In our continuing coverage of people not likely to be invited to a college campus to speak on ethics, we are thrilled to report that the former Illinois governor Rod R. Blagojevich will speak on Tuesday at Northwestern University. The event is titled “Ethics in Politics: An evening with Former Governor Rod Blagojevich.”
Mr. Blagojevich, you might recall, awaits trial on federal corruption charges for his role in trying to profit from his power to appoint a successor to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. He was removed from office last year.
The College Democrats are sponsoring his visit. —Don Troop
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16 Responses to Another Great Moment in Ethics
chris_shea - February 26, 2010 at 4:21 pm
what?
lhincker - February 26, 2010 at 4:42 pm
This is an early April Fool’s joke, right?
drhypersonic - February 26, 2010 at 4:46 pm
?!WTF?!?
tesuque - February 26, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Apparently, he has decided to become a comedian.
22118130 - February 26, 2010 at 5:08 pm
This just in– “Satan to lecture on sin at Northwestern University.” Wouldn’t it be about the same thing?
tsadler99 - February 26, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Maybe he will give some insight on how well he did on the apprentice show with Donald Trump. That is just as much of a joke!!!
newyorkyankees - February 26, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Is it any wonder that no one takes ethics courses or ethics lectures seriously???
wbgleason - February 26, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Margaret Soltan has called this type of behavior the “Hannibal Lecter Executive Strategy.” See her University Diaries post for more informtion:http://bit.ly/9DGHTU
markm - February 26, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Shortly after he will be lecturing in the English program on “Irony in America”
11195892 - February 26, 2010 at 5:50 pm
This is not a straight face moment!
davhardy - February 26, 2010 at 8:21 pm
It wouldn’t quite be like Satan lecturing on sin, it would be like Satan lecturing on righteousness.
willynilly - February 26, 2010 at 9:58 pm
The Chronicle made an error in reporting the title of the lecture. The actual title of Mr Blagojevich’s lecture is “Lack of Ethics in Politics”.
mwprof - February 27, 2010 at 4:10 pm
It’s unfortunate that the journal didn’t do a better job reporting this story. It’s a teaching moment. He is being given 15 minutes to make his case, then he will be grilled by a panel of NU faculty. This is active learning at its best. Click on the link in the story above to go to NU’s newspaper to read what is really happening.
snwiedmann - March 1, 2010 at 8:38 am
To mwprof: Thank you for the clarification (for the sake of the reputation of NU), but you really killed a good laugh I was greatly enjoying.
ludwigandrose - March 1, 2010 at 9:06 am
No one said that he was being held up by NW as a paragon of ethics; it’s fascinating that he has agreed to speak on the topic. I wish I could attend. He may well be a much more thought-provoking speaker–possibly for what he doesn’t say–than many whose behavior has not rendered them newsworthy. (He could also be a bust–but after all, many speakers are disappointing.) Frankly, I’m shocked that most of the commenters on this story in this journal of higher education think that they already know it all about ethics and Mr. B. Why do they bother to read?
11272784 - March 1, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Great speaker! Listen carefully – then read his bio and do the opposite of everything he did.