Arizona Mayor Angry About Bilingual Invitation

When John Cook, executive director of the U.S.-Mexico Border Mayors Association, sent invitations to mayors in border states in the United States and Mexico, he didn't expect the strong reaction he got from Ken Taylor, mayor of Huachuca City, AZ. The invitation was sent in both English and Spanish, which The New York Times calls "standard for any type of official communication about binational events."

"The excitement is building and we are ready for a great meeting of the Border Mayors Association in Laredo. We hope to see you there at 9 a.m. on August 24th at the Laredo Country Club.  The draft agenda and a list of hotels is attached to this email," Cook said in the email, which then provided the Spanish translation. "La emoción está construyendo y estamos listos para una gran reunión de la Asociación de alcaldes de la frontera en Laredo. Esperamos contar con su presencia a las 9 am el 24 de agosto en el Laredo Country Club. El proyecto de programa y una lista de hoteles se adjunta a este correo electrónico."

Taylor responded to the invitation: "I will NOT attend a function that is sent to me in Spanish/Mexican."

Cook said, "I don't want to pick a flight," "I will certainly remove you from our email list. Ours is a bi-national association with mayors from the United States and Mexico that were elected to serve border communities. All of our communications are intended to inform mayors from both sides of our border about our association." Cook also said, "The purpose of the Border Mayors Association is to speak with one voice in Washington, D.C., and Mexico City about issues that impact our communities, not to speak in one language. My humble apologies if I ruffled your feathers."

The concession wasn't enough for Taylor: "American is going ‘Down Hill' fast because we spend more time catering to others that are concerned with their own self interests. It is far past time to remember that we should be ‘America First' ... there is NOTHING wrong with that."

Discussion Starters: 

• What's your view of the invitation? Should invitations to U.S. mayors be written only in English?
• Given Taylor's objection, how well did he handle the situation? What else could he have said and done? What are the consequences of his response? 
• How well did Cook handle Taylor's reaction? 

Biles Handles the Media

In addition to winning an Olympic gold medal for gymnastics, Simone Biles made headlines for handling two difficult situations beautifully. 

Tired of hearing some media coverage for the games, Biles shot back, "I'm not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps. I'm the first Simone Biles." An article in The Atlantic called NBC's coverage of the Olympics:

The coverage of women's gymnastics has a long tradition of emphasizing the contrasts of its competitors: traditional girlishness on the one hand, traditionally masculine qualities-"power" chief among them-on the other. And NBC's gymnastics commentators (under a mandate from NBC to address themselves to a notional "Madeleine in Middle America, who doesn't know gymnastics") have reveled in those easy contradictions. Biles stands, they have emphasized, at only 4 feet, 8 inches tall. She giggles a lot. A promotional package NBC aired during Rio's women's gymnastics qualifying round featured Biles's parents talking about her love for shopping. It also showed her getting a manicure.

The article went on to say it was as though NBC were saying, "Look at that girl do all that! She's powerful like Michael Phelps, but a girl!."

In another incident drawing attention to her (and needing her attention to clear things up), an NBC commentator, Al Trautwig, referred to her parents as Biles's grandfather and his wife. The couple legally adopted and raised Simone. Trautwig repeated his position on social media.

Biles simply said, "I personally don't have a comment. My parents are my parents, and that's it."

Image source.

Discussion Starters: 

• Biles is getting a crash course in media attention. Do you agree with my assessment that she's handling it well? What else can she do? 
• Read The Atlantic article about NBC's portrayal of women and the Olympics. Do you agree with the author's criticism? What rings true for you, and what doesn't? 

Huffington Steps Down

After building Huffington Post into a significant brand and news source, CEO and founder Arianna Huffington is leaving the company after 11 years. The company was sold to AOL 2011, and then Verizon acquired AOL in 2015. Huffington stayed on since but has become less visible in the company.

Now, she's starting a venture, Thrive Global, which focuses on employee well-being and is based on two books she's written. She explains the decision:

"As Thrive Global moved from an idea to a reality, with investors, staff, and offices, it became clear to me that I simply couldn't do justice to both companies."

