The Darden School held a symposium on poverty yesterday aimed at informing MBA students about the issue and discussing how they can affect change.
Sponsored by several organizations, including the Boston Consulting Group and the Darden Student Association, the event was open to both students and community members.
The symposium opened with a video and discussion informing the attendees the state of poverty, both locally and globally. Attendees were challenged to think of how they could responsibly use their skills and resources in a world where half the population lives on less than two dollars a day.
"As MBAs, our ties to poverty are not becoming stronger, but are becoming weaker," said Tierney Fairchild, Ph.D., an opening speaker. "Income gaps are widening and when we look at poverty we need to think of what our obligations are."
After the discussion, guests attended different "pod breakout sessions" in which speakers addressed issues ranging from disparities in wealth to trends in race. The sessions included speakers such as Jim Lowry from the Boston Consulting Group and Guian McKee of the Miller Center.
The event ended with a speech from Peter Kiernan, chairman of the Christopher Reeves Foundation and a Darden graduate.
Second-year Darden student Ayodeli Cole, who planned the symposium, said it is the "little things" that can make a difference in fighting poverty. She mentioned ways in which MBAs can make a difference in their businesses by simply helping unskilled workers with childcare and transportation.
Cole said she was inspired to organize the event due to the poverty present in Georgetown, Guiana, where she was born.
"When you step out of the United States, poverty is right in your face, it's not hiding," Cole said. "Knowing that I am so privileged now, I feel that I have an obligation to manage that privilege."
Cole said she hopes the symposium will become "an annual event that might eventually focus on specific issues each year."
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