Almost everyone at the University knows this is John T. Casteen III’s last year as president. What some might not know is that he plans on joining the Board of Directors of Altria as its 10th member. Altria Group, Inc. owns tobacco and wine companies, most notably Phillip Morris, the maker of Marlboro and Virginia Slims, among other tobacco products. The acceptance of his new job is either an incredibly moronic decision or an equally selfish one; since I do not question President Casteen’s intelligence, I would have to assume that it is the latter.
Besides the health risks involved with smoking and the unethical targeting of underage children, Casteen’s decision to join Altria is ill-advised because it is also deleterious to Virginia’s history, particularly that of the University and the Charlottesville-Albemarle community.
Virginia has been progressive in the past few years to a point where we have almost shattered the “southern” stereotype. Before McDonnell, we had elected back-to-back Democratic governors and had two Democratic senators when the state went to President Barack Obama in 2008, something not expected from a typical southern state. Just as we were escaping this stigma, Casteen manages to pull us back down by effectively proving the stereotypes true.
Virginia has had a history of exploiting groups of people for personal gain, whether it was the Powhatan for their gold or African slaves for their labor. Casteen carries on the tradition by raising millions for a company at the expense of consumers’ well-being. It was the Indian land and slave labor that made tobacco companies and their descendants rich, but it is people like Casteen who will profit from this ongoing injustice.
Someone of Casteen’s stature must have known about these criticisms beforehand, so why would he still accept the position?
Could he be in financial trouble? A quick examination of Casteen’s resume would rule this possibility out. He has worked for some of the biggest companies in the nation, namely Wachovia and Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and has been a university president for 25 years — five at the University of Connecticut and 20 at the University as one of the highest paid presidents at a public institution. Casteen is easily a multi-millionaire and unless he was one of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme victims, he probably does not need the money.
Could he be suffering from Brett Favre syndrome? Casteen is not even officially retired yet, so it is unlikely that he is bored and simply needs a job to get back into the game. Besides, a company as powerful as Altria would have too much pride to play the role of Brad Childress by courting Casteen.
Perhaps Casteen joining Altria was a result of a build-up of Jeffersonian ideals. By this I do not mean honor, integrity, etc., but something else entirely. Jefferson had a habit of saying one thing and doing the opposite. For instance, Jefferson was an opponent of slavery while still having an affair with his slave, Sally Hemings.
Since Casteen spent his time as an undergraduate and graduate here, followed by a stint as an English professor and then as Dean of Admissions before ultimately becoming president, he undoubtedly has been immersed in everything Jefferson related. Maybe Casteen felt like he needed to behave more like Mr. Jefferson. Minority, particularly African-American, admissions have increased during his tenure here and recently it was announced that the medical center was now a Clean Air Zone. Following Jefferson’s example by joining Altria, Casteen managed to not only contradict the good that was done but also debase it.
When I took social psychology last semester, one of the key points we learned about was the fundamental attribution error. People make this error when they assume that the actions of a person are a result of that person’s character rather than the circumstances of the situation. The fundamental attribution error applies in many cases. On the other hand, if every action was a result of the circumstance, then there would be no need for personality psychology.
Casteen has no situational excuse for the position he put himself into by joining Altria. He is fully aware of the public perception, did not need the money and could not possibly already be bored of the retired life since he is still employed. Maybe the decision was just Casteen being Casteen.
Hung Vu’s columns appear on Tuesdays. He can be reached at h.vu@cavalierdaily.com.
Wow, what a load of crap. Altria exists because there is a demand. Because you don’t approve of it, you bash the guy for using people? Bizarre.
And to make the assumption that democrat is good is even more ridiculous. Whether it is the Bush disaster or the Obama disaster, they are destroying the country in a similar manner. Obama has recently proven he has no respect for the constitution by criticizing the Supreme Court publicly.
What a weird article.
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Still bashing tobacco companies at this late date? Since governments, federal and state, are enriched much more than the companies themselves from the sale of the product from high excise and sales taxes I find it hypocritical that you can find any sense in your article.
Selling tobacco is a LEGAL business highly regulated and taxed and I would suggest you use your newspaper to blame the REAL culprits in this matter. GOVERNMENTS State and Federal who allow the product to be sold and take billions a year from smokers and tobacco companies.
