THE JUSTICE
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2011
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FUND: Grant augments BSF
WHISTLE-BLOWER
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JOSHUA LINTON/the Justice
BUSINESS ETHICS: Sherron Watkins (above) spoke with Alison Bass about the role of both journalists and whistle-blowers.
event. “We don’t have anything tied to this gift, so it is up to the school to decide what they want to do with it. ... This is one of the most exciting gifts that we have given out. When we pulled that application out and saw that the efforts of the University dovetailed some of our efforts, we were all thrilled,” said McCoy. Senior Vice President for Administration at Brandeis Mark Collins spoke about the development of BSF and the drive for sustainability at Brandeis over the past 25 years. The check was presented to Cohen-Rosenthal, Collins, Purdy and Student Union President Herbie Rosen ’12. In an interview with the Justice, Vice President of Product and Marketing for NOF Kourtney Smith explained that NOF spent 120 days promoting the program through electronic marketing and received 1,300 applications from educational institutions. “The process is a completely random draw from our computer system. Brandeis was the winner, and we were all thrilled. To read how Janna described the money would be used is actually a perfect match
for what we as a company believe in,” said Smith. Smith added that NOF is “excited” to see how Brandeis will distribute the funds. “On the topic of sustainability you can never go wrong. It doesn’t specifically matter to us what the money is used for as long as it is something that will benefit the University and make the students feel part of something bigger, we will be proud,” she said. The BSF was created by a student body vote two years ago when students decided to start collecting and raising money to support campus environmental sustainability projects. According to the BSF homepage, the fund “provides grants, advice and support to any undergraduate student for their projects promoting sustainability.” Every semester there is a $15 “green fee” added to each student’s tuition. This money is taken out and put into the BSF. The fund is money for students to implement their ideas on how to make the Brandeis community less ecologically destructive and more sustainable. Last year about $50,000 was given out to fund five sustainability projects on campus.
ENRON: Watkins alerted Lay to accounting fraud CONTINUED FROM 1
to describe the Enron's demise. She compared the tale’s emperor to Lay and equated his disregard of his kingdom and attention to his clothes to Lay’s focus on the price of the company’s stock rather than its overall goals. Watkins said that even higher-ups had difficulty speaking up regarding the company’s financial situation. “We hired the sharpest accountants, the sharpest bankers. Arthur Andersen is the most well respected accounting firm, [so if] they’ve signed off on [documents], … even our board of directors was intimidated into saying, ‘What brilliance!’” Up until late 2001, the company had been incredibly successful, doubling its stock price every three years in what Watkins described as a “phenomenal performance.” Enron had been “well regarded throughout the media empire and the business financial press, in business schools and, of course, on Wall Street” prior to the scandal, Watkins said. However, the company crumbled quickly; less than two months after Watkins met with Lay, Enron filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 2, 2001. This quick downturn also turned out to be her saving grace. “Enron imploded too fast to actually fire me,” she said, referring to the consequences she might have faced for whistle-blowing. Dana Gold, director of the American Whistleblower Tour: Essential Voices for Accountability, through which Watkins was brought to campus, moderated the discussion and provided a legal perspective on the
issue. She explained that a whistleblower is a “current employee of a company who discloses concerns in a reasonably believed evidence of, [for example,] a violation of laws.” Gold noted that Watkins’ fate is one that is unique to most whistleblowers. Watkins admitted that she has heard from many people who “did something like what I did and their lives have been wrecked … in every single, solitary way. … Because they spoke truth to power and the emperor crushed them, crushed them like a bug.”
