Yale Symposia : Supply Chain Equity: Modern Slavery, Architecture, and Construction

Location: Hastings Hall, basement level of Paul Rudolph Hall, 180 York Street

Description: The ongoing legacy of chattel slavery and the persistence of modern slavery weigh on the architecture, construction, and engineering industries from material supply chains to the jobsite. A course on slavery in the built environment, taught simultaneously at Yale and the  University of Michigan, with support from the Yale Law School and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, has invited students to reckon with these challenges. While the professions recognize the necessity of this work, the inertial weight of current practice and systems have sidelined early efforts to confront modern slavery. And yet the momentum for change continues. Disclosure legislation in the United Kingdom and Australia is being supplemented by EU-level human rights due-diligence responsibilities around forced labor. Stepped-up U.S. customs enforcement preventing the entry of tainted goods puts “just-in-time” sourcing at risk. Architecture and law students—and colleagues from…