Listen to the Voiceless
Funnily enough, it seems the only voice lacking from the past few heated Board of Trustees elections and this summer’s governance reform brouhaha has been that of those actually governed: current College students. More »
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
The Bear and the Olive Branch
Despite the “lobster summit” held in Maine between Presidents Bush and Putin this past summer, no agreement was reached with Russia regarding the U.S.-proposed missile defense shield to be built in Poland and the Czech Republic. Putin has offered a joint program to be built in Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea. Additionally, Putin has threatened to pull out of a Cold War era disarmament treaty, the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, if the United States proceeds with its unilateral plans. Ironically, it was the United States’ unilateral pullout of the Antiballistic Missile Treaty, in order to build the missile defense shield, that prompted this “crisis” and subsequent warning. (Thank you, Mr. Bush.) More »
ExtraCurricular.
I am most familiar with governance in the context of business corporations — a standard topic in my finance class. The ownership of most large corporations is dispersed among millions of small investors. These many owners cannot possibly manage the companies themselves, nor are they interested in doing so. So professional managers are hired to do the job for them. But, of course, rather than doing what is best for the shareholders, these managers do what is best for themselves. More »
