Business & Entrepreneurship

Civil rights champion and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission member Chai Feldblum, JD, will visit Washington University in St. Louis on March 17 and 18 to participate in programs commemorating the passing of Title VII, a key piece of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as to celebrate International Women’s Day.

The way that most scientific reports are presented seems to suggest that clinical trials have controlled for flaws or deviations, but some test subjects secretly break study rules that conflict with their own personal interests. These “subversive subjects” undermine the research endeavor.

This spring, the Supreme Court will consider whether freedom of religious expression applies to for-profit businesses, as well as individuals, in Hobby Lobby’s challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate. Elizabeth Sepper, JD, associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, says that discrimination based on a person’s religious or sexual preferences is a serious harm to society.

Business student Marc Bernstein and architecture student Miriam Alexandroff, both juniors, won the top prize in this year’s Olin Sustainability Case Competition. The question was: Can WUSTL strengthen the local economy and limit its carbon footprint by sourcing more locally grown food, while still providing nutritionally balanced and diverse food options?

Joe Fox, associate dean and director of MBA programs at Olin Business School, has been named president of the MBA Roundtable, a collaborative, nonprofit organization that facilitates the exchange of information and resources on MBA curricular innovation.

Two WUSTL students, both past winners of the university’s Olin Cup, have been selected as Pipeline Fellows and will participate in a nationally recognized year long program designed to accelerate the growth of high performance entrepreneurs.

Vice Provost Adrienne Davis recommends checking out Cultural Connections this weekend. Portfolio Gallery celebrates its 25th anniversary with a showcase of African-American art and books.

School of Law faculty joined in a special moot court program last month to help attorneys prepare for — and students better understand — a landmark intellectual property case that the Supreme Court will consider this month.

Access to required anesthetic agents for a lethal injection is quickly disappearing, leaving the future of the death penalty in the United States in question. “Because the European Union opposes the death penalty, it prohibits the export of goods for executions [and] requires a time-consuming preauthorization review for every shipment of a potential ‘dual use’ pharmaceutical,” says Rebecca Dresser, JD, biomedical ethics expert and professor of law and of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. “Capital cases are expensive, and state budgets are tight. High costs and concern about erroneous convictions have led a few states to abolish the death penalty in recent years. Barriers to obtaining lethal injection drugs could lead more states to do away with the death penalty altogether.”

​The popular arts and crafts store Hobby Lobby is seeking a religious exemption from covering certain forms of contraception it would be required to provide under the contraception mandate of the Affordable Care Act. The case is headed to the Supreme Court, with oral arguments set to begin this spring. “Granting the exemption would shift the cost of accommodating Hobby Lobby’s religious exercise to employees who do not share its beliefs,” argues Elizabeth Sepper, JD, associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “Such cost-shifting violates the Establishment Clause.” Sepper is one of several experts who have authored an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court arguing the unconstitutionality of Hobby Lobby’s request.