Ring Ceremony

昨日、ビジネススクールで指輪の授与式があった。指輪といっても
学校名とシリアル番号が刻印されたシルバーリング。

昨今の企業統治スキャンダルに端を発した企業倫理の問題、ビジネススクールにもその責任の一端があるという考えもあってか、要は、悪いことしそうになったら、この指輪を見て、自分を戒めなさい、というものらしい。（ビジネススクールの誰かがロードオブザリング-王の帰還に触発されて始めようと言い出したのではないよなー？）

以下、翌日の新聞から
Students of the Richard Ivey School of Business are committing themselves to an undertaking more solemn than hard work and getting a paper degree -- they are being invited into the fellowship of the ring.

This has nothing to do with Frodo and Gollum. Each MBA or undergraduate student at the Ivey School at University of Western Ontario will take a pledge to act with the highest ethical standards, which entitles them to an individually numbered sterling silver ring.

It's the Ivey alumni association's response to the wave of scandals that has swept the corporate world, with business school graduates often being photographed doing "the perp walk" of the indicted.

Paul Smith, a Toronto commercial realtor and a member of the association's board, says the pledge represents an attempt to say "if you want to be part of this [association], you have to stand up and accept these principles."

The first 250 MBA students, members of the class of 2004, will take their pledges today at a ceremony at the Ivey School. About 160 students in the undergraduate 2004 class got their rings a few weeks ago.

"The association felt these new groups of graduates had better realize they carry the reputation of 17,000 former graduates on their backs. Sometimes when you are 22 years old, you may not realize that," says Glenn Yonemitsu, Ivey's executive director of advancement.

University and professional rings are nothing new, but the Ivey alumni board says it could find no other business school that links the granting of rings to an explicit, documented standard of behaviour.

For example, an Ivey graduate will pledge to "act honourably and ethically in all my dealings in the belief and knowledge that doing so will lead to a greater good." In addition, he or she will vow to "endeavour to act with moral clarity, grace and nobility."

The alumni association does not yet have a policy of dealing with graduates who break the pledge. There are no sanctions for felons to be stripped of their membership or for the ring to be surrendered.

"That is something we would look into as a group," says Mr. Smith, owner of Smith Co. of Toronto and chairman of the board's traditions committee.

Tim Hockey, Toronto-Dominion Bank's executive vice-president for retail distribution and an alumni board member, says some graduates from past years have indicated they would like the rings too. But he says it shouldn't just be for sale, and they would have to take the pledge, as well.

The granting of Ivey rings revives a tradition that had lapsed in the 1970s. Getting it started again has been a two-year project, sparked by the widespread scandals. The funding comes from a trio of business backers, including Mr. Smith's firm and TD Bank.

Source: Globe and Mail

教育や評価における”儀式”の有効性？

朝から多くの荷物の配達。親を空港へ送り、Alinaと昼食。そのあと車を引き渡して、家の掃除。あとは布団を捨てるだけ。