☛ Read an exclusive interview with Sherron Watkins online at go.thejustice.org/enron At the time she approached Lay, Watkins believed the company could still be resurrected. “I felt as if this was very significant fraud, that a company rarely recovers from cooking the books to this magnitude, [but] if they are going to recover, they needed to come clean on their own.” But throughout fall 2001, she noted that “no one took [her] concerns seriously.” Turning the discussion toward the relationship between whistle-blowers and journalists, Gold cited the issue of the Pentagon Papers in 1977, which she claimed is a “great example of the important relationship between whistle-blowers and … the media, or journalism, as a vehicle to
get that information out.” Watkins acknowledged that she is “often criticized” for not bringing her story to the press, but defends herself by asking her audience, “Please show me evidence where someone reported financial fraud and a financial journalist listened.” Bass recognized Watkins’ point and agreed that “it’s tough when somebody calls you up, out of the blue [as a sort of whistle-blower]. … You don’t know what their motivations are. … Just like it takes individuals who will speak truth to power, it also takes journalists who are willing to challenge authority and speak truth to power.” Leigh Nusbaum ’11 attended the lecture and was impressed by Watkins’ approach to the situation. “It seems like it’s so easy [to just speak the truth],” she said in an interview with the Justice. “But when you hear about the pitfalls … that other people have gone through [as a result], it really shows how courageous people like Watkins are to blow the whistle on fraudulent corporate practices.” Daniel Werl ’15 agreed, and said that he did not realize how serious the repercussions of whistle-blowing could be. “It’s interesting to hear that these stories have terrible consequences for standing up for what’s right and end up going so wrong,” he said in an interview with the Justice. Watkins made it clear that blowing the whistle on such an immense issue is something from which she has yet to fully recover. “It’s ancient history to you guys,” she told the audience, but “it feels like a recent current event to me.”
SCIENCE: Researchers find protein CONTINUED FROM 1
investigated, because until now, scientists and researchers thought the Parkinson’s protein lacked structure. The possibility that the protein does have a structure means that an approach can now be considered, according to the press release. Quyen Hoang, who was a postdoctoral researcher in the PetskoRinge lab and is continuing with
the research in his own lab at Indiana University School of Medicine, played a key role in developing the methodology to produce the protein. In an email to the Justice, Hoang described his involvement. “A traditional method for isolating alpha-synuclein involves boiling the protein sample,” explained Hoang. “I felt that the boiling step could denature the protein; there-
fore, I developed a purification procedure that avoided the need for boiling, thereby maintaining the protein in its native form.” Hoang added that his research is important at the molecular level. “Now that we understand a little more about the disease [Parkinson’s] process at the molecular level, we can start to think of ways to alter the course of the disease,” wrote Hoang.
ANDREW WINGENS/the Justice
CHECK GRANTED: (From left) Senior Vice President Mark Collins, Herbie Rosen ’12 and Lisa Purdy ’14 received a check for the BSF from National Office Furniture.
BRIEF
Aspen Institute ranks Heller MBA
The Heller School of Social Policy and Management's Master of Business Administration program in non-profit management received high marks in a recent ranking by the Aspen Institute, ranking 38th out of 149 similar programs in the “Beyond Grey Pinstripes” rating. That category “spotlights innovative full-time MBA programs leading the way in the integration of issues concerning social and environmental stewardship into the curriculum,” according to the Aspen Institute website. The program was ranked second out of seven participating Bostonarea schools, behind only the Simmons School of Management and ahead of schools including Bentley University and Babson College. The highest-ranked program in the country was the Stanford Graduate School of Business. The Aspen Institute exists to “foster values-based leadership … and to provide a neutral and balanced venue for discussing and acting on critical issues” through seminars, fellowships, policy programs and public conferences and events, according to its website. “It is great to see this recognition
of our MBA in non-profit management,” wrote Dean of the Heller School Lisa Lynch in an email to the Justice. “At Heller we are committed to student exposure to social, environmental and ethical issues within all of our degree programs. The MBA in non-profit management at Heller has, since its inception, worked hard to make sure that our students are exposed to these aspects of management.” The Heller School established a Masters of Management in Human Services in 1977, according to Lynch. In 1998, this was transformed into the MBA program, which is offered jointly by the Heller School and Brandeis’ International Business School. “We’re basically training all of our students for a social mission,” said Brenda Anderson, director of the MBA program, in an interview with the Justice. “You have to be ready for anything in this economy, so we try to train students towards their social mission goals across sectors. Increasingly so, we see intersections of non-profit organizations and for-profit organizations.” —Sam Mintz