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Spring 2005

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A question of ethics

When I interviewed Jack Smith ’60 for “Mr. Smith Goes to Atlanta,” (page 56), I asked the former CEO of General Motors if he thought UMass Amherst and other schools were preparing tomorrow’s businessmen and women adequately. He said, for the most part, “yes, but I think we could focus more on behavior. Ethics is essential. Maybe it was partly the bull market, but corporate ethics have slipped.” As a result, said Smith, new rules have been put in place, and the dynamics are changing, pointing to the fact that board members are now being held personally financially culpable when corporations fail. “And that’s probably a healthy thing,” he concluded.

Employers are sensitive to this issue. They want to hire scrupulous people. In the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Job Outlook 2005, employers rated “honesty/integrity” as the most important quality, along with communications skills, in potential candidates.

UMass Amherst’s newest alumni are graduating into a different world than the one that greeted them as freshmen. Their first full week on campus was marked by the horrible events of 9/11, then followed by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. As a backdrop to those dramatic international events, the Class of 2005 witnessed the tarnishing of the American dream as Enron, WorldCom, and other large corporations crumbled in the wake of ugly financial scandals. Greedy CEOs exulting profit over all else started to look a lot like power-grabbing dictators with just as much talent for denial. We’ve all grown more skeptical of big corporations as a result.

So, when we received two letters about our winter issue’s Coca-Cola advertisement (both letters questioning Coke’s values and practices and one making specific reference to its human rights record in Colombia and its environmental practices in India), we investigated. These are serious accusations, ones with real lives and livelihoods at stake.
First, our database shows that 43 UMass Amherst alumni work for Coca-Cola. Then I searched Web sites, scanned documents, and read fact-finding reports. Finally,

I talked to Ruth Yanka, director, administration and finance, budget and operations, who confirmed what I had found. Coca-Cola has not been found to be in violation of any laws at home or abroad at this time and has fulfilled any legal obligations as required in regard to the allegations, some of which are ongoing. After studying the findings by independent, government, and union officials, UMass Amherst is satisfied that Coke is currently in compliance with all laws, and hence, not in violation of its contract with the university. UMass Amherst has a commitment to ensure that its contracts are monitored for compliance, and the Coca-Cola contract is no exception.

The university benefits financially from the Coke contract, and so does the magazine. For instance, without the $15,000 in annual ad revenue from Coke, we would not be able to mail UMass Amherst to our 3,400+ foreign alumni. But the Coke contract is more than a financial arrangement; it’s a relationship. And that means both corporations and consumers are responsible. It is necessary and right to question a company’s ethics; it keeps corporations and their leaders honest. It lets them know what we expect of them if they want us to continue buying their products.

As Jack Smith said, corporate dynamics are changing. From the classroom to the nightly news, our newest graduates have learned lessons about honesty and integrity, as well as market share and turning a profit. In the 1970s, a Coca-Cola ad campaign featured a song with the line “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.” Coca-Cola is the same company, and perfect harmony is still a good idea. Only together can we achieve it.

Carol Cambo
Editor, UMass Amherst magazine

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Letters in print, Spring 2005

A question of ethics