POINTS OF VIEW
Leadership is doing the right thing Responsibility. Loyalty. Duty to family and community. Respect for authority. Collective behaviour. Timeless words, used to describe timeless leadership, and leaders we respect and emulate. In fact, many leaders do exemplify these qualities. Classic as these words are, however, they were used to describe the character of Nisei, second-generation Japanese-Canadians, six of whom enrolled in the fledgling UBC Department of Commerce in 1941 under the first head of the department, Ellis Morrow. ALONG WITH UBC PIONEER HENRY ANGUS,
of 1942, 22,000 had been evacuated from
trumped discrimination—despite the rejection
Dr. Morrow championed the rights and
coastal BC.
of many students of Japanese-Canadian
participation of a growing number of Nisei
Despite this turmoil, Dr. Morrow’s “boys”—
ancestry from post-secondary studies such as
students hoping for opportunities in business.
the UBC Commerce class of 1942—graduated,
accounting and law. Dr. Morrow continued to
At a time when other realms of work were
and all but one were able to do so in Vancouver.
open doors for his students, even as they left
actively practicing discrimination, Dr. Morrow
But with a stroke of Prime Minister Mackenzie
BC for Ontario and Quebec, and over the years,
fostered strong ties with the downtown business
King’s pen, the hopes of six promising business
his “investment” was repaid with success. They
community, and personally invested in the
graduates had disappeared along with their
landed at Harvard, in senior government and
placement of his graduates with respected firms.
families and their belongings.
corporate positions, and in entrepreneurial
Described by some as a “benevolent father” figure, he fussed and fretted, and was distressed when he lost touch with his “boys,” as he called them. While such mentorship might seem commonplace within a small school at the time, it’s important to remember the backdrop of the day. With the bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1941, and World War II in full swing, the Canadian government demanded the removal of
“As we study leaders and their impact in this issue of Viewpoints, we need look no further than the roots of the Sauder School of Business itself...” Ellis Morrow never gave up on his students;
all “enemy aliens” from coastal areas of British
he followed their struggles, and strongly
Columbia. Hastings Park in Vancouver was a first
supported their aspirations beyond menial
roundup destination; there, more than 4,000
work and internment camp life. In time, all
lived in makeshift tents before being moved to
the boys left the camps to seek a better life in
internment camps in the BC interior. By October
Eastern Canada, where, on occasion, opportunity
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FALL/WINTER 2012 VIEWPOINTS
ventures. They lived lives that embodied their Nisei character. They did their mentor proud. All are gone now, including Ellis Morrow. But as we study leaders and their impact in this issue of Viewpoints, we need look no further than the roots of the Sauder School of Business itself, where the character of leaders, present and future, is sketched, and where a school’s commitment to doing what is right helps build the right leaders for our time. ■
Sheila Biggers ASSOCIATE DEAN, DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT