2026 Roger Wilkins Lecture: DEI and the retreat from civil rights

Sherrilyn Ifill, Vernon Jordan Distinguished Professor in Civil Rights at Howard Law School

Tuesday, October 27, 2026 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM EDT
Johnson Center, Dewberry Hall

The 2026 Roger Wilkins Lecture features Sherrilyn Ifill, one of the nation’s leading civil rights lawyers. Ifill is the Vernon Jordan Distinguished Professor in Civil Rights at Howard University School of Law and founding director of the 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy. From 2013 to 2022, she served as President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Ifill will deliver the lecture “DEI and the Retreat from Civil Rights.”

The annual Roger Wilkins Lecture is named in honor of Roger Wilkins, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, civil rights leader, and longtime George Mason professor. The lecture brings leading public figures, scholars, policymakers, and legal thinkers to Mason for discussion of major questions of democracy, law, justice, and public affairs.

The event is free and open to the George Mason community and the public.