Right Angle Club (RAC) Monthly Member Newsletter
for
July, 2021
Upcoming Zoom Speakers & their Presentation Topics
July 9 – Kate Quinn, Executive Director, The James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown Pennsylvania, will talk about the evolution of the museum from a simple regional art collection to a world class museum
July 16 – Terry Tracey, Editor, Broad & Liberty, will talk about the Philadelphia-based nonprofit media enterprise and public policy think tank committed to offering diverse, innovative, even disruptive viewpoints about issues, ideas and polici
July 23 – Liz Maille, Director of Marketing & Leasing, Scout, Inc., will talk about the exciting rehabilitation of the Bok Technical over the past five years into a building that is a hub for makers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. Today, BOK is home to more than 200 businesses including musicians, glassblowers, nonprofits, photography studios, community playspace, a contemporary realist art school, an award-winning rooftop bar, and more.
July 30 – Kathryn Ott Lovell, Commissioner of the the Department of Parks & Recreation, City of Philadelphia, will talk about the future of the Philadelphia parks and the Rebuild Project.
Previous Month’s Speakers’ Presentations Summarized
(prepared by Bob Haskell)
June 4, 2021. Susan Glassman, Executive Director, Wagner Free Institute of Science, discussed the life of William Wagner, the Institute he founded in 1855 to provide free science education to the people of Philadelphia, and how the Institute remains relevant and a rare surviving example of a Victorian era scientific society, with a museum, research center, library, and educational facilities. It provided the earliest free adult science education programs in the United States. William Wagner (1796-1885) was a noted Philadelphia merchant, philanthropist, gentleman scientist, and lifelong collector of natural history specimens. He came from prominent and highly educated Philadelphia family with a long tradition of education (science in particular), religious practice, and charitable contribution to the community. As a teenager, Wagner’s interest was piqued and influenced by a visit to the Peale Museum, which housed a diverse collection of botanical, biological, and archaeological specimens, and by Charles Wilson Peale himself, who was a naturalist and early advocate for scientific study, as well as being a noted portraitist. Wagner apprenticed with Stephen Girard, which enabled him to travel the world on Girard’s international trading ships, and to collect specimens from around the world (shells, fossils, etc.). He retired from business at the age of 43 to pursue his passion for science. He took an 18-month honeymoon trip with his wife Louisa, where he collected more specimens, and visited with scientists and museums. A museum in Berlin provided an example of the importance of being open to the public. Museums at that time were usually restricted and required connections to gain access. He strongly believed that education in the sciences should be available to everyone. Upon returning from this European trip, Wagner began offering free lectures on science at his home, Elm Grove, a colonial farm estate then on the outskirts of Philadelphia. To illustrate the lectures, he drew on the vast collection of specimens he had gathered since his childhood. These lectures became so popular that by 1855 he moved them to a public hall to accommodate the rapidly growing audience, and appointed a faculty to teach six evenings a week on subjects ranging from paleontology and chemistry to botany and architecture. All the classes were offered free of charge with an open admission policy that allowed women, as well as men, to attend. Construction on a building that would become the permanent home for his collections and his educational program began in 1859. Upon Wagner’s death, Joseph Leidy, a biologist of international reputation, was appointed to head its scientific and educational programs. Leidy invigorated the public lectures, added original scientific research, organized field expeditions, established the Institute’s own publication, and reorganized the 100,000+ specimens into a systematic display from simpler to more complex organisms and through geologic time. This new display opened in 1891 and little has been altered since Leidy’s time, making the Institute an exceptional example of a Victorian science museum. The Institute today has an extensive library of 45,000+ volumes that supports scholarly research and public education programs for children and adults. The collection contains primarily scientific works dating from the late 17th to the early 20th century, covering the natural and physical sciences, education, medicine, archaeology and anthropology, the pseudo-sciences, instrument building, and engineering. Adults may select from a broad range of college-level courses in the natural sciences taught by faculty from Philadelphia’s colleges, universities, and research institutions. Special lecture series and symposia, including the Weeknights at the Wagner evening lecture series and the Westbrook Free Lectureship, which regularly brings nationally-known scientists to the Institute for academic programs, which are all open to the public. The Institute also has many children’s programs that serve more than 10,000 children each year, particularly for the low-income community. Overall attendance at the museum is now 36,000+ per year. In 2021, USA Today voted it to be one of the 10 best free US museums. There were 21 participants.
