[Intl-tobacco] Canada: Tobacco grants to universities under fire

[Robert Weissman]

U of T committee reviewing donations after tobacco grant comes under
fire - CNews

 Monday, February 24, 2003

 TORONTO (CP) -- The University of Toronto's St. Michael's College,
under fire for accepting tobacco-company funding for an
 ethics program, has set up a committee to review all donations for
possible ethical or moral conflicts of interest, the college's
 president said Monday.

 Dr. Richard Alway said the committee was formed late last year after a
group representing non-smokers and academics wrote him
 a letter urging the college to return the $150,000 grant from Imperial
Tobacco because it's "tainted" money.

 "Clearly in this area there are strongly held diverse opinions," Alway
said about accusations by the group that accepting
 tobacco-company funding -- especially for an ethics course --
compromises the credibility of the college.

 Alway was interviewed after the Non-Smokers' Rights Association and
Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada launched a scathing
 ad campaign Monday condemning the college's acceptance of the grant in
2001. The money went to fund the college's continuing
 education ethics program, which offers a certificate in corporate
social responsibility.

 A four-page ad -- inserted in copies of the university's student
newspaper, The Varsity -- urges all universities to break any ties
 with tobacco companies. It focuses on the St. Michael's grant, and
compares a tobacco company donating money to an ethics
 program to neo-Nazis sponsoring a forum on race relations, or Ku Klux
Klan members funding an African studies workshop.
 Imperial has said there are no strings attached to the grant. And the
college has said the money hasn't influenced any aspects of
 the program.

 Still, Alway said, he recommended late last year to the college's
governing board that a committee be set up to review any
 donations "to see if more restrictive conditions should apply."

 He said the committee was set up under Prof. Joseph Boyle, interim
chair of the university's philosophy department, and includes
 Sister Anne Anderson, dean of theology, and Bill Broadhurst, a St.
Michael's alumnus and former chancellor of the archdiocese of
 Toronto.

 Alway said anyone can make a submission to the committee. He said it's
uncertain when the committee will compete its review of
 the ethics program grant and other donations given to the college.

 When asked if the committee might recommend giving the money back to
Montreal-based Imperial Tobacco, Alway said: "In
 terms of what they are going to dicuss, it is open-ended. They could
decide whatever they want."

 Garfield Mahood, a spokesman for the Non-Smokers' Right Association,
said he didn't realize such an ethics-screening process
 was set up.

 At a news conference Monday, the association and physicians' group
called for such a process, and stressed that universities
 shouldn't be linked with companies that make tobacco products which
kill hundreds of Canadians annually.

 "I don't believe for one minute that that committee would seriously do
anything to deal with this given what's been happening the
 last two years," Mahood said in an interview.

 "Nobody bothered to answer our letter and tell us this committee had
been formed. What makes me think this committee would
 do anything serious to address this problem?"

 Mahood said his group and Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada plan to
proceed with radio ads in mid-March criticizing St.
 Michael's acceptance of the donation.

 Mimi Marrocco, director of St. Michael's continuing education division,
said the ethics program will go into its second year this
 June.

 Those who participate in the 11-day program learn the skills to
integrate social responsibility into corporate planning, says a
 course outline.

 So far, said Marrocco, she hasn't heard of any students refusing to
take the program because it received the $150,000 from
 Imperial.

 http://www.canoe.ca/[...]obacco-Donation.html


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 HEALTH GROUPS ESCALATE CAMPAIGN TO BREAK BIG TOBACCO'S PARTNERSHIP WITH UN=
IVERSITY
 ETHICS PROGRAMME - NSRA/PSC

 Health organizations joined with alumni and faculty today to escalate a
campaign started last November to break a tobacco
 company's ties with a university course in business ethics and
corporate social responsibility (CSR).

 Non-Smokers' Rights Association / Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada


 Feb. 24, 2003, Toronto: Health organizations joined with alumni and
faculty today to escalate a campaign started last November to
 break a tobacco company's ties with a university course in business
ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The
 Non-Smokers' Rights Association and Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada
announced the latest phase of their campaign
 designed to persuade the University of St. Michael's College in the
University of Toronto to sever its relationship with Imperial
 Tobacco. They are pressing to have the $150,000 donation returned to
the cigarette company.



 The revelation that St. Mike's had accepted the donation from the
makers of du Maurier and Player's led to the resignations of
 members of the CSR Advisory Board, the withdrawal of one of the three
CSR programme partners, and protests by alumni and
 university faculty.





 "The St. Mike's decision confers 'innocence by association' on the
manufacturers of an epidemic," said Dr. Atul Kapur, President
 of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada. "And it places St. Mike's in
opposition to public health and the community as a whole.
 We fail to understand why a university would agree to partner with Big
Tobacco. We have no alternative but to ask the University
 to make a choice between embracing the interests of public health or
legitimizing an industry whose behaviour has led to the
 deaths of hundreds of thousands of Canadians."





 "So far, St. Mike's just doesn't get it," said Garfield Mahood,
Executive Director of the Non-Smokers' Rights Association
 (NSRA). "If St. Mike's officials enrolled in their own business ethics
course, they would flunk. This decision does not become
 ethical just because the industry is 'legal'. The law only establishes
the floor for acceptable behaviour. Courses in business ethics
 are designed to encourage people to get off the floor and aspire to
higher ethical standards," stressed Mahood. "The tobacco
 industry's ethics are not on the floor. They are in the basement."





