Before a Rutgers Law–Camden Course Travels to South Africa, a South African Justice Will Visit Class and Deliver a Public Lecture

CAMDEN — Before Rutgers Law–Camden and Rutgers Law–Newark students enrolled in a course on South African Constitutional Law travel to South Africa on a 12-day trip as part of this course, a special guest lecturer will visit them: South African Constitutional Court Justice Johann van der Westhuizen.

At 4 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11, the public is invited to a lecture in the law school in Room E-108 by van der Westhuizen about the role of law and constitutions in repairing past injustices. The talk is titled, “‘Can’t repeat the past? Of course you can’: Using Law and the Constitution to Repair Past Injustices.”

For the past 20 years, Rutgers–Camden has been visiting South Africa with students from across the campus studying the country’s literature, business environment, and Constitution. In the past four years, Rutgers Law-Camden Professor Kimberly Mutcherson has been teaching about the nation’s constitution to law students with a focus on health and human rights.

“South Africa has one of the youngest constitutions out there,” notes Mutcherson. “And it was written with the idea of plugging the gaps in older constitutions.”

For law students learning about the U.S. constitution, studying South Africa’s is an eye-opening experience in what American populations and protections are left out of our centuries-old document.

“Because it was born out of apartheid, the South African constitution offers explicit protections for wide groups of people and specific rights, including proscribing discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sex, and economic status, while also allowing for affirmative action to create greater conditions of equality,” Mutcherson adds.

Last year, for the first time, Rutgers–Newark law students participated in the course and trip. This year, that exchange is even richer because of a new immersive technology classroom in which South African Constitutional Law is held. The course is being co-taught this year by Christina Ho, an assistant professor at the Rutgers School of Law in Newark. Ho and the Newark students will also “meet” the Justice when he visits in Camden and appears via innovative conference connectivity on the 200-inch monitor with stereo sound and studio lighting.

Van der Westhuizen, who is on sabbatical this term, previously served as a professor and chair of the Department of Legal History, Comparative Law and Jurisprudence in the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Law, and is the founding director of the university’s Centre for Human Rights.

Mutcherson says the connection between Camden and South Africa’s Constitutional Court will only strengthen as plans for a clerk exchange between Rutgers Law and South African Constitutional Court clerks are in development, as well as potential short-term teaching opportunities in the law school for South African Constitutional Court justices.

Rutgers University–Camden’s unique relationship with South Africa originated with former dean of students Rory “Cal” Maradonna, who has travelled to the nation every year since 1996. Maradonna continues to plan the trip through the Rutgers–Camden International Studies Program, which offers for-credit and customized trips for approximately 80 students studying urban studies, political science, nursing, business, and law.