June 11, 2021. Karen Tibbals, author and public speaker, discussed “Can Business Be a Unifying Force?” Culture is changing and the country is divided. Business has power and influence to play a role in healing this political and social divide. But with a world characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, solutions are not simple. In 2019, the Business Roundtable redefined the purpose of a corporation to promote “an economy that serves all people”. All people in this case means all business stakeholders, which include management, employees, customers, suppliers, communities, shareholders, and government. Today, we live in a money culture, with a paradigm of short-term profits. But a new ethical framework is proposed for business, where it is unethical to NOT understand how all stakeholders feel about social and political issues. The only ethical way forward is a holistic, unifying way. Therefore, businesses must commit to learn about their stakeholder groups. They must learn to talk their language, to understand their strongly held beliefs and what drives their emotions, and to take a stand on issues. However, because not all stakeholders are going to agree on any issue, a business must quantify, measure, and monitor the risks of action. and to develop alternative plans of action accordingly. It is a challenge to lead when all don’t agree. Leadership will require action that goes beyond marketing words, to action that matches those words. Marketers are divided on using marketing to encourage national unity; but a growing number of brands are taking a stand on politically-charged issues. Some examples of stakeholder impact were given. Employees can create chaos if they are ignored. Employee morale and recruitment can have significant impact on profitability. Apple, Google, Amazon, and Coinbase are examples of companies where employees have influenced policy. Communities can boycott company products and protest company action. PNC was influenced to stop financing mountaintop-removal coal mining by community action. Facebook has been accused of polarizing society through its artificial intelligence algorithms. Customers are the ultimate arbiters of business success. Nike took a risk by supporting Colin Kaepernick, and ultimately sales rose. PayPal withdrew expansion in North Carolina in response to a law that discriminates against the LGBTQ community. Dick Sporting Goods took a short-term hit to gun sales after they stopped selling semi-automatic rifles in its stores and imposed stricter sales regulations of guns, but overall business improved. Shareholders are no longer standing on the sidelines. A minority shareholder won the vote to put two activist nominees to the Board of Exxon (surrounding the issue of climate change). Karen Tibbals is the author of two books on political polarization: Marketing Landmines: The Next Generation of Emotional Branding and Persuade, Don’t Preach: Restoring Civility Across the Political Divide. They are available on Amazon and can also be purchased directly from her at a discount. Marketing Landmines is available for $15 and Persuade, Don’t Preach for $12. Her websites are: https://persuadedontpreach.
