Many students are aware of the University’s plan to ban smoking on campus in July 2011. What many students may not be aware of is the involvement of University President Mary Sue Coleman in affairs outside of campus, especially that she may stand to profit from the ban.
In 2003, President Coleman, who was made UM President in August 2002, was elected to the board of directors of Johnson and Johnson, a company that produces, among other things, a number of products to help smokers quit, especially nationally recognized brands like Nicorette, Nicoderm and Chantix.
Since 2006, according to Forbes.com, President Coleman has received nearly $400,000 in stock awards as a member of the board at Johnson and Johnson. In 2009, she received $229,978.00 in total compensation, almost $100,000 of which was in stock awards.
“We really do see a conflict of interest,” said Sam Van Kleef, President of the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) as well as a member of the executive board for the College Libertarians.
Another player that adds to the possibility of a conflict of interest in the president’s office is her involvement with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), a non-profit organization which, upon the death of its founder Robert Wood Johnson II, became one of the largest shareholders of Johnson and Johnson, making it one of the ten wealthiest charitable foundations in the world. According to their website, “The mission of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is to improve the health and health care of all Americans. Our goal is clear: To help Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need.”
One of the ways the RWJF uses its money is donating it to anti-smoking initiatives, and the Foundation has given almost $500 million to such causes since the mid-90s. It is with the grant money that the RWJF promotes controls on alcohol abuse and underage drinking. In 2000, a publication on grants from the president of the RWJF features Mary Sue Coleman, then President of the University of Iowa, as not only the head of a university that received RWJF money to curb student drinking, but also features a statement which includes, “Basically, we took a page from the fight against big tobacco: Concentrate on the secondary effects.” President Coleman has also worked with a number of grant projects from the RWJF.
4 comments
Author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains"
But no instead they like to lobby for the PUNISHMENT CONDITIONING SYSTEM of creating hate, discrimination, and physically applied torture by mandating smokers be subject to the weather that would get you arrested if you attempted to do it upon a animal!