UMAA Joins with UM/Business Ethics Programs To Co-sponsor Film Series
In a world plagued by ethical scandals, the UM/Business Ethics Programs aim to provide students with the tools ot successfully navigate ethical pitfalls. The mission of the UM/Ethics Programs Film Series is to heighten awareness of ethical issues in real life situations, provide food for thought, stimulate cirtical thinking, and promote ethical behavior and decision-making.
The panel discussions following the screenings, led by two faculty members well-versed in the issue at hand, give the UM communicty the opportunity to ask questions, discuss their thoughts and feelings on the movie, and engage in intellecutal debate. The event is complimentary and located in the Storer Auditorium at the School of Business Administration. Food and refreshments will be served from 6:15–6:45 p.m. and the film will begin at 7 p.m.
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Based on the best-selling book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, a multi-dimensional study of one of the biggest business scandals in American history. The chronicle takes a look at one of the greatest corporate disasters in history, in which top executives from the 7th largest company in this country walked away with over one billion dollars, leaving investors and employees with nothing. The film features insider accounts and rare corporate audio and video tapes that reveal colossal personal excesses of the Enron hierarchy and the utter moral vacuum that posed as corporate philosophy. The human drama that unfolds within Enron's walls resembles a Greek tragedy and produces a domino effect that could shape the face of our economy and ethical code for years to come.
Faculty Panelists
Robert E. Rosen, Professor, School of Law, author of Risk Management and Corporate Governance: The Case of Enron, 35 Connecticut Law Review 1157 (2003)
William B. Werther, Professor of Management, School of Business Administration, who has published Enron: The Forgotten Middle, Organization (Sage Publications 2003).
The Insider
Based on Marie Brenner's factual Vanity Fair article, "The Man Who Knew Too Much," Russell Crowe stars as Jeffery Wigand, a one-time corporate officer at Brown & Williamson, who has since become a key witness in lung cancer cases against tobacco companies across the country. Al Pacino co-stars as Lowell Bergman, an investigative reporter and "60 Minutes" producer, who got Wigand to tell his story. The network refused to air the piece when Wigand was targeted in a national smear campaign and faced with possible incarceration. Bergman continued to champion Wigand throughout the ordeal and eventually got the segment to air.
Faculty Panelists
Samuel A. Terilli, Professor of Communication, School of Communication. Dr. Terilli is also a lawyer and a partner in a national law firm where he focuses on media/First Amendment law and employment/labor law.
Martin E. Segal, Business Law Department, School of Business Administration; author of Preventative Law for Business Professionals (2005).
Roger and Me
A highly original, personal, and funny account of the tough times in Flint, Michigan, Michael Moore’s hometown. The birthplace of General Motors, Flint has been economically decimated by plant closings and the elimination of 35,000 GM jobs. Moore gives cinematic life to his razor-sharp, compassionate, and often wryly humorous perceptions of what went wrong in Flint and chronicles his thwarted efforts to meet with GM Chairman Roger Smith face-to-face.
Faculty Panelists
Marc Junkunc, Assistant Professor of Management, School of Business Administration
Jeffrey Kerr, Associate Professor of Management, School of Business Administration
