Columbia dean Glenn Hubbard in "Inside Job"

Question

"Inside Job" is a documentary about the 2008 financial crash.

In it, Glenn Hubbard basically gives off the air that he's above the rest of society.
Columbia professor Mishkin also gets challenged but he does not lose his composure like Hubbard.

youtu.be/zlIoeTObmEk
www_businessinsider_com/glenn-hubbard-inside-job-2011-2

If you saw this film, did it affect your views and/or application to Columbia?

Does the dean have much of an impact on the actual education?
On recruiting and employment?
Do people in your industry identify with Hubbard or are they surprised by his performance?

sda · Answer

Any thoughts from those who already graduated or current students?

Moss · Answer

Columbia has changed its policy on disclosing conflicts of interest: https://poetsandquants.com/2011/05/18/in ... -columbia/

This issue doesn't really affect the day-to-day of students, so we haven't heard anything about this or felt its impact in any measurable way. Maybe some PhD students are more aware of this, but most of us first years taking core classes that aren't reliant on cutting-edge research as much as other classes are kind of unaffected by the disclosure policy.

Nonetheless, its good to hear that CBS isn't putting its head in the sand and, although called out pretty publicly, made efforts to improve itself in response to criticism.

losttraveler · Answer

I read through many articles on this, etc.

In short, to try and blame a few academics for something as ridiculous as this is a joke at best. I'm not going to testify for the ethics regarding the issue with conflicts of interest but simply lets look at a few things. They did set the interviews us as a seemingly "get to chat about the events" versus we're going to poke and prod and make you look like an idiot type of approach. Further, is this really something new? Anyone who doesn't think b-school professors are paid to consult and do other work would be extremely nieve and fairly ignorant. What bearing does this really have? I'd argue that outside a change in disclosure at CBS, nothing. Recruiters could care less as they are probably the same firms who hire out the professors as consultants. Two sides to every story... "our" side just didn't feel like even entertaining the whole thing any longer.

sda · Answer

Thanks for weighing in guys.

Moss: 
I don't have the link but I think it was an admissions consultant who commented that the new policy is basically "say you did it, ok good we're done". Of course, that's still progress from non-disclosure.

losttraveler:
I don't think the issue was about blaming the financial situation squarely on academics but rather the conflict of interest in their work, which is used to influence decisions at the highest levels.
As for the interview in the movie, I think sending a list of questions would have made the whole effort much less meaningful due to getting prepared responses.

Definitely good news for applicants and students that the MBA program isn't much affected.

Columbia dean Glenn Hubbard in "Inside Job"

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