Word: southwesterner
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...over a year now we've seen a series of articles in The Crimson about our work with the Southwestern Company. Previous episodes have charged that the company uses unethical and illegal recruiting practices at Harvard, that we are defying a ban by the dean of students and that "Southwestern students" practice a form of nepotism in undergraduate organizations (such as the model U.N.) ensuring favorable staff positions for each other. The latest installment contains an assessment of the program by two participants, based upon less than six weeks total experience. For the first time since the parade of articles...
...have different feelings about the program, but the unfounded blanket insinuation that those of us who work with Southwestern are unethical in our business practices seems disturbingly inappropriate in a newspaper and community which pride themselves on rationality and a strong sense of justice. The purpose of this piece is to lay the facts on the table so that the issues can be discussed in an atmosphere of reason, rather than one reminiscent of a self-righteous witch hunt...
...innuendos in the articles concerning us as individuals, and about the conclusions drawn from narrow experience and inadequate knowledge concerning the program in which we work. We have accumulated more than 300 weeks of selling experience among us, and are extremely familiar with the workings of the Southwestern Company. What an individual in the Harvard community decides about the program after it has been presented in a fair and complete light is entirely his business, but the fact remains that up until now, such a fair and complete picture could not be assembled from the inaccurate and misleading implications found...
...criticisms seem clustered around three main issues: Southwestern salesmen are unethical fanatics; the company misleads and double-crosses its workers; and recruiting tactics are unethical and illegal...
First, we would like to correct the notion that Southwestern salesmen are unethical. A salesman who misrepresents himself or his product could conceivably make a few extra sales--before getting caught and thrown in jail. But whether an individual salesman acts ethically or not is his decision alone. Each Southwestern salesman agrees, in writing, "to operate in his own way, within his designated territory, in selling books published by the company," and that "Dealer shall be free to exercise his own judgement as to time, place, and manner of selling books purchased under this contract, within the territory designated...