I thought some people might enjoy this. The professor thought I had
captured Twain's brand of irony pretty well.

Martha Sherwood
I have a PhD, but in biology - literature is purely a hobby.

Subversion in the University of Oregon Business School

It happened the other day that I was strolling through the halls of the
Lundquist School of Business en route to a seminar on Mark Twain, and my
roving eye fell upon a prominent display of glossy brochures touting the
Warsaw Sports Business Club. My nimble mind, primed by having just read
many pages of sophisticated nineteenth century irony, immediately thought
this must be some sort of Polish joke (“How many Polacks does it take to
screw in a light bulb? Three, one to hold the bulb and two to turn the
ladder”), and I said as much to the earnest young man recruiting members
for this club.

He assured me that it was not, that the University of Oregon offers a
master’s degree in sports marketing as well as an undergraduate
specialization in that niche, and that membership in the club was an
excellent way to gain access to career opportunities. The “Warsaw” is the
surname of the person who endowed the program. Possibly he would have
delivered a more impassioned sales pitch were I not seventy years old,
rather down at the heels, and obviously not attending the University in the
hopes of entering a lucrative career that would enable me to pay off the
substantial loans necessary to obtain a degree from this state institution.

According to the University of Oregon website, we are one of the premier
institutions in the sports marketing field, which is perhaps not surprising
given that Nike Corporation all but owns this ostensibly public institution
lock, stock and barrel and marketing sports made Phil Knight a plutocrat.  This
boast, which may have justification, lacks congruence with my concept of an
institution dedicated to pushing forward the frontiers of knowledge and
enriching humanity’s collective experience. As for enriching the students
themselves, I did notice that the website talked a great deal about the
wonderful and exciting internship opportunities available to graduates and
was rather vague about the availability of permanent jobs.

It would be misrepresenting the facts to claim that I simultaneously
observed a person repainting the list of prominent donors to the business
school to obliterate the name of Aequitas Finance. That action actually
took place more than a year ago, after the directors of Aequitas Finance
were indicted in Federal Court for running a Ponzi scheme. The public was
told that the Business school was unaware when they accepted the money and
held up the operations of Aequitas finance as a model for students to
emulate, that the management of the company was defrauding investors. In my
humble estimation, this reflects badly on either the sagacity or the
honesty of the professors of corporate wisdom who run the business school.

From my peculiar perspective as a student of literature, I also questioned
whether Aequitas was ever an appropriate partner for the University of
Oregon, given that a main part of their operation was buying up student
debt at a substantial discount and using strong arm tactics to collect the
entire amount. The accusation that they defrauded investors stemmed from
having represented to investors that the private debt owed Corinthian
colleges, which a Federal court had determined could be discharged in
bankruptcy because of the fraud perpetrated by that private for-profit
college consortium against students, offered a safe return - even after the
court ruling, which rendered those debt instruments worthless.  The whole
transaction reminded me of the two carpetbaggers in Huckleberry Finn, who
print up a bogus reward poster for a runaway slave, with a description of
Huck’s companion Jim, kidnap Jim, and sell him for forty dollars to a
farmer who hopes to be able to collect the whole reward.

            Lillis Hall is an odd place to hold a literature class of any
description. The classrooms are large, equipped with all manner of the
latest technology, and ill-suited to discussion. It is an impressive,
imposing building with a soaring atrium, numerous administrative offices
configured according to the latest in office design, and insufficient
restrooms. The business school may conceivably be doing themselves a
disservice by scheduling a Mark Twain seminar, populated by intelligent
people who are attuned to irony, in this environment. By carefully managing
departmental requirements so as to discourage business majors from taking
specialized courses in the humanities, the Business school can insulate its
own majors from subversive influences. However, if they allow the central
University scheduling office to locate specialized humanities courses in
Lillis Hall, they run the risk of allowing a humanities major with no
commitment to their business model of education to cast a jaundiced eye
upon their operations.

https://business.uoregon.edu/centers/warsaw



https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2018/11/defunct-aequitas-misled-investors-cooked-books-ran-ponzi-like-scheme-receiver.html

“The 174-page report, filed in U.S. District Court in Oregon, offers the
most in-depth look yet at what may be the largest investment scandal in
state history. Aequitas failed in March 2016, owing $617 million to its
clients. The report may provide a blueprint for federal criminal
investigators who have long been studying the case.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued the Lake Oswego operation
in March 2016 and convinced a federal judge to install Greenspan as a
receiver.

Even as the company’s cash shortage reached a critical stage after August
2015, the report says, Aequitas took care of its insiders. While panicky
investors clamored in vain for Aequitas to return their money, Greenspan
reports, the company paid $3.5 million to executives and members of its
advisory board in its last eight months of existence.”

Aequitas donated substantial amounts of money to the University of Oregon
Business school. One of their more nefarious schemes was to buy up the
private student loan debt of Corinthian college at a steep discount and to
represent it to investors as a good investment even after it became evident
that the Attorney general’s office had ruled that because of the widespread
fraud practiced by Corinthian colleges these loans were dischargeable in
bankruptcy.