The New York Times reports her position at Verizon as "increasingly precarious." The liberal news site has become a smaller part of a global media company, and perhaps the voice has been shrinking, particularly with Verizon's recent purchase of Yahoo. 

Huffington tried to reassure staff, who have been leaving the company steadily for the past year:

"Great companies always succeed beyond their founder. Even though HuffPost bears my name, it is absolutely about all of you and about this amazing team we've been for over 11 years."

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong also tried to do his part:

"Today, The Huffington Post is a firmly established and celebrated news source, and AOL and Verizon are committed to continuing its growth and the groundbreaking work Arianna pioneered."

Discussion Starters: 

• What else could Arianna Huffington, and perhaps the executives at Verizon, say to reassure HuffPost employees? They are likely concerned about their future without the founder at the helm. 
• In her statement, Huffington talks only about her new wellness company. Should she say more about the company's position within Verizon? Why or why not?

Lessons from Delta Outage

Delta experienced one of those crisis situations during which it's impossible to make customers happy. After cancelling 1000 flights on Monday, 775 on Tuesday, and more than 300 on Wednesday, the airline finally reports, "Delta's Flight Operations Return to Normal." 

When the power outage first hit on Monday, now blamed on equipment failure, customers weren't kept informed about their flight status. In most cases, passengers received no notification, others received text messages that there flights were ready to board when they were not, and others sat on a plane on a runway for five hours. Because Delta's entire communication system was down, the company had limited ways of getting accurate messages to passengers. The failure does raise questions about Delta's backup systems, although CEO Ed Bastian said they have redundant systems.

On Monday on Twitter, representatives responded to customers, but they could say little other than, for example, "Hi there. I am really sorry for the inconvenience. Our systems are down everywhere. Hopefully it won't be much longer. *SD."

The company had kept the public updated on its website. A string of posts shows Delta's optimism-real or imagined-to maintain the airline's image:

Employees helping customers in Salt Lake City after outage
Delta's flight operations return to normal
Aircraft in Atlanta with beam of sunlight
Flight schedule continues moving towards normalcy

Also to keep customers loyal to Delta, grounded passengers got a full refund and a $200 certificate for a future flight. Bastian apologized in a video, below, and was interviewed on the Associated Press about the situation. His theme is "This is not who we are," which could work well for the company to isolate this incident and point to long-term successes that built the brand. 

Discussion Starters: 

• Do you agree with my assessment of "This is who we are"? What are the dangers of that communication theme? 
• What's your view of Bastian's video? Analyze the audience, key messages, delivery style, and so on.
• What else, if anything, should the company have done on Twitter?

Saatchi Chair Resigns Admitting, "Fail Fast, Fix Fast, Learn Fast"

Saatchi Chairman Kevin Roberts told Business Insider that the "debate is over" about gender diversity in the advertising industry:

"Edward de Bono [the physician, psychologist, and author] once told me there is no point in being brilliant at the wrong thing - the f---ing debate is all over. This is a diverse world, we are in a world where we need, like we've never needed before, integration, collaboration, connectivity, and creativity ... this will be reflected in the way the Groupe is."

Instead, Roberts pointed to financial services, where he says the issue is "way worse." 

On Twitter, senior lecturers from other ad agencies as well as major companies disagreed, including PepsiCo's beverage group president, who said he wasn't proud to be client, and the CMO from JPMorgan, who said his comments were "positively Trumpian." 

Parent company Publicis issued the following statement: 

Following the comments made by Saatchi & Saatchi Executive Chairman and Publicis Groupe Head Coach, Kevin Roberts, in a recent interview with Business Insider, Publicis Groupe Chairman & CEO, Maurice Lévy addressed a statement internally to all Publicis Groupe employees to reiterate the Groupe's no-tolerance policy towards behavior or commentary counter to the spirit of Publicis Groupe and its celebration of difference as captured in the motto Viva la Difference!