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Seems to me that Hung Vu should move to Canada or perhaps somewhere in Europe where his extreme PC liberal point of view would be a better fit. His commentary indicates a distaste for the State of Va. as well as it’s heritage.
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Speaking for myself as an alum, I do find it a bit odd that Casteen would jump to a company with such a contentious background – and that it would be announced before he’s even left. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Whether or not smoking is legal is not the issue here, perception is. It now looks like Casteen is just another corporate hack in it for the money.
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Yeah, except we’re talking about Altria, not Amway, but thanks for the info chief.
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Like Kristen, as an alum, I wish Mr. Casteen had chosen another line of work after his term at the U. Tobacco is legal, but so are strip clubs. It’s just not seemly for an ex-University President.
That said however, this is just a train wreck of an article. Before you use what you must think are impressive words, learn a little English syntax. “Deleterious to Virginia’s history”???? Give me a break. You may also want to learn some history. Powhatan’s gold?? Did he have the Leprechauns guarding it, and did the evil Virginians enslave them too?
I could go on, but since you apparently know zilch about Virginia’s history and Jefferson, it would be like shooting fish in a barrel. Next time, learn before you write.
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Mr. Casteen put a system in place 20 years ago at UVA that ensured that countless cases of breast cancer, liver cancer, cervical cancer, and heart disease would be given to it’s female students later in life – while making sure that the politically incorrect medical facts were hidden from them. This is what the “Teen Center” and the Peer “Health” Educators are all about. Selling steroids and keeping students in the dark as to their negative effects. And these steroids are marketed in coordination with Planned Parenthood to 17 year old underage students every summer in the dorms. It’s been a very lucrative venture.
Meanwhile, over 2500 infants (and counting) conceived by UVA students have been aborted inside UVA hospital in Mr. Casteen’s other pet project. Elson Student “Health” Center and the PHE’s have likewise been fundamental to this policy. Mr. Casteen put all these cogs in this machine in place soon after arriving in 1989.
The students aborting their children (zero survive these days at UVA) were never informed that this procedure dramatically increases their chances of having a child born preterm with severe birth defects like cerebral palsy in the future. They know that by then, their victims will keep quiet. As quiet as the women vomiting and bleeding half to death after taking the morning after pills UVA now gives away for free to any boy or girl who asks.
So nobody should be the least bit surprised that Mr. Casteen has taken a job that will enable him to continue to profit a great deal from selling products that cause cancer and birth defects. Indeed, the tobacco industry can look to Mr. Casteen’s 20 years here at UVA with jealous admiration. He got away with it for so long. Indeed, he still does. Altria made a very shrewd choice here; a throwback to when the tobacco industry kept everyone in the dark for decades..
http://www.uvalies.org/
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Its a very poor decision that speaks volumes about the President. Its about big business as usual.
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I knew it had to be only a matter of time before everybody’s favorite master of redundant posting, sean cannan, came to the scene to shed some new light on the situation! Solid reporting out there big guy.
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The only thing John Casteen should lose sleep over is having headed an institution that produces students who are inclined to write ill-informed, trite and ridiculous pieces like this one. Students such as Hung Vu, who are so obviously steeped in the rampant, unchecked, and unapologetic bile of political correctness that passes for intellectual discourse and thought in America’s modern universities, would be well advised to think before they write and to ponder the consequences of embarassing both themselves and their school by producing such asinine commentary as the above piece. Of course, if one applies the almost laughable notion of “fundamental attribution error” to this story, then it becomes obvious that the author’s misinformed piece springs not from his own character, but from the “circumstances” of his situation.” If only he were so lucky. Then again, maybe he is.
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Virginia is really two states – just like California. Northern VA has been growing its residency which has lead to the last couple elections during Democratic (FYI, northern VA voted for the current governor as well…).
The history of Virginia is closely tied to Tobacco (just like our country – those are tobacco leaves at the top of the pillars of our Washington DC buildings). To catagorize this as a black and white issue is bogus – Virginia is a lot more complex than this article reads. If anyone thinks the outlook Arlington or Alexandria has is the same as Richmond or southwest VA, you are very mistaken.
So what was the point of this article? I am happy he’s joining the Altria board…. may their stock tick higher!
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Did anybody consider he wanted to join their board to reform them? Maybe he will push for more anti-smoking ads or research to help people quit — and get paid for it.
Rather than fussing in the CD, why don’t you actually ask him why. Then judge.
