Thu, October 28, 2021
Dinner Program

In an age of resentment, mass incarceration, exploding student debt, and recriminations across social media and communities, forgiveness is an under-utilized resource especially in law and politics. When and how can laws, courts, public officials and neighbors forgive crimes and debts? Can pardons and amnesties be fairly granted or inevitably reflect the biases of the powerful? Should law encourage people to forgive? Martha Minow, 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard University and former dean of Harvard Law School, explores the promise and limitations of forgiveness within and beyond law amid a global pandemic, reckonings about racial and gender-based wrongs, and political anxiety.

As one of CMC’s 75th Anniversary Distinguished Speakers, Professor Minow will highlight issues in “Unity and Division,” one of the three academic collaboration themes of our special 75th Anniversary celebration.