"The difference of natural talents in different men is, in reality, much less than we are aware of; and the very different genius which appears to distinguish men of different professions, when grown up to maturity, is not upon many occasions so much the cause as the effect of the division of labour. The difference between the most dissimilar characters, between a philosopher and a common street porter, for example, seems to arise not so much from nature as from habit, custom, and education."

Therefore, we must be aware of the strong privatization efforts occurring in our educational institutions so that the best Biznes students can be drawn along with the best Biznes professors and therefore have the best Biznes schools in the world.

Dr. Margot Northey, Dean of Queen's School of Business, has given her resignation effective this coming June and there are speculations that her resignation was prompted in regard to philosophical issues pertaining to the degree of privatization occurring at Queen's University. Dr. Northey has been praised by the Biznes community for her role in establishing the first self-financed Biznes program in Canada. Under Dr. Northey, Queen's School of Business was able to raise the annual tuition fees to more than $25,000 per year while at the same time being able to draw donations from the Biznes community in the amount of $40-million since her landing at the university in 1995. Because of her natural talent and leadership, Dr. Northey was able to raise the natural standard of her Biznes students, to raise the natural standard of her Biznes professors, and her natural leadership has led Queen's School of Business to be recognized as the best in Canada by the Biznes community.

We have been writing about the role of privatization in our social and economic system and we have described how privatization has created bubbles in our financial systems along with bubbles in the natural talent of our leadership. The biggest bubble in our economic system has been created by Enron Corporation and therefore we have been describing the sickness of the excesses of capitalism as "enronitis." This sickness has touched many corners of our social fabric and there are now efforts to get rid of this economic plague. In particular, Harvard's students have recognized the presence of "enronitis" among the Board of the Harvard Corporation, among their professors, and they have been proposing reforms about their enronized school curriculums and their enronized researches. The students have recognized that the major influence of enronitis at Harvard rests with Herbert "Pug" Winokur who is a member of the Harvard Corporation and a longtime member of the Board of Directors at Enron Corporation.

I believe that Dr. Northey could have been infected by enronitis and therefore I am happy that her resignation could be an opportunity for her and her Biznes colleagues to be cured from their puffed up natural talents. Also, with Dr. Northey's resignation we look forward to reforms similar to what Harvard's students are asking, so that we have less donations from the Biznes community, lower tuition fees for all Queen's university students, and stronger public education policies.

References

Pertinent articles in Ensign

AN INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF THE WEALTH OF NATIONS, by Adam Smith, 1776 http://www.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/smith/wealth/wealbk01

Business Versus Biznes, by Paul Krugman, February 12, 2002, New York Times. "In the former Soviet Union, the term "biznesmen" (pronounced "beeznessmen") refers to the class of sudden new rich who emerged after the fall of Communism -- and who generally got rich by using their connections to strip away the assets of public enterprises. What we've learned from Enron and other players to be named later is that America has its own biznesmen -- and that we need to watch out for policies that make it easier for them to ply their trade." http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/12/opinion/12KRUG.html

Business school chief resigns in policy rift, Sarah Schmidt, with files from Heather Sokoloff, National Post, February 12, 2002 http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20020212/29166.html

TRADING TRUTH: A REPORT ON HARVARD'S ENRON ENTANGLEMENTS, Harvard's Watch report, January 31, 2002 http://www.harvardwatch.org/