Jeffrey Sachs to lecture on global poverty

Brian Farkas Editor in Chief

Renowned international economist and advisor to the United Nation Jeffrey Sachs will speak to the Vassar community on April 24 in the Chapel at 6 p.m.

Sachs is the author of the 2005 New York Times bestseller The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, as well as the recently released Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet. Time Magazine has twice recognized Sachs as one of the world’s 100 most influential leaders.

His visit is sponsored by Operation Donation, a Vassar student organization that is concerned with poverty on local, national and global levels. Since it was founded three years ago, the group has donated over $50,000 worth of groceries and money to Poughkeepsie-area non-profit organizations.

Founder of Operation Donation Jimmy Kelly ’09 and President Rachel Glicksman ’09 found Sachs’ e-mail address on the Columbia University Web site, where Sachs is a professor, and invited him to Vassar. Neither expected a response.

“We feel quite honored,” said Kelly after Sachs accepted. “He receives many similar requests.” The publication of his new book, Common Wealth, as well as Vassar’s proximity to Columbia, were factors in his decision to speak, according to Kelly. Though Sach’s usually charges over $30,000 for his appearances he will be speaking at Vassar free of charge.

“Sachs is arguably the foremost development economist in the world,” said Kelly.

“I think his lecture has the potential to inform students on the scale of global poverty and will give them hope that our generation is capable of significantly reducing that poverty.”

Sachs is best known for his work on the as a Special Advisor to the United Nations, working with Secretary General Kofi Annan on the Millennium Development Goals from 2002-2006.

Sachs has also helped to devise a plan of coalition building to eliminate extreme poverty by 2015.

Sachs has come up in Vassar classes as well. Students read Sachs’ articles in Assistant Professor of Economics Patricia Jones’ developmental economics class. “[His] goals are a set of measurable targets for combating poverty and raising the living standards of the world’s most extreme poor,” said Jones.

“In addition, Sachs has been a strong advocate for increasing the level of foreign aid to poor countries,” Jones said.

Aside from being a leading voice in economic development, Sachs has also advocated environmental sustainability as Director of the Earth Institute, where he leads large-scale efforts to promote the mitigation of human-induced climate change. Common Wealth, released earlier this year, tackles issues that Sachs considers the greatest challenges facing our planet, including poverty, population growth, climate change, and environmental destruction.

Kelly hopes that Sachs will stir up support for anti-poverty efforts on campus. “We hope that his lecture will provide motivation to students and the broader community that they can make an impact on issues of poverty. As Sachs said, we are the first generation that can end extreme poverty. That’s our good fortune, our challenge and our responsibility.”

“His real importance, to me at least, and I think to this group, is that he provides a clear solution to how to end global poverty.,” said Glicksman. “So often while reading about the problems in other countries there doesn’t seem to be any clear answer to resolve them.”

Glicksman said that while she was abroad in Ecuador this past fall, poverty-related problems seemed insurmountable to her, but Sachs provides a clear plan to eradicate such issues.

She said that he “provides a way to cut through the confusion and create hope. It’s not that his solutions are simple; it’s that he simply provides a solution to such complex and often overwhelming problems.” Glicksman added that she hoped that his lecture would “inspire students that it’s worth it to get involved and that we actually can effect change within our lifetime.”