Monday, November 10, 1997
Students discuss business responsibility
ANDERSON: Conference allows opportunities to network, educate
others
By J. Sharon Yee
Daily Bruin Contributor
Hundreds of business-school students gathered at the Anderson
School this past weekend to discuss a topic people don’t usually
associate with the business world – social responsibility.
Sponsored by Students for Responsible Business, a national
organization with more than 1,100 members in over 100 chapters
across America, the conference featured panels regarding topics
from entrepreneurship to not-for-profit business.
The conference has been held at prestigious universities such as
Harvard and the Kellogg School at Northwestern in the past.
"This conference is a kind of unveiling of the new Anderson
complex to the rest of the M.B.A. community," said logistics
chairman Tom Pullen, referring to the two-year-old state-of-the-art
buildings that currently house the school.
For the first time in the history of the conference,
participants arriving from all areas of the nation were able to
take part in a series of seminars, called tracks, geared towards
particular areas of interest.
Tracks included small business, corporate, alumni, and nonprofit
and social enterprise.
Themed "The Competitive Advantage," this year’s conference
discussed how socially responsible businesses are becoming more
competitive.
"Business today is not just about making a profit," Pullen said.
"People are gravitating towards companies that offer some facet of
their community."
"Because different people have different views about what
‘socially responsible business’ means, we designed the tracks to
help them explore those issues in more depth," said Glenn
Anaiscourt, SRB member and chair of marketing for the
conference.
The tracks also helped to bring together people with similar
interests and initiate a network of students who can contact each
other in the future.
"I expect not only to get ideas from each other, but to
network," said Melissa Karz, the chairperson of the conference.
"I just think bringing in new ideas will open my eyes to things
I haven’t thought about in terms of the business world," said Sally
Kauffman, a first year Anderson student.
Living in a sheltered "cocoon," business students often get
caught up in interviews and writing resumes without realizing the
importance of meeting other students, Pullen said.
"This conference is one of few opportunities where people are
able to come together and decide on how we are going to be leaders
of the twenty-first century," he added.
The conference also helped to open and facilitate opportunities
and possibilities for many students.
Companies such as Citibank, UPS, Dayton-Hudson, and the Gap were
represented in the panels, giving students the chance to speak with
major corporations.
One of the biggest goals of the conference was to help students
define socially responsible business, said Heather Mathis, the
publicity chair and second year Anderson student.
"For some people, it’s doing charity work," she said. "For
others, it means trying to improve employee welfare."
"Every individual has a responsibility to give back to their
community," Karz said. "Especially those of us that have the
privilege to be educated."
Kauffman had a different definition.
"I just think bringing in new ideas will open my eyes to things
I haven’t thought about in terms of the business world," she
said.
Marie-Claude Lapalme, a second-year Anderson student, best
summed up the thoughts of the participants.
"I want to be successful while still keeping my values," she
said.
MICHAEL ROSS WACHT
Alumna Pam Kislak (left) and student Shelley Branston of UC
Berkeley’s business school, share a meal at a Students for
Responsible Business conference held at the Anderson School this
weekend.