Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 8, 1973)
Society hears business dean The dean of the University School of Business Administration does not believe corporations have “social responsibilities.” Speaking to a meeting of the Rubicon Society Friday at the House of Lee restaurant, Richard West said business firms have two social responsibilities within the free-enterprise system: “to stay within both the letter and spirit of existing legal and quasi-legal constraints and incentives while pursuing to the utmost the profit motive: and By JOYCE BOLES Of the Emerald second, to abstain from trying, as business firms, to influence society's determination of those constraints and incentives for their own advantage.” West said he is an “unreconstructed free enterpriser,” and that he “cannot agree with those who oppose profits or the profit motive on ethical grounds, or who argue that business firms, as firms, should voluntarily curb the pursuit of profits in the interest of meeting social needs.” West believes that those who suggest business should temper profit seeking to meeting social objectives “fail to recognize several points.” The first point is that the profit motive is intimately linked with the allocation of resources, and that if that motive is dispensed BOOK BINDING • THESIS REPRODUCTION • LAMINATING INSTANT PRINTING 1(H) for $2.95 IBM COPIES SAME DAY-ac ea„ NEXT DAY-4c ea. ‘‘Johnny ‘J^ririt copy shop 1219 ALDER 345-4141 ANNOUNCEMENTS • BUSINESS CARDS -'RUBBER STAMPS University Service Center 1535 Franklin Blvd. Mobil 343-7918 Tune Ups Brakes General Repair Rip off Europe. STUDENT-RAILPASS The way to see Europe without feeling like a tourist. Student-Railpass is valid in Austria, Belgium, Denmark. France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway. Portugal, Spam, Sweden, Switzerland. Eurailpass, Box 90, Bohemia, New York 11716 Please send me your free Student-Railpass folder order form □ Or your free Eurailpass folder with railroad map □ Name_ Street___ City__ State_Zip_l_ 192 C 192 A So you plan to spend the Summer in Europe this year. Great. Two things are mandatory. A ticket to Europe. And a Student-Railpass. The first gets you over there, the second gives you unlimited Second Class rail travel for two months for a modest $150 in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland! All you need to qualify is to be a full-time student up to 25 years of age, registered at a North American school, college or university. And the trains of Europe are a sensational way to travel. Over 100,000 miles of track links cities, towns and ports all over Europe. The trains are fast (some over 100 mph), frequent, modern, clean, convenient MA O and very comfortable. They have to be. So you’ll meet us on our trains. It really is the way to get to know Europeans in Europe. But there’s one catch. You must buy your Student-Railpass in North America before you go. They’re not on sale in Europe because they are meant strictly for visitors to Europe—hence the incredibly low price. Of course if you’re loaded you can buy a regular Eurailpass meant for visitors of all ages. It gives you First Class travel if that’s what you want. Either way if you’re going to zip off to Europe, see a Travel Agent before you go, and in the meantime, rip off the coupon. It can't hurt and it'll get you a better time in Europe than you everthought possible. -s with and not replaced with a lot of central planning, the efficiency of the economy will suffer. The second point is that business firms who try to meet social objectives are, by definition, engaging in charitable activities and in the formulation of public policy with their shareholders’ money. West does not believe management has the right to impose its view of relevant social objectives on the shareholders. West said that corporations do have the responsibility to “fight fair — to live within the existing rules of the game while pursuing profits.” Those firms which don’t should be prosecuted as the lar cenists they are. But society has the responsibility to set appropriate constraints and incentives for business, according to West. While corporate of ficers have a personal responsibility to speak out on public issues, they should “make it clear that they are, in fact, speaking out at private citizens—not as spokesmen for corporate policies.” Since society is to set the constraints on business, business “should not engage in lobbying.” West believes that corporations have no business trying to influence the very constraints within which they operate. “To do so is tantamount to suggesting that they should maximize profits subject to constraints and incentives that they set for themselves.” West describes himself as neither “pro-business” nor “anti business,” but rather as “pro-free enterprise.” Spirited discussion followed West’s speech. Students participate in service to aged Sen. Charles Percy recently wrote, “Too many are finding that to be old is to be poor, to be ill and to feel that nobody cares.” Somebody does care, however, and that somebody is the ESCAPE program called Friendship For the Elderly ENERGY. This program is set up to help elderly people in private homes as well as convalescent homes, and to aid senior programs. In fact, the main purpose of ENERGY is to promote and to continue active participation of the elderly in the decision making process of the institutions and the community. Students lend their time and energy to this goal. It is, as co coordinator Cathy Davis said, “an exchange between seniors and youth.” Jim Davis, the other coor dinator of ENERGY, explained that “the main thing is visitation.” Students visit the homes of the elderly, and try “to develop a one-to-one relation ship.” ENERGY also helps with a nutrition program for the elderly to provide them with good warm meals. Students bring food from the Grower’s Market to retirement housing. Stroke victims are also aided. Other activities include helping with the gardening program at Celeste Campbell Senior Center, and organizing and helping to carry out recreational activities in convalescent homes. The Celeste Campbell Senior Center and the Senior Op portunity Services (SOS) place the students in the various senior programs and activities. The response from the senior citizens has been enthusiastic. Jim Davis noted, “Elderly people appreciate and enjoy com munication with students.” In short the program provides an opportunity to bridge the fabled generation gap. In a nation that too frequently discards anything and everything that is old—including human beings—and in a country that has stretched life expectancy from 47 to 70 since 1900, Friendship For the Elderly-ENERGY is an important step in making life easier and more meaningful to senior citizens. Course offered to aid with career decisions A career? What career? How do I go about it? What is this business of career planning? These questions plague many students. To remedy the problem the Sociology Department and the Career Planning and Placement Office are offering a class in Career Alternatives. The Career Alternate, es course is for lower division students. It utilizes an experimental group approach, according to Theresa Ripley, coordinator of career planning who directs the course. Each class is concerned with a specific phase of career choice and planning, Ripley said. Central to each phase is the self involvement of the student and interaction with others in the class. The handbook for the course, written by Dr. Ripley and Dr. John W. Loughary , head of the University’s Department of Counseling, says “Many Liberal Arts majors leave career development pretty much to chance—or at least give it little if any attention until the last term of their senior year. Some discover then that the relation ship between the scheme by which the University organizes and dispenses its knowledge often has little relationship to the structure of the rest of the world—especially as perceived by employers.” Students suddenly must translate their interests, com petencies, and abilities into the terms of the environment they are about to enter. The new course is designed to assist liberal arts students in accomplishing career development plans through understanding and using available resources. Specifically, the course is designed to increase awareness of self (abilities, interests, values), of the world of work, of social and psychological characteristics of work en vironments, of non-work ac tivities and of the importance of work on life styles, of decision making skills, and of skills in locating resources and im plementing career plans.
