April 2003 - VOLUME 24 - NUMBER 4
T H E L A W R E N C E S U M M E R S M
E M O R I A L A W A R D
April 2003 - VOLUME 24 - NUMBER 4
T H E L A W R E N C E S U M M E R S M
E M O R I A L A W A R D
THE LAWRENCE SUMMERS MEMORIAL AWARD*The April 2003 Lawrence Summers Memorial Award* goes to the U.S. Olympic Committee. The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) in January told the organizers of Nebraska Wesleyan University's annual "Rat Olympics" to change the name of their event or face a trademark infringement lawsuit. This weaselly message was delivered to the University by a legal adviser to the USOC. The Rat Olympics are the annual Behavioral Learning Principles class project to teach rats to perform in various competitive events, the Associated Press reports, and has received local and national media coverage. Wesleyan will hold a contest to rename the contest, a university spokesperson told the Associated Press. "Until then, it is being called �the event formerly known as the Rat Olympics,' she said." Source: Associated Press, "USOC Threatens Suit Over �Rat Olympics,'" January 31, 2003. |
| *In a 1991 internal memorandum, then-World Bank economist Lawrence Summers argued for the transfer of waste and dirty industries from industrialized to developing countries. "Just between you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging more migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs (lesser developed countries)?" wrote Summers, who went on to serve as Treasury Secretary during the Clinton administration. "I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that. ... I've always thought that underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly under polluted; their air quality is vastly inefficiently low [sic] compared to Los Angeles or Mexico City." Summers later said the memo was meant to be ironic. |