 To remind St. Michael's College that this issue is not going to go
away, the health groups today published a hard-hitting,
 four-page centerfold insert in The Varsity, the venerable University of
Toronto newspaper. "We intend to engage St. Mike's in a
 real debate about 'legal' sources of funding," said Mahood. "With our
news conference today and radio ads which will begin
 running in mid-March, we'll find out what the wider public and St.
Mike's alumni think of the University getting in bed with a
 'legal' but reviled industry."





 "When I tell people that St. Mike's is funding the study of ethics with
tobacco money," said Denise DePape, a health professional
 and alumnus of St. Mike's, "their first reaction is usually laughter.
Then disbelief sets in. After all, this industry's history of lying
 and predatory behaviour is breathtaking. Allowing tobacco manufacturers
to buy respectability with a donation for the study of
 ethics is considered outrageous by just about everyone."


 "Universities should model the principles in ethics that they encourage
their students to practice after graduation" said Bob
 Willard, an author and member of the CSR Advisory Board who resigned
over the tobacco sponsor. "This donation flags one of
 those principles. Governing one's behaviour by the minimal standard
dictated by what is merely legal is not a good enough
 standard for ethical behaviour. I know of no ethical mutual fund that
fails to screen out tobacco investments. In such an
 environment, how could the University conclude that it would be
acceptable to take tobacco money to fund the study of corporate
 ethics?"





 "I would never have believed that St. Michael's would take such a
donation," said Dr. Laurent Leduc, head of Leadership
 Horizons, the firm that set up the ethics course and was one of three
core partners with the University on the CSR programme at
 the time. "St. Mike's is a fine university. The decision to take the
Imperial donation in no way reflects the moral leadership of the
 faculty who are so committed to social justice.


 "All of us understand the financial constraints that universities
face," said Dr. Leduc. "But what any institution of higher learning
 must appreciate is that ethical considerations are not optional extras.
They cannot be respected or discarded depending on
 fluctuations in the stock market. No financial need is sufficiently
compelling to justify acceptance of funding from this source."





 "There are many reasons why a university should reject tobacco money,"
said Dr. Bruce Buchanan, a retired Ontario Ministry of
 Health official and University of Toronto alumnus. "Universities must
be committed to the pursuit of truth in science. But
 millions of pages of documents now on the public record show that the
tobacco industry has suppressed the truth and undermined
 objective science. In fact, its disinformation campaigns have led to
the premature deaths of thousands of Canadians. Any
 institution seriously committed to the discovery of truth should gag at
the thought of taking money from this source."





 "One of my interests related to this donation is academic freedom,"
said Professor Rhonda Love of the Department of Public
 Health Sciences. "Given the recent massive lawsuits against this
industry, any serious course in corporate social responsibility,
 sooner or later, would have to look into the offensive behaviour of the
tobacco manufacturers. This critical look at corporate
 behaviour requires the protection of academic freedom, which
universities must protect and must be seen to be protecting.
 Sometimes this requires close scrutiny of donors' behaviour no matter
what the consequences of that scrutiny. Dr. Leduc
 proposed a course assignment based on the case study of a tobacco
donation to a United Kingdom university and his assignment
 outline was rejected. It is possible to construe that the rejection of
his assignment was related to corporate funding of the program
 of study. Indeed some might say that it looks like Imperial Tobacco
bought silence," said Professor Love. "A! nd that raises
 serious academic freedom concerns."





 "We are here today to send a message to St. Mike's and to the
University of Toronto that with this campaign you are seeing the
 beginning of the end of the funding of universities and colleges by
this rogue industry," said Fran=E7ois Damphousse, head of the
 NSRA's Quebec bureau. "We predict that as the spotlight focuses on this
industry's anti-science track record, the cigarette
 manufacturers will become outcasts on university campuses."




 "We've talked today about the moral lapse in judgment with the
determination of St.Michael's College to take this money," said
 Dr. Kapur. "Let's contrast this with the decision last year by the
University of Saskatchewan Students' Union in Saskatoon to
 reject a $250,000 contract with Imperial Tobacco for concerts in the
student bar. A student representative is reported to have said
 'The students' bar shouldn't be associated with tobacco. It's dirty
money.they are in the business of killing people.' This is the
 decision that St. Mike's should have reached but it was the students
that got it right."





 "Today, we will deliver a letter to University of St. Michael's College
Chancellor Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic and ask that the
 Imperial Tobacco donation be returned, to rebuild confidence in the
ethics programme," said Mr. Mahood. "We will deliver a
 second letter to U.of T. President Robert Birgeneau and ask for his
leadership on this issue. We will ask that a university-wide
 ethical screen be created to block tobacco industry funding of the
University. We will also recommend that the University direct
 its portfolio managers to divest all tobacco stocks in its portfolio as
have Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Michigan and other major U.S.
 universities. The only ethical course of action is to take Big Tobacco
out of universities."

 The Non-Smokers' Rights Association and Physicians for a Smoke-Free
Canada are national non-profit health organizations that
 specializes in the development and promotion of effective tobacco
control policy.

 - 30 -



 Contacts:David Oved(416) 972-7403
 Garfield Mahood(416) 928-2900 or cell(416) 451-4285
 Dr. Atul Kapur(613) 862-0809





 Non-Smokers' Rights Association
 720 Spadina Avenue, Suite 221
 Toronto, Ontario
 M5S 2T9
 Canada

 Physicians for a Smoke-free Canada
 1226 A Wellington Street
 Ottawa, Ontario
 K1Y 3A1
 http://www.smoke-free.ca