Enough Project Co-founder and Human Rights Activist John Prendergast to Share His Experiences With Yale Community

Yale Law School is fortunate to welcome to campus this semester renowned human rights activist and author John Prendergast as the Tom and Andi Bernstein Distinguished Human Rights Fellow. Prendergast is co-founder of the Enough Project, an initiative to end genocide and crimes against humanity, as well as strategic advisor to Not On Our Watch, the international advocacy and aid organization co-founded by George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Brad Pitt, and other celebrity activists. He has been involved in numerous human rights and peace initiatives and organizations and is the author of ten books, including “Unlikely Brothers,” written with his “Little Brother” Michael Mattocks, a former drug dealer who turned his life around; and the New York Times bestseller “Not On Our Watch,” co-authored with Don Cheadle.

As a fellow, Prendergast will be in residence at Yale Law School in October and November and will engage with the University community through a variety of events, including class discussions, lectures, a film viewing and a Master’s Tea.

“John’s visit will be enormously enriching for the Law School and University communities,” said Clinical Professor James Silk ’89, executive director of the Schell Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School. “He has been an important leader in campaigns to stop genocide and mass atrocities, particularly in Africa, working both as a policy maker inside the Clinton White House and as an innovative advocate. We are grateful that the Tom and Andi Bernstein Fellowship gives us this opportunity to have John share the depth and diversity of his human rights experience with us.”

“John’s tireless efforts to combat genocide and give voice to the oppressed make him a superb choice for the fellowship,” said Tom Bernstein BA ’74 JD ’77 who, with his wife Andi, established the fellowship in 2009. “John is a model of commitment, courage and effectiveness, and his presence will both educate and inspire Yale students.”

The Tom and Andi Bernstein Distinguished Human Rights Fellowship was established to bring to Yale each semester an experienced human rights activist who could benefit both from time away from the immediate demands of the work and from time at Yale Law School, and whose human rights expertise and experience enrich the Law School and University communities.

Several of the events in which Prendergast will participate are open to the public, including:

• Monday, Oct. 3 – Master’s Tea, Trumbull College Common Room, 4:00 p.m.
• Monday, Oct. 31 – Talk entitled “Why Somalia is Starving and What To Do About It,” Yale Law School Room 127, 6:10 p.m.
• Wednesday, Nov. 2 – Talk entitled “South Sudan’s Success and Darfur’s Failure and the Implications of the Arab Spring for Sudan,” Yale Law School Room 127, 6:10 p.m.
• Thursday, Nov. 3 – “Unlikely Brothers” book signing at Yale Bookstore
• Monday, Nov. 7 – Viewing of the film “Blood in the Mobile,” with discussion led by John Prendergast, Yale Law School Room 127, 6:10 p.m.

For more information, contact schell.law@yale.edu.