Former Governor David Beasley headlines “Food Insecurity: Global and Local,” the Fourth Annual Lectures in Law and Humanities Series

Former South Carolina governor David Beasley—who accepted the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the United Nations World Food Program—will return to Clemson this March as the main speaker for the Clemson Humanities Hub’s fourth annual Lectures in Law and Humanities series, endowed by Loebsack and Brownlee, PLLC.

The 2025 series is aptly titled, “Food Insecurity: Global and Local,” a cause David Beasley has championed for decades. Beasley left the Governor’s office in 1999 and spent the next decade of his life pursuing the cause of peace around the world, visiting over 100 countries and working with on-the-ground program managers on various support projects. In 2017, current and former U.S. Presidents nominated Beasley to become the executive director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). Beasley took over the position in 2017 and served in the role until 2023.

As head of the World Food Program, Beasley raised over $55 billion, assisting at-risk people in over 80 nations. He also raised funding levels from $6 billion a year to over $14 billion, feeding millions during the global pandemic. 

While food insecurity may not seem like an everyday issue, it is still prevalent in many communities. 

“The annual Law and Humanities Series brings experts to campus to raise awareness about pressing global challenges, and to show members of our Clemson community how they can become part of a solution. This year’s theme of ‘Food Insecurity’ could not be more timely or urgent. One quarter of the world’s population struggles with food insecurity, including one in six citizens of South Carolina, and 14,000 residents here in Pickens County. This week of programming will bring together experts working to address this challenge across the world, and in our own backyard.” 

JAMES BURNS, Director of the Clemson Humanities Hub

Alongside Beasley’s talk, the “Food Insecurity: Global and Local” series will host three other events, bringing together multiple perspectives on food security and the legal issues that impact it. The series’ sponsor, Loebsack & Brownlee, PLLC, is led by Clemson alumnus Chris Loebsack ’93, who is past chair of the Clemson Humanities Advancement Board.

“I am thrilled that this year’s Lectures in Law & Humanities Series has taken on a social and legal issue of such magnitude as Food Insecurity,” Loebsack said. “Better still, though, is the fact that we have such an esteemed headlining speaker as former Gov. Beasley and his Nobel Prize joining us on campus in March. This promises to be yet another year of excellence for the series, and the events lined up will allow all members of our community a chance to meaningfully connect with this important issue.”

Beasley’s talk will be held in the Strom Thurmond Institute Auditorium on March 4 at 4 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

The “Food Insecurity: Global and Local” series will also feature William Moseley, DeWitt Wallace Professor of Geography and Director of the Food, Agriculture, and Society Program at Macalester College, as a speaker. Moseley will speak on his new book, Decolonizing African Agriculture: Food Security, Agroecology, and the Need for Radical Transformation on March 3 at 5 p.m. in Hardin Hall 100.

The latter half of the series with include two non-lecture events: a Public Forum on Food Insecurity and a Film Screening of Rooted (2024), a prize-winning documentary on food insecurity.

The Public Forum on Food Insecurity will feature Clemson faculty Arelis Moore, MD, Ph.D., MPH, MEd. (College of Arts and Humanities), Associate Professor of Spanish and Community Health; Jagger Harvey, Ph.D. (College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences), Director of Global Research Initiatives; Brooke Brittain, MS, RD, LD, CHES, CLC (College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences), Associate Director of Food and Nutrition Security; and Clemson student Ellison Fleming, Clemson Paw Pantry Volunteer Coordinator. The Public Forum will also feature Upstate community leaders from a variety of disciplines: Sean Rusnak (MPH, MURP), Consultant at Openfields and Developer of the South Carolina Food Insecurity Risk Map and Susan Frantz, Food Security Director for Livewell Greenville . The forum will be held on March 5 at 1 p.m. in the Honors College Great Hall.

The final event in the series will be a screening of Rooted (2024) in the Watt Family Innovation Center Auditorium on March 6 at 4:30 p.m. Rooted is a food justice documentary that follows Charleston-area activist and urban farmer Germaine Jenkins as she fights to save her cooperative farm, Fresh Future Farm (FFF) and to end the food access disparities in her community. Jenkins will be in attendance at the film screening for a post-viewing conversation.

With the generous support of the Humanities Advancement Board, the Humanities Hub was created to advance the outreach, scholarship and teaching of the humanities at Clemson. Nicknamed the “HumHub”, the organization aims to coordinate and publicize on-and-off-campus humanities events, serving as an outreach center to the community and a localized steward of humanities scholarship and pedagogy on campus. To learn more and keep up with Humanities Hub events, visit their website.