions reproduce colonial power structures and whose knowledge they protect. Morris Wasserstein has been deceased since 1980.
Symposium Schedule · April 8, 2026
11:50am · Welcome and Opening Remarks
Panelists will discuss Israel.
12:00pm · Roundtable 1: Social Movements and Modes of Action
Panelists will discuss Israel.
2:00pm · Roundtable 2: Knowledge, Power, and the University
Panelists will discuss Israel.
4:00pm · Film Screening: Orí (1989)
The film is about Brazil. It will be followed by a discussion about Israel.
6:00pm · Adjourn
The building is named after a Jewish family. This has not been discussed.
Harvard’s Office of Viewpoint Diversity, reached for comment, confirmed that the speaker list had been reviewed. It said the panel reflects a wide range of perspectives on colonialism, empire, and race. It was asked whether any of the perspectives included support for the existence of a Jewish state. It said the question was outside the scope of the current inquiry. The subcommittee has not met.
Registration is required. Seating is limited. So are the viewpoints.
Wasserstein Hall is real. The $25 million donation is real. The Morris Wasserstein Professorship is real and is currently held by Professor Crespo. The speaker bios are real and have been drawn directly from their institutional profiles and published work. The Office of Viewpoint Diversity does not exist, which the Editorial Board considers the point. No further action is warranted.
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About This Story
This article is satire. The symposium is scheduled for April 8, 2026 at Harvard Law School. The speaker bios are drawn from real institutional profiles and published work. The Editorial Board applied for a seat on the panel to present a dissenting view. We have not heard back.
If Harvard has determined that no further action is warranted, we have determined that further issues are.
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