Business students need to fight bad image

Ryan Bromsgrove
Opinion Editor

Jan 25, 2012

The jokes are too easy. A business student embezzled almost $28,000 from the Business Students’ Association during their time there. Of course it was a business student, people will say — this is what business students do, after all. They need to get some early practice in during their degrees in order to properly prepare themselves for lives of lucrative white-collar crime. The big bad corporations in the real world will be clambering over one another to slap this student on their payroll before they even graduate.

But at times like these, when one person takes it upon themself to give in to dishonesty, it’s worth keeping things in perspective. One person, so far as we know, is guilty of the embezzlement. The entire executive will be viewed with a certain amount of suspicion, and they can be rightly criticized for waiting until January to reveal an incident that happened over the summer. And recalling the leaking of personal information of members two weeks ago points to a pattern of incompetency, sure. But we shouldn’t give in to the temptation of pretending that this is typical business student behaviour.

Unfortunately, a lot of people will. And unfair as it may seem, it’s going to be up to the honest business students to fight this perception. Nice as the idea might sound, the incident cannot be ignored and dismissed as merely a regrettable case of one bad apple making them all look bad, even though that’s exactly what it is. Instead, students should emphatically denounce anyone involved, and take back their reputation — a reputation already unfairly ridden with negative connotations and met with scorn from others on campus.

It’s an unfair reputation, and it needs to be fought. Most business students aren’t waiting for that shining moment where they can spread their tendrils throughout an organization, leech it dry and leave town. There’s nothing wrong with studying business. It’s always been a vital part of civilization, and there are surely a great number of talented business students with great ideas at our university — but they’re going to have to speak up now. Loudly.

There are a lot of corrupt organizations out there, and the BSA is in the relatively fortunate position that its leaders change over annually. One bad year can be turned around by a new team willing to step up to the challenge of inheriting the tarnished organization, improving its image and showing its importance to the business student community.

And with that possibility in mind, though business students should be concerned over the coming referendum for the renewal of the BSA’s membership levy another four years, abandoning the organization now will be unnecessarily disruptive. The decision that business students now find themselves with is one concerning the mandate of their faculty association, and in light of the embezzlement they may find it difficult to justify an extension of the fee.

But many students have spoken highly of the services that the BSA has provided in the past. A glance at the website shows a calendar packed full of events and services, links to a variety of BSA-supported clubs and opportunities for conference funding. Taking a financial hit — for the second year in a row, given the circumstances — would impair the BSA’s ability, under proper leadership to function as its members would like it. What’s important isn’t lashing out at an organization with annual turnover, but ensuring it gets back to operating properly, with honest leadership, as soon as possible.

Instead of letting the BSA rot to the core, becoming nothing more than a punchline to a long tedious train of jokes, now is the time for business students to take it back, and prove to campus that they’re a faculty like any other — not just an old boys’ club out for no one but themselves.

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