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In the grand tradition of…

Henry Mintzberg [scroll down], the head of Tel Aviv University’s undergraduate business program has urged students not to major in business.

“Study of academic disciplines prepares students to think scientifically in these fields and form the foundation for advanced studies in graduate degree programs,” he said.

One student is outraged:

“Too bad he doesn’t have the integrity not to head a department he doesn’t believe in.”

Do you have to insist on majors in order to believe in your department? UD says no. UD says it shows integrity to care about the quality of undergraduate education your business… minors?… are getting and steer them toward actual academic fields. (Wee UD herself found that the hard-bitten vocationalism of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism was not enough to keep the mind alive, and quickly transferred to the English department.)

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Meanwhile, on the business ethics front, a New York judge has sentenced an insider trading to lecturing.

“To the extent possible, Mr. Fortuna can speak at his college and school of business and other institutions about his own situation and how [easy] it is for him and others to have committed this crime and the difficulties he’s encountered as a result,” [Sidney] Stein said yesterday as he imposed the sentence.

UD foresees an entire industry of MOOCs arising out of the synergy between large numbers of incarcerated insider traders and the need for business schools to deal with their profession’s, er, ethics problems. The general title for these MOOCs would be INSIDER GATING, with subtitles specific to each incarceree’s case.

Margaret Soltan, February 15, 2013 10:19AM
Posted in: beware the b-school boys

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One Response to “In the grand tradition of…”

  1. david foster Says:

    Could we also have a MOOC to address the ethical problems of university administrators? I have in mind those who misrepresent employment success of graduates, provide false data on test scores, authorize irresponsible contracts for coaches, engage in expensive grandstanding projects with no realistic chance of payback, unconstitutionally interfere with student free speech rights, etc etc.

    Don’t think there are any convicted felons who could be used as examples (unless you count coaches), but we do have the former president of Valdosta State who was found *personally* liable for damages re his dismissal of a student without any regard to due process policies.

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