Three-day conference focuses on corporate rules change

Hedrick Smith, author of “Who Stole the American Dream,” along with a special pre-recorded video address by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, will kick off a three-day summit conference on corporate “rules change” on Friday, May 3 at 7:30 p.m. in Bowker Auditorium.
 
“Rules Change: Resetting the Playing Field for Corporations, People and Democracy,” is a three-day gathering organized by the UMass Donahue Institute at the request of U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern and four other non-profit policy groups. McGovern will be a special guest at the event.
 
Warren will deliver – by pre-recorded video – a special message as part of the opening-evening program, which is free and open to the public. Smith’s talk will begin at 7:30 p.m. It will be followed by a question and answer period and conversation with Smith and others, including longtime corporate-governance and shareholder-rights activist Robert A.G. Monks.
 
Smith is a former Washington bureau chief of The New York Times and Emmy-winning PBS documentarian. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for the Pentagon Paper series and won another Pulitzer for his reporting from Russia. “Who Stole the American Dream,” is acclaimed in part as a chronicle of the decline of America’s middle class, and because Smith, a longtime journalist, chose to make a set of change recommendations at the book’s conclusion.
 
While Smith’s talk and Warren’s address is free and public, the full three-day gathering requires pre-registration. General participation is $139 for the three-day event including meals. Special student and select organization discount rates are available, as is a $50 “off-site collaborator” rate. For details, and to request an invitation, follow the registration link at the conference website.
 
The goal of “Rules Change” is to assess mainstream ideas for changes in the way American corporations are regulated, managed and compete in five key categories: influence, measurement, ownership, accountability and governance, according to Michael Hannahan, director of the UMass Donahue Institute’s Civic Initiative.
 
“Rules Change is an attempt to assemble by rigorous, fact-based inquiry up to five working groups who could begin leading specific mainstream change projects,” said Hannahan. “It’s nonpartisan, and intended to facilitate ideas and seed actions, but without preconceptions.”
 
From Friday afternoon through mid-day Sunday, May 5, summit participants will be working to formulate, propose, explain, deliberate, debate and find common ground on concrete, action-focused “rules changes” affecting specific topics such speech, taxation and climate change.
 
“We are coming together to share where we each see problems – and possibilities for strengthening our democracy,” says Scott Klinger, an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C., one of the four co-convening groups. “Together we will explore what power is needed and who can summon that power to change the rules that have given corporations so much control over our lives, our economy and our democracy.”
 
Principal co-convenors of “Rules Change” include the New Economy Coalition, Responsible Wealth and UnitedRepublic.org, in addition to IPS. Also involved are corporate leaders, public officials, authors, policy analysts, scholars, students and concerned citizens. The group Common Cause is also a co-sponsor.
 
“There’s a growing mainstream perception that America’s economic system can’t go on running as it has been,” says Bill Densmore, a co-convenor of the Rules Change Summit. “It may be time to consider changing the rules of the game so it works best for communities, employees and the environment, as well as for shareholders.”
 
Conference website