In a world of bystanders and upstanders, Zachary Kaufman promotes — and is — the latter

Zachary Kaufman was only in the second grade – a young Jewish boy growing up in Morgantown, West Virginia – when his calling came to him, loudly. 

A fellow student, in the throes of antisemitic bullying, rammed Kaufman’s head into a rock until he bled. Kaufman’s shock and pain from the attack were exacerbated by his observation that other children – and some teachers – watched the abuse and did not intervene. 

It was then that Kaufman realized the world was comprised of two types of witnesses: bystanders who do nothing in the face of injustice and upstanders who stand up for what is right. He wondered why there weren’t more of the latter and whether there could be. He also knew, very clearly, that he aspired to be an upstander himself.

Today, Kaufman – a law professor and political scientist at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law – has become the upstander he sought to be. He is an award-winning scholar and practitioner of criminal, international, and national security law, as well as transitional justice. Well-known for his legal, diplomatic, and humanitarian efforts on behalf of post-genocide Rwandans, Kaufman has devoted his wide-ranging career to combating injustice, especially genocide.

“I have long been interested in the legal, political, historical, economic, psychological, and philosophical questions of how and why genocides occur, and what we can do to mitigate or even prevent them,” Kaufman said. “With hate crimes skyrocketing throughout the United States and abroad, and multiple genocides currently occurring throughout the world, it is crucial that we learn historical lessons so we can ensure stable, safe societies in which we can all coexist peacefully and thrive.”

In the past few years, Kaufman’s writing has concentrated on the phenomena that he was first exposed to in elementary school: bystanderism and upstanderism – in domestic, foreign, and international contexts. He is currently working on his fourth book, which is about the law and politics of bystanders and upstanders (under contract with Cambridge University Press). He lectures widely throughout the United States and abroad about these and other topics, having delivered more than 400 lectures to date around the world.

“Recognizing that bystanders enable injustice, I have recently been focusing on how we could prod would-be bystanders and even perpetrators to act instead as upstanders,” Kaufman said. “Doing so could help ameliorate crises, including genocide.”

To this end, Kaufman is working with two other UF faculty members to plan an on-campus symposium for September 30 entitled, “Remembering Rwanda and Lessons Learned: Commemorating the 30^th Anniversary of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda.”

This event is the collaborative brainchild of Kaufman; Miles Larmer, Ph.D., the director of UF’s Center for African Studies; and Norman Goda, Ph.D., the director of UF’s Bud Shorstein Center for Jewish Studies. Goda will provide opening remarks, Larmer will chair the event, and the speakers will include Kaufman; Consolee Nishimwe, a survivor of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda; Sarah McKune, Ph.D., a research associate professor in UF’s Department of Environmental and Global Health; and Jorge Hernandez, Ph.D., a professor and director of graduate education in UF’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Like Kaufman, McKune and Hernandez have had firsthand experience in Rwanda.

“The genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda raged for about 100 days in 1994. At the time, I was finishing my sophomore year in high school. I remember feeling a visceral reaction to the news because of the traumatizing events of my own past and that of my family,” said Kaufman, some of whose relatives were murdered during the Holocaust. “As a Jew who grew up learning about the Holocaust, it was clear that a similar atrocity was being perpetrated in Rwanda. The genocide against the Tutsi was a formative event for me because it was perpetrated precisely as I was really starting to learn about the world – with all its promise and peril – and it has haunted me ever since.”

In 2001, a year after graduating from college and while serving in the U.S. government, Kaufman began working in Rwanda. In addition to his primary job supporting efforts to investigate and prosecute suspected genocide perpetrators, Kaufman became instrumental in building the country’s first public library, helping to bring literature and literacy to a community that lacked this basic civic institution. 

“Like any other post-genocidal society, there was much that needed to be done in Rwanda to help the country recover. I heard that there had never been a public library there. Given how much I love libraries, how crucial they have been to my own life, and how a lack of open access to accurate information contributed to the genocide in Rwanda, I wanted to help create a public library there,” Kaufman said. “It was a long, challenging journey, and one that gave me the opportunity to collaborate with genocide survivors and look to Rwanda’s future while my primary work focused on genocide perpetrators and addressing Rwanda’s past.” 

Kaufman’s early work in Rwanda more than 20 years ago propelled him on a trajectory to his role at UF today. 

“Every time I returned to the United States after working abroad, I received invitations to speak at universities and write about my observations and reflections,” Kaufman said. “Those experiences sparked in me an interest in ultimately pursuing a career in academia.”

In academia, Kaufman has held appointments at several universities, including Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. In the U.S. government, he has served in all three branches, working at the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He has also served in three international courts: the United Nation’s ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and for the Former Yugoslavia; and he was the first American to serve in the world’s first permanent international criminal tribunal, the International Criminal Court. 

In the private sector, Kaufman has worked at Google and O’Melveny & Myers LLP. A life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, he has held leadership positions in legal education, academic organizations, think tanks, and nongovernmental organizations (including the American Friends of the Kigali Public Library, Humanity in Action, and Indego Africa).

Kaufman is just as passionate about his teaching and mentoring as he is about his scholarship. He enjoys getting to know his students at UF on a personal level, whether during office hours or while playing ping-pong and pool in the law school student lounge.

“When teaching, especially my upper-level courses, I often incorporate into the classroom insights I’ve gained from my non-academic work,” Kaufman said. “My students tell me that they appreciate learning more about the ‘real world’ applications and implications of what we’re studying.” 

Kaufman holds a juris doctor degree from Yale Law School (where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law & Policy Review); doctoral and master’s degrees in international relations, both from Oxford University (where he was a Marshall Scholar); and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University (where he was the student body president, co-captain of the wrestling team, and an All-American and Runner-Up National Champion in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association). 

“I’m catching up to my father,” Kaufman said, “who has more degrees than a thermometer.”

Kaufman has also authored or edited three books: "United States Law and Policy on Transitional Justice: Principles, Politics, and Pragmatics" (Oxford University Press, 2016); "Social Entrepreneurship in the Age of Atrocities: Changing Our World" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012); and "After Genocide: Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, and Reconciliation in Rwanda and Beyond" (Oxford University Press, 2009). 

He has written more than 40 articles, essays, and book chapters, and has published opinion pieces in leading U.S. and foreign newspapers, magazines, and blogs. Whether through the written word or by teaching, speaking, and mentoring, Kaufman continues to share his message of justice and tolerance with the world.

“It is incumbent upon all of us to protect and promote human and minority rights,” Kaufman said. “During the darkest nights, we need the brightest lights. We should all be upstanders.”

For more information on Kaufman, visit zacharykaufman.com.