It is for the gravity of these statements that Kevin Roberts has been asked to take a leave of absence from Publicis Groupe effective immediately. As a member of The Directoire, it will ultimately be the Publicis Groupe Supervisory Board's duty to further evaluate his standing.

Diversity & inclusion are business imperatives on which Publicis Groupe will not negotiate. While fostering a work environment that is inclusive of all talent is a collective responsibility, it is leadership's job to nurture the career aspirations and goals of all our talent.

Promoting gender equality starts at the top and the Groupe will not tolerate anyone speaking for our organization who does not value the importance of inclusion. Publicis Groupe works very hard to champion diversity and will continue to insist that each agency's leadership be champions of both diversity and inclusion.

For his part, Roberts apologized: 

"Fail fast, fix fast, learn fast" is a leadership maxim I advocate. When discussing with Business Insider evolving career priorities and new ways of work/life integration, I failed exceptionally fast. My miscommunication on a number of points has caused upset and offence, and for this I am sorry. I have inadvertently embarrassed Saatchi & Saatchi and Publicis Groupe, two companies I love and have been devoted to for almost 20 years. I have expressed my regret and apology to the companies for the furor my remarks and language stimulated, and I extend this to colleagues, staff and clients.

Image source.

Discussion Starters: 

• Read more from Roberts' interview with Business Insider. Where did he go wrong? 
• Assess his apology. What works well to instill trust in the brand? How authentic does it sound to you?

Time's Layoff Jargon

I'd like to see a layoff announcement without "realignment," "leverage," and "content creation." Time Inc. couldn't manage it in the recent statement about laying off about 110 of its 7,200-person team: 

"Over the last couple of weeks, we have been realigning our organizational structure to better leverage our content creation, sales and marketing and brand development operations. Our primary objective has been to better position ourselves to operate with greater agility and optimize the growth areas of our operation. As a result, there will be some job eliminations. That is always painful but an unfortunate reality in today's business climate."

According to AdAge, employees aren't surprised, based on recent memos announcing new management and a new editorial structure. CEO Joe Ripp also admitted, "We're always looking at costs."

Part of the restructuring includes new ad teams for technology and telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, and automotive.

Image source. 

Discussion Starters: 

• What's the harm in using jargon in a layoff announcement? What are some alternatives?
• Time representatives won't say when the layoffs will take place. How does this strategy affect employees? What are the factors involved in the timing decision?

Should Miss Teen USA Give Up the Crown?

Karlie Hay, from Texas, was crowned Miss Teen USA on Saturday, but evidence of her using a racial slur in 2013 and 2014 has surfaced. Hay apologized for her tweets in a statement and in an interview with George Stephanopoulos: 

"I am very sorry. It's embarrassing. It's something I'm ashamed of. I've grown up from that 15-year-old girl who used that type of language. It's never acceptable and now I know how hurtful it is. It hurts me to know that at one point in my life I used that language. I said that. It's not me."

The Miss Universe organization decided not to have Hay give up the crown:

"As Karlie stated, she was in a different place in her life and made a serious mistake she regrets and for which she sincerely apologizes." 

I don't watch beauty pageants, but I can't imagine how the judges chose a winner from the top 5 contestants. The New York Times called them "striking similar in physical appearance." 

 

Image source.

Discussion Starters: 

• Should Hay give up the crown? If she chooses not to, should the Miss Universe organization force her to?
• Hay's tweets emerged just hours after the show ended. Should social media screening be part of the pageant process? Why or why not? 
• Another option was for Hay to present this information as part of her application or maybe to discuss her personal growth in her speech or interview. (Do they still do that?) What do you think of this get-out-ahead-of-it strategy? 

Starbucks Loosens Dress Code

Again, Starbucks is allowing more individuality in its employee dress code. In 2014, the company allowed visible tattoos, and now the color palette has expanded, including hair dyes.

In a Lookbook, the company instructs employees to use their judgement and to ask if they have any questions; store managers have the final say. Clothes must be "clean, hemmed, wrinkle-free and in good repair," but a range of colors is acceptable instead of the previous black-and-white combination. 