June 18, 2021. Brendan j. O’Malley, Chief Deputy Attorney General for the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General (OAG), discussed the scourge of gun violence, the trends in gun trafficking in Pennsylvania, the state of affairs in Philadelphia, and the strategic focus of the OAG in addressing gun violence. Pressure to focus on gun violence started in 2004 with a 10,000-person march to protest the killing of a schoolboy caught in a drug turf war. Mayor Rendell formed a commission to investigate how illegal guns were getting into the hands of the “bad guys”. In 2006, the Gun Violence Task Force was created as a partnership between the Office of the Attorney General, the District Attorney’s Office, and the Philadelphia police. Its mission was to investigate straw purchases, illegal handgun transfers, background check denials, and gun shows. A straw purchase occurs when a person with no criminal record buys a gun(s) for a person who is otherwise unable to purchase one themselves. Such person may have a criminal history, a plan to use the gun to commit a crime, or be selling guns illegally. Straw purchases are illegal under both state and federal law. Pennsylvania law mandates a five-year minimum sentence for a conviction (federal law only mandates a six-month minimum). Legal purchases are not questioned (i.e., the right to bear arms is given in the PA Constitution). Private party transfers of handguns are legal, but they must be conducted through a licensed dealer (except for transfers between spouses, parents and children, grandparents and children, and law enforcement). No permit is currently needed to purchase a handgun in Pennsylvania, but background checks are required for all handgun sales (none required for long guns). Purchases at rural gun shows are a source of illegal guns that reach Philadelphia, including ghost guns (e.g., 3D printed guns, Polymer 80 gun kits). A rise in violent crime started in 2020. Handgun sales skyrocketed in mid 2020 following the murder of George Floyd. They went from 20,000 in May to a peak of 60,000 in July 2020. Citizens started to arm themselves for fear that the rule of law was breaking down. Sales stayed high through 2020, but have started tapering down in 2021. Overall gun sales are also affected by elections: under Clinton and Obama the fear was that democrats would take guns away; under Trump it was a belief that the opportunity to buy would never be better. Under Biden, gun sales are leveling off. Gun trafficking patterns in Pennsylvania have not changed. Trafficking volumes, and the percentages supplied through known sources, are generally stable. Of the 4,387 crime guns recovered in Philadelphia in 2020, 53% were sold by Pennsylvania dealers, and one in four were purchased in the City and surrounding area. Interstate trafficking is not an issue. But the massive rise in murders is not related to more guns. The problem is the criminal justice system. The stakeholders in the justice system are not doing their jobs, and criminals are not held accountable for their actions and are being released prematurely. A 2020 study looked at 100 shooters: who were they and what were they doing on the street. Of these, 82 had been in the criminal justice system before and were back on the street because of being in an open case, on probation, or out on bail. Statistics indicate that if you arrest a drug dealer, you take a killer off the street. There could be a 50% reduction in murders if criminals were kept in prison. Gangs are not the problem. Murders are typically neighborhood-based. A stronger police presence would also help, but the police are overwhelmed. The number one source of stolen guns is from parked cars…..do not leave guns in your cars! There were 26 participants at lunch and 5 on Zoom.
June 25, 2021. Renee Hykel-Cuddy, discussed President Biden’s immigration reform actions and proposals from the perspective of immigration counsel. The benefits of immigration were outlined, to counter the many negative myths. In general, immigration benefits American and Americans, and 75% of Americans say that immigration is beneficial. 1) Immigrants tend to have an entrepreneurial spirit (at twice the rate of the average American), resulting in an increase in job opportunities for many Americans. They may take some jobs, but it is more than a zero-sum game. 2) Immigrants drive economic growth. They added $2 trillion to GNP in 2019. 3) Immigrants are generally well educated. 43% are college graduates, 50% have a STEM background. 4) Immigrants, even those undocumented, pay taxes that support schools and municipal services. They are not a financial burden. 5) Employers are required to pay everyone a fair wage. Immigrants cannot legally be paid less than comparable American workers. 6) International students generally pay higher tuition, and add money to local economies as consumers. But given the current situation, immigration reform is needed. Biden’s US Citizen’s Act of 2021 was put before Congress in February, was passed by the House in March, but remains stuck on the floor of the Senate. It is attempting to modernize the old immigration statute, which has not been updated since 2001. It has now been broken into pieces to facilitate action. Among other things, the Act provides a path to citizenship for the 700K Dreamers and for migrant farmworkers with new status of “lawful prospective immigrant”, and other operational improvements at the border. Farmworkers used to freely come and go, but have now started staying as undocumented because of the new barriers to movement. To help jumpstart reform, several executive orders were executed on day-one of the administration, some of which include: regulatory freeze on the Muslim travel ban, sanctuary city penalties enjoined, border wall stopped, DACA preserved and fortified, extreme vetting rescinded, “no blank space” rule rescinded, public charge rule rescinded, the more stringent citizenship test requirement was rescinded. In the last few weeks, prosecutorial discretion was granted to help clear the large backlog of 1.2 million immigration cases. In general, this means that if the applicant fits the profile of a good person, the case can be closed. There were 21 participants at lunch and 5 on Zoom.
Carter Broach
Corresponding Secretary
broach@udel.edu
