In response to our posts in recent weeks about social responsibility at Kellogg, Stanford and Harvard, Wharton students wrote in to let us know that they, too, are gaining ground in this area.
Students harboring a passion for bringing their business skills to bear on social issues is nothing new at the Philadelphia school. In fact, several existing campus groups have long focused on issues of social responsibility, ranging from environmental sustainability and corporate ethics to nonprofit and public sector management. New, though, is the Wharton Alliance for Social Responsibility (WASR), an umbrella group that brings together several student clubs in the hopes of affecting greater change at the institutional level.
“The individual groups have existed for many years, but there has been a lack of coordinated effort,” says Andree Sosler, co-president of Social Impact, one of the WASR member groups. “We thought we’d have a much stronger voice if we all worked together.”
This fall, WASR launched a website, www.whartonsocialresponsibility.org, where current and prospective students can find out more about social responsibility on campus. In addition to details about each of the member clubs (there are seven in all), the website also features information on career opportunities as well as related courses and faculty research.
“To the world at large, the Wharton brand doesn’t stand for social responsibility,” says Greg Neichin, vice president of communications for Social Impact and a WASR member. “To the world, Wharton is Donald Trump and finance and ruthlessness,” he continues. The hope with WASR is to change this perception, he says.
In fact, more than half of Wharton’s 1,600 MBA students are actively involved in activities with a focus on social responsibility. Membership in Social Impact alone, which is Wharton’s chapter of the global group Net Impact, almost doubled this year, up to 203 members from 106 last year. “I don’t think it’s necessarily that there are more people who care,” says Sosler. “It’s just that we’ve raised the visibility of options for getting involved.”
In an Associated Press article last week, Wharton’s new dean, Thomas Robertson, expressed his commitment to making the University of Pennsylvania school “a force for good in the world.”
“We are really encouraged by the new dean and enthusiastic to meet with him and see what his ideas are, and to listen to him,” says Neichin. Robertson has already scheduled a date to sit down and meet with WASR representatives.
“We are optimistic that with the new dean there will be more administration support for what has historically been a student-run effort,” says Sosler.
Net Impact, the San Francisco–based parent organization dedicated to using business for global improvement, seems to be optimistic about Wharton’s future in the social responsibility arena as well. “Wharton is such a top, outstanding program,” Net Impact Executive Director Liz Maw told the AP. “If they are willing to dedicate their resources toward becoming a leader in this area, they can do it.”
Putting its confidence in Dean Robertson’s professed commitment to Wharton’s future as a force for good, Net Impact will host its November 2008 annual conference on the Wharton campus. (Conferences in recent years have been held at Northwestern, Stanford and, most recently, Vanderbilt University.)
Those committed to social responsibility at Wharton are excited by what they see as a growing trend. But they also recognize that there’s a long road ahead.
“From our perspective, there’s a lot of work to be done to change Wharton’s overall brand reputation in this area,” says Neichin. “It’s going to take five or ten years of Wharton alums advocating out in the world,” he says, coupled with attracting people with a focus on social responsibility, admitting them, and cultivating them while they are there.