Hairstyles can be on the wild side (in my opinion), but the company isn't allowing "sprays, glitter, chalks or temporary products" for food safety reasons. The guidelines also instruct associates to "[t]ie long hair back with plain clips or hairbands to avoid contact with drinks or food. Please keep beards and mustaches neat and trimmed."

The Lookbook is detailed, with many acceptable and unacceptable examples of tops, bottoms, socks, and accents. Fortunately for employees, the guidelines are clear. 

Discussion Starters: 

• What, if anything, surprises you about Starbucks' new guidelines? Is anything missing?
• Why do you think the company is broadening what is considered acceptable dress? 

Best Speech of the Conventions: Michelle Obama

Many are saying Michelle Obama's speech was the best of the bunch at the Democratic National Convention (Hillary's aside), and I would agree. From her humble laugh, overwhelmed at the crowd's response at the beginning to her call to action at the end, she captured the hearts of the delegates and, Democrats hope, some Republicans too. 

Obama talked about children throughout her speech, particularly her own: 

"That is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.

And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.

And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States."

She tried, as did other speakers, such as Mike Bloomberg, to elevate the vote beyond a Republican/Democrat decision and focused on the best person to lead: 

And make no mistake about it, this November when we go to the polls that is what we're deciding, not Democrat or Republican, not left or right. No, in this election and every election is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives.

And I am here tonight because in this election there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend Hillary Clinton.

Discussion Starters:

• What makes Michelle Obama's speech so compelling? Consider the content as well as her tone and body language. Do you agree that hers was the best of the convention? 
• Obama didn't mention the controversy around Melania Trump plagiarizing her 2008 DNC speech. Should she have? 
• Which other speeches in both conventions were powerful? Do you find any compelling, even though they may not align with their political views? 

Yahoo CEO Takes Sale in Stride

News of a potential Yahoo sale has circulated for years, and now it's a reality. CEO Marissa Mayer discusses Verizon's acquisition in a blog post, concluding, "Yahoo is a company that changed the world. Now, we will continue to, with even greater scale, in combination with Verizon and AOL."

In a press release, Mayer spoke positively about the sale:

"Yahoo and AOL popularized the Internet, email, search and real-time media. It's poetic to be joining forces with AOL and Verizon as we enter our next chapter focused on achieving scale on mobile. We have a terrific, loyal, experienced and quality team, and I couldn't be prouder of our achievements to date, including building our new lines of business to $1.6 billion in GAAP revenue in 2015. I'm excited to extend our momentum through this transaction."

Although Mayer writes that she'll stay with Yahoo, PR Daily notes conflicting reports, including a New York Times article that said she'll get $57 million in severance pay, or $218 million total for her reign at Yahoo.

The New York Times also posted a few impressive graphics showing Yahoo's considerable US visitors, yet declining search traffic and ad revenue.

Discussion Starters: 

• Assess Mayer's blog post. Who are the audiences, and what are her key messages? How well does she convey enthusiasm for the sale?
• What principles of visual communication does The New York Times use in these graphics? How can they be improved?

Bullied Off Twitter

Mashable lists seven people who were "trolled" off Twitter. Although many more have likely quit the social media site, these celebrities took a harsh, public hit.

Lena Dunham, creator and star of Girls, said she was tired of reading, for example, "10 mentions that say I should be stoned to death." Iggy Azalea went off social media sites after a body-shaming photo of her in a bathing suit went viral. The most recent is Leslie Jones, star of the new Ghostbusters movie. Jones was subjected to racist and sexist comments by a known troll, who encouraged users to send her pictures of apes.

Twitter continues taking heat for not reacting quickly enough to shut down users' accounts. Jonathan Weisman, a New York Times editor who experienced anti-Semitism on Twitter, wrote, "I am awaiting some sign from Twitter that it cares whether its platform is becoming a cesspit of hate. Until then, sayonara." Journalist Julieanne Smolinski wrote, "Perhaps make hate speech a terminable violation of your terms of service,@twitter? Just a reasonable humane thought." 

