Under threatening skies -- both real and metaphorical -- President David Skorton, giving his first Cornell Commencement address Sunday, May 27, before 6,000 graduates, called for a new type of Marshall Plan "to reduce inequalities that put members of your generation in danger." He said he was proposing the plan to honor Cornell's 2007 graduates' hard work and potential.

Speaking in Schoellkopf Stadium at Cornell's 139th Commencement, he warned of "a humanitarian crisis of the first order" that is "a threat to the stability of a world community, intercultural understanding, to peace, and yes, to your future as new graduates."

Skorton cited several sobering statistics, including:

To help alleviate these problems, he called on his counterparts at other universities, in the private and public sector and around the world, to join him "in advocating for a larger unified, cooperative and carefully planned national strategy for reducing global inequalities."

Key to such a strategy would be "alliances based on enlightened self-interest through which we can tackle common or complementary problems."

The president told the audience of 40,000 graduates, families, friends and faculty that since the end of the Cold War, "there has been a steady erosion of America's stature in the world" as the country's credibility wanes. "If we do not respond effectively to the challenge of addressing global inequality, we risk further erosion of America's position as a world leader whose economic and military power is matched by the force of its high ideals," he said.

Remedies must be pursued vigorously, he said. "The problems facing our world are so great and the inequalities so unfair -- and so explosive"; that the United States must provide leadership, "here and now, as it did in the rebuilding of Europe after World War II."

Although there have been many calls over the years for a new Marshall Plan to aid the underdeveloped world, Skorton said that to his knowledge, none has "grasped the potential of universities…to assist countries struggling to meet the needs of their citizens."

As the storm clouds looming over Schoellkopf passed and the sun peeked through, Skorton emphasized that inequality and poverty can be addressed by universities, by developing "human capacity through the dissemination of our research, teaching and outreach." Enhancing human capacity helps to ensure "political stability, security, robust public health and effective education, which, in turn, lead to inquiry, discovery and innovation in places where they are most needed," he said.

Innovation, he observed, leads to economic growth, and "the foundation of innovation is research; and the seat of fundamental research is the university. .... The role of universities in building educational and research capacity in other places is particularly important in a world that has become increasingly distrustful of the U.S. government."

Since its founding, Cornell has had experience in extending its research and education to build human capacity, the president noted. "We are the land-grant university to the world." As such, Skorton said that with other major universities and a firm commitment "Cornell stands poised to be a prime mover in a new Marshall Plan of research, teaching and outreach to address the inequalities and global health challenges that threaten our world."

The stakes, Skorton declared, "are as high -- or higher -- today as they were 60 years ago, and nothing would honor accomplishments of these graduates more than a major national and international effort, centered in our distinguished universities, to create a saner, safer, more sustainable, prosperous, and equal world. "