Peter Edelman, director of the Center on Poverty, Inequality and Public Policy as well as a law professor at Georgetown University, will be the inaugural speaker for Stetson University’s new Social Justice Lecture Series, on Wednesday, Oct. 16. His lecture, “So Rich, So Poor: Why It’s So Hard to End Poverty in America,” will take place at 8 p.m. in the Stetson Room, second floor of the Carlton Union Building, 131 East Minnesota Ave., on Stetson’s DeLand campus. This event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Edelman is an anti-poverty advocate who served as a top adviser to Senator Robert F. Kennedy from 1964-1968. During the Clinton administration, Edelman resigned from his position with the Department of Health and Human Services in protest of welfare reform legislation.

Ethel Kennedy remarked, “Bobby believed that, ‘as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil.’ Much has changed in 45 years, but as Peter eloquently reminds us, far too many Americans remain trapped in the web of economic injustice. His compassionate and singular voice awakens our conscience and calls us to action.”

Edelman earned his A.B. degree from Harvard College and LL.B. degree from Harvard Law School. For those unable to attend the lecture on Oct. 16, Edelman will also speak the following evening at Stetson’s College of Law in Gulfport. The Oct. 17 lecture begins at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:30) in the Great Hall at the College of Law, 1401 61st  Street South. Both events are free and open to the public.

Read Stetson Today’s story on The Predicament of Pervasive Poverty to learn more about guest speaker Peter Edelman and the university’s new Social Justice Lecture Series website.

For more information, please contact Joshua Rust, associate professor, Philosophy, (386) 822-7581, [email protected].

In addition to Professor Rust and Law Professor Robert Bickel, members of the Social Justice Lecture Series committee include Yolany Gonell, director of diversity and inclusion; student Alicja Duda; and Amy Gipson, director of strategic communications and assistant to the president.