Letter From The President By Phillip W. Hurd, CISSP, CISA President
As President, I recently discovered I actually don’t get to see much of the cities where our conferences are held. However, at our midyear in Seattle, I did manage to get out and visit the first Starbucks store. It was a somewhat unimpressive store, no doubt indicative of the humble roots of the corporation, but it is visited by tens of thousands of people annually. I, like most tourists, purchased a coffee and a souvenir mug. It was rather late at night, at least for me, when we were at the store. As I waited to purchase my coffee mug I noticed that it said, “Made in Ohio.” I queried the store clerk as to why it was made in Ohio as opposed to China, as most of the other mugs were. His response reminded me why I love higher education. Apparently, around the town in Ohio where these mugs are made, the economy had been hit particularly hard over the past several years. The owners of Starbucks were in the process of moving their mug-making process and selected that site–even though it was a bit more expensive–to help give the economy of that area a boost because “a friend had asked.” Because of the large volume of mugs made, the economy surrounding that area has picked back up. As the manager of the Starbucks continued to talk to me, he told me how the organization had wanted to be “economy conscious,” as it related to the U.S. economy. Almost as a side note, and with no prompting from me, he also mentioned how some accountants and auditors had cautioned against moving Chinese-based mug operations to the U.S. I said nothing but realized that it illustrated a stark contrast between the types of auditors that I see in higher education and those that I’ve known in the corporate environment where profit is a–or the– primary driver. It also made me glad that the concepts of corporate responsibility and personal relationships were not lost. I couldn’t help but think back on all the times when I’ve cautioned Georgia Tech’s administration about the cost associated with a particular move of resources or people. It also made me glad that the concepts of corporate responsibility and personal relationships were not lost.
My recommendations, while primarily financially driven, are also influenced by ethics, responsibility, support of the State of Georgia and other “corporate responsibilities.” Usually, management is very receptive and often follows the path I’ve suggested, but I’ve found myself wondering if in the “dog eat dog” world of corporate America whether similar recommendations would be as well received.
I will likely never know the answer to that as I am very happy in my job at Georgia Tech, but it also gave me great comfort to know that the folks in ACUA all seem to have an understanding of the tremendous responsibility that goes along with assessing such levels of money, knowledge, resources and people in the framework of more than money. One of the key founding documents of the United States says, “… But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security…” I’ve always liked that particular line because in modern-day English it roughly translates to, “those people who have the ability to change their world, and see it needs to be changed, also have the responsibility to do it.” In higher education we face the daunting task of assisting in changing the world: assessing the postures, the ethics and the control systems of repositories of knowledge and education that possess more knowledge now than has ever existed in any era of history and doing it in an ever-changing, dynamic complexity that is distributed around the U.S. and, in many cases, the world. Yet we do it, in part, because we know the world can be, and is becoming, a better place. I know that is a lot to ponder so I suggest that you go to the local Starbucks, have a coffee and think about your responsibility and ability and what you’re going to do with them. May the 12 great riches of life be with you. n
3 College & University Auditor