Prior to Public Talk, Smith Professor
To Be Honored for Sudan Advocacy

Eric Reeves, professor of English at Smith College and a noted activist on behalf of human rights in Sudan, will be honored by the U. S. Committee for Refugees at a ceremony at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 30, in Wright Hall Auditorium.

Roger Winter, executive director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees, will present Reeves with a certificate of recognition and appreciation. Reeves has devoted the last year and a half to full-time advocacy work on behalf of Sudan, site of the most destructive civil conflict in the last half century.

Reeves will be recognized in particular for his widely published work calling attention to Sudan's vast and ongoing humanitarian crisis. Through essays published in newspapers ranging from the Washington Post to the Los Angeles Times to the (Toronto) Globe and Mail, Reeves has highlighted the role of oil development in sustaining Sudan's 17-year-old war. He has testified about Sudan in several venues, including hearings held by the U.S Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The U.S. Committee for Refugees is one of the most distinguished of American non-governmental organizations working on behalf of Sudan. Winter, who has directed the committee since 1981, has championed Sudan's cause over two decades and has traveled to the country dozens of times, helping to provide critically important information about this largely invisible war.

Following the award presentation, Reeves will present a talk titled "Sudan--Suffering a Long Way Off." His lecture is free, open to the public and wheelchair-accessible. It will be followed by a reception hosted by the Kahn Liberal Arts Institute, in which Reeves serves as a faculty fellow for the year-long research project "The Anatomy of Exile."

For more information about the Kahn Institute or upcoming events of "The Anatomy of Exile" project, call (413) 585-3721. For more information about the U.S. Committee for Refugees, visit http://www.refugees.org.

Contact: Laurie Fenlason, lfenlason@smith.edu, (413) 585-2190

October 16, 2000