Police brutality to be discussed at Human Rights symposium

The University’s Human Rights Program will offer a symposium Wednesday, Feb. 13, that will analyze alleged brutality by police officers in Chicago through the lens of international human rights law.

“Police brutality has always been viewed as a purely domestic and local matter. We hope the symposium provides a fresh perspective by looking at this issue in the broader context of international law,&148; said Susan Gzesh, director of the program.

Herschella Conyers, Clinical Assistant Professor in the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic at the Law School, will moderate the symposium panel, which will include attorneys, a pathologist and a journalist who all have been involved with cases of alleged police brutality.

The panel also includes Locke Bowman, Director of the MacArthur Justice Center; Robert Kirschner, Clinical Associate in Pathology and Pediatrics and Medical School forensic pathologist; and Juan Mendez, a professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School and a commissioner on the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights of the Organization of American States.