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To the Unknown Business Student at the UN Forum: We're Working on It

To the Unknown Business Student at the UN Forum: We're Working on It

Last week, I attended the Second Annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights. 
During the Forum’s closing session, there were times to have questions and comments from the Forum participants.

The closing session was designed to highlight what issues the Working Group should focus on going forward in 2014. One of the people who went up to comment began her comments like this: “I’m a business student and I want to speak on behalf of all business students” she then made an impassioned plea for educators to begin teaching human rights in business school, saying that if there was any hope for advancing business and human rights issues in the future it needed to come from training the future leaders.

Specifically, she noted “I have not had one course or even one discussion on human rights in my school” this needed to change- she urged, to make a difference in the world.

Well, to that anonymous business student (she didn’t identify herself), here’s what I would like to say.

First, thank you for your courage. To be able to speak truth to power is a rare gift in a young adult and one that will serve you well as you progress through your career.

Second, we hear you. It might not have yet become the norm but there are efforts to bring business and human rights into business schools, law schols and (hopefully) into undergraduate programs.

Right now, NYU leads the initiative. The School of Business has established the Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. Additionally, Joanne Bauer and Anthony Ewing at Columbia University have been pioneering in this area; convening a conference that focuses on teaching business and human rights in 2011. The conference continues to meet ever May and the participants (from law schools and business schools) spend time discussing initiatives and compare notes on how to add business and human rights into the curriculum change the educational model throughout the country and the world.

Some educators do it implicitly, by adding business and human rights issues into there existing courses – like I do in my IBT, Bus Org class at the law school and in my Business Legal Environments and Ethics at the business school. Some do it by creating whole courses from scratch, like (Erika George’s Human Rights and Corporations Seminar at the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah).

Obviously, there is work to be done – there seems to be some natural resistance by business schools to bring this into their curriculum. While that is changing, it’s changing slowly. However, there are a couple of things that give me hope. First, the Forum this year had almost twice the amount of attendees than during its inaugural event last year (which in and of itself exceeded expectations). Second, and even more heartening, there were many more business representatives who were there than last year. While they were still significantly underrepresented compared to state and civil society representatives, the fact that they were there in any force at all means that there is a growing recognition by businesses that they need to consider this issue. Once the recognition has been made, they will naturally look to academic institutions to find people who are trained in these issues to supply their workforce. The innovative and proactive institutions will respond in kind.

Students can help too. If you are a business student and would like to see more done in this area, make your voice known, tell your universities that this should be an important part of your education; the smart ones will respond in kind.

So, to the young woman from Forum 2013, thank you for your comment and keep a look out for future developments. Who knows, we may be recruiting you in a few years to teach in one of our programs.

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