Discussion Starters: 

• Should Twitter do more? This isn't the first time the company has been criticized. 
• Is trolling worse on Twitter than on other social media sites? If so, why do you think this is the case?

Melania Trump's Plagiarized Speech

By any definition, Melania Trump's GOP Convention speech was plagiarized from Michelle Obama. The similarities between Donald Trump's wife's speech and Michelle Obama's 2008 DNC speech are uncanny. Here's one comparison from CNN, and other similarities exist:

Donald Trump's campaign chairman Paul Manafort denied accusations of plagiarism: "To think that she would do something like that knowing how scrutinized her speech was going to be last night is just really absurd." Senior Communications Advisor Jason Miller said only, "In writing her beautiful speech, Melania's team of writers took notes on her life's inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking. Melania's immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success."

Later, the RNC communications director, Sean Spicer, said that searches for some of Ms. Trump's phrases turn up similarities from "My Little Pony" and John Legend, who tweeted, "I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative." But the phrases are not nearly as verbatim as those in Michelle Obama's speech. Spicer told The Huffington Post, "Melania Trump said, 'You work hard for what you want in life.' Akon said, 'Work hard for what you get in life.' John Legend said, ‘Work hard.'" 

Update: Meredith McIver, a Trump staff writer, took responsibility for the mistake. A New York Times article said the letter "breathed new life into a story now in its third day." 

Discussion Starters:

• How could such a mistake happen? Melania Trump said, "I read once over it, that's all, because I wrote it ... with (as) little help as possible."
• The Trump campaign said that no one will be fired over this incident. Should someone take the fall? 
• Does McIver's admission end the conversation? What else, if anything, should the campaign managers or Trumps say? Is The New York Times writer right: did the admission just keep the story alive? 

Taking Offense

Two groups are backtracking this week for offensive symbols and language. Are people too sensitive, or should marketers be more careful? 

The Trump campaign for president created the first failing: a logo that looked pornographic to some people. A Slate article is titled, "A Hard Look at the Trump-Pence Campaign's Penetrating New Logo." Twitter jokes abound: 

• @ellievhall: "When two people love each other very much and want to start a campaign together..."
• @willrahn: "How are we supposed to explain the new Trump logo to our children??"

Although the Trump campaign hasn't responded specifically, the logo no longer appears on the website.

In other news, Forever 21 has pulled t-shirts for boys with sayings such as, "Sorry, I only date models," "Chicks are all over me," and "Ladies Man." Critics say the t-shirts sexualize children. 

Forever 21 communicated the decision in a statement: "Forever 21 takes feedback and product concerns very seriously. With regards to the T-shirts in question, after receiving feedback we have taken immediate action to have them removed from our website.  We sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended by the products."

Discussion Starters: 

• What's your opinion to the initial question: Are people too sensitive, or should marketers be more careful? 
• Did the Trump campaign and Forever 21 do the right thing in pulling the logo and t-shirts? 
• Should the Trump campaign communicate anything else at this point? Did the Forever 21 statement say enough? 

Sample HR Posting

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has published a draft notice to help employees to understand their rights. Employers that offer wellness programs are expected to communicate a new law that requires them to collect certain information about employees; however, they must still comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

The notice is long and, in my opinion, confusing. The EEOC could use principles of business communication, such as including "you" to make it more readable and conversational. Also, this is an opportunity for employers to promote their wellness programs, and this notice does little. Although it says the program is voluntary, it doesn't include how employees will benefit. Yes, the focus is on the information collection, but most employees will care more about the program itself. 

The EEOC includes an FAQ for employers that explains how the notice could be distributed.

Image source. 

Discussion Starters: 

• What business writing principles are used in the notice? What other principles would improve the message? 
• Would another format work better for the notice? How about an FAQ for employees? What are the advantages and downsides of this type of message? 

Ikea Bungles Recall

Ikea has finally recalled dressers in China that could tip over if not properly anchored. In June, the company recalled 36 million dressers in the United States and Canada after reports that six children were killed. But Ikea skipped China because, according to a WeChat post, the