Jerusalem, May 22, 2008 - Leading international human rights advocate Prof. Catharine MacKinnon is to receive an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as part of the 71st meeting of the university's Board of Governors on Sunday June 1 2008 in recognition of her work in advancing gender equality.

According to Hebrew University President Prof. Menachem Magidor, the degree is being awarded to her "in deep recognition of her important and pioneering contribution to equality between the sexes and human rights, and in thanks to her warm friendship with the Hebrew University."

Prof. Catharine MacKinnon is a pioneering lawyer of international renown, a leader in feminist jurisprudence and an international human rights advocate. She has broken new ground in gender equality in both international and constitutional law. Her insights on the legal concept of equality have transformed legal and philosophical thinking of sexual harassment, pornography, free speech and international law.

She has represented Bosnian women survivors of Serbian genocidal sexual atrocities since 1992, winning with a damage award of $745 million in August 2000. Their case, Kadic v. Karadzic, first recognized rape as an act of genocide.

Prof. MacKinnon is a professor of law at the University of Michigan and has taught at the universities of Yale, Chicago, Stanford and Columbia. She is the author of eleven books and numerous articles that form the basis of feminist legal dialogue, and is among one of the most quoted lawyers in the English language.

On Thursday, May 29, Prof. MacKinnon will participate in a conference on 'Women's Status, Men's States', under the auspices of the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University and the Minerva Center for Human Rights. The conference will take place in the Ezequiel Liwerant-Fomento Mexico Hall on Mount Scopus campus from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The award ceremony for honorary doctorates will take place on Sunday, June 1 at 5.30 p.m. at Mount Scopus campus. Among the ten people receiving awards this year are French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin and American scientist Prof. Charles J. Arntzen.

For further information, contact:

Rebecca Zeffert, Dept. of Media Relations, the Hebrew University, tel: 02-588-1641, cell: 054-882-0661

or Orit Sulitzeanu, Hebrew University spokesperson, tel: 02-5882910, cell: 054-882-0016. 

Internet site: http://media.huji.ac.il

Rebecca Zeffert

Foreign Press Liaison

Dept. of Media Relations

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Tel: +972 (0)2-588 1641

Cell: +972 (0)54 882 0661

E-mail: rebeccaz@savion.huji.ac.il

www.huji.ac.il

http://media.huji.ac.il