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Did anyone consider he wanted to join Altria’s board to reform it? Maybe he will push for anti-smoking ads and research to help people quit — and get paid for it.
Why don’t you ask him? Then judge.
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Wow. What a bullshit article.
Hey Hung, you might want to get your head checked out. How can you over think something that much without it exploding?
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It’s amazing how completely brainwashed some of the PC folks at this supposedly top notch university are. It’s akin to a cult at this point. Nothing real matters anymore. Partisan politics uber alles. Everything and everyone “Southern” is evil by definition, and our only hope is to be reprogrammed by people who label themselves “progressives.” What a laugh out loud joke.
Anyone who didn’t vote democratic recently has a stigma that they must rid themselves of. Wow.. These folks really are in a cult – or at least they act like they are. That Hung Vu knows next to nothing about Virginia history is obvious, but that’s forgivable given the education he is probably getting at UVA.
Perhaps Mr. Vu has no choice but to hide his head in the sand and pretend that the elections since President Obama took office never happened given his partisan blinders, but to broadcast his laughable ignorance of history and hypocritical stances regarding some of players therein is not only an embarrassment to himself. It is an embarrassment to this university.
Hung, just a few things that maybe your UVA professors overlooked.. The tobacco industry in Virginia supported, and was supported by, hundreds of almost exclusively democratic politicians in Richmond and DC who also were at the forefront of keeping the Jim Crow laws in effect as recently as the 1970′s. The first time Virginia voted republican after the civil war was in 1980 – for Ronald Reagan. This also happened to be the same time period in which the tobacco industry was finally being taken to task and made to fess up to what it had known for years. Planned Parenthood, the UVA Health System, and the pharmaceutical industry unfortunately still get away with very similar suppression of medical facts. So as I said above, Casteen is an ideal choice for them.
It’s amazing to see and hear UVA students and even faculty ignore the mass grave on grounds of confederate soldiers as they do UVA’s participation in that war. They’d a make a huge beer pong field out of it if they could. Yet they still worship Jefferson like he is some kind of God. Yet the man owned, traded, and perhaps even impregnated his slaves. Hung, your university was built by slaves, and founded by a slave owner with money his slaves made for him! But here you are trumpeting his honor and integrity, while openly suggesting that any current republican is a loathsome embarrassment.
The only stereotype you need to be worried about, Mr. Hung, is that the modern state of education at America’s so called top universities really comes out screaming in articles like this one.
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Everyone should be reminded of the fact that Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms are controled and under the view of that Federal Agency and not under the Food and Drug Administration. Congress made that happen and its a fact. Because alcohol and tobacco are not under the control of Food and Drug Admin. the alcohol and tobacco industries are not required to label their contents on their products. Take a carton or pack of cigeretts or alcohol and try to find their contents like you would find on some other food product that is controled by the F & D Admin. There is nothing to indicate what exactly the contents of the alcohol or tobacco products are so you do not know what chemicals you are ingesting into your bodies.
Its a fact that nicotine is a dangerous and highly addictive drug and so is alcohol. The Food and Drug Administration does not protect the public from products that contain these chemicals although they are highly dangerous to your health. The Constitution of the United States has two amendments to it concerning one, alcohol…..prohibition and then the repeal of prohibition. The Federal government has not put tobacco and alcohol under the control of the Food and Drug Administration. I would suggest that everyone write their congressmen demanding that Congress pass a law that puts tobacco and alchohol back under the control of the Food and Drug Administration. They dont want to take those products off the market for two reasons…taxes and the black market. Enough Said about that.
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The FDA is a political organization, not a scientific one. They don’t give a hoot about people’s health if there are political machinations behind the scenes regarding a very lucrative cancer causing steroid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9PJkfya4tg
Alcohol and tobacco both have very clear labels on them regarding how they can cause birth defects. The pills that UVA hands out like candy for free do not. It’s all part of the game..
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Sean,
While there is a higher risk of breast and other cancers associated with birth control pills, your rampant campaign against hormonal contraceptives is poorly masked fear mongering designed to further your own idealogy. I resent the fact that you think I might read your comments and not immediately see your true agenda.
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The “It’s OK because it is a legal product” argument makes no sense. Do drunk drivers argue that what they did was fine because alcohol is a legal product?
But interestingly, this raises an important question: Is it worth it to keep tobacco legal? I don’t trhink it is.
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