Claudio Schapsis

Some advice for students: If an organization of which you are a member puts out a public statement you disagree with, you have a few choices. You can: Stay silent and have the entire world conclude that you stand by the statement. Convince the other members of the group to withdraw or otherwise modify the statement so that it can reflect the views of all members. Or you can resign in protest. Claiming that you had no involvement or knowledge of the statement, but remaining a member of the organization without it withdrawing the statement is perhaps the worst of the alternatives, as it appears to simply be an attempt to avoid accountability while continuing to be a member of the organization. If you were managing a business, would you hire someone who blamed the despicable violent acts of a terrorist group on the victims? I don’t think so. Would you hire someone who was a member of a school club who issued a statement blaming lynchings by the KKK on their victims? I don’t think so. Would you want them to be an associate at your law firm? Of course not. It is not harassment to seek to understand the character of the candidates that you are considering for employment. In fact, as CEO, it is your obligation to do so on behalf of all of the other employees in your company, the clients and customers it serves, and all of your other stakeholders. I have heard that the above inquiry has made some members of the groups which put out the statement feel ‘unsafe,’ a word that is sadly overused in universities today. Ask yourself how unsafe it would feel in Israel beginning Saturday early morning and how unsafe it feels now? Ask yourself how unsafe your Jewish classmates feel when 32 clubs published a statement assigning sole responsibility for the heinous, deathly acts of terrorists to Israel and the Jews? Experience is making mistakes and learning from them. If you have made a mistake, acknowledge it, and immediately correct your mistaken actions. Public statements made by organizations of which you are a member can have a material negative impact on your reputation. I have learned from experience that the best time to fix a mistake is now.