One such is Seton Hall University, which is inviting its future business leaders to attend an “Integrity and Professionalism Colloquium” next month. The venue: Kozlowski Auditorium.
Yep. That Kozlowski. For one evening the South Orange, New Jersey, school will turn a building named for its most infamous alumnus, former Tyco International CEO Dennis Kozlowski -- who is under federal indictment for allegedly orchestrating a massive fraud against Tyco shareholders -- into a font of corporate integrity. Kozlowski himself was the featured speaker for a similar program at the university in 2001.
Seton Hall has been trying to kick the habit of naming buildings after alumni donors who later run afoul of the law. In December the school’s Board of Regents approved a policy that allows Seton Hall to remove names from facilities effective immediately. It then expunged the name of Robert Brennan -- the penny stock pusher who’s currently serving a nine-year prison sentence for money laundering and bankruptcy fraud -- from its recreation center.
So far the regents have left intact the name of Kozlowski Hall, home to Seton Hall’s Stillman School of Business since 1997 and funded in part by a $5 million donation from its namesake. Also untouched: Walsh Library, the campus’ self-proclaimed “crown jewel,” dedicated in 1994 and named for exTyco director Frank Walsh. On December 17 Walsh pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges in connection with an allegedly unauthorized $20 million finder’s fee Kozlowski sent his way as compensation for Walsh’s arranging Tyco’s acquisition of CIT Group. Walsh resigned as chairman of Seton Hall’s board the same day.
Clearly embarrassed by all this, Stillman dean Karen Boroff wrote in a recent op-ed piece for several news outlets that “ours is a situation that any business school dean dreads” but added that she views the situation as an opportunity for students to learn that “reputation is a resource that is nearly impossible to replace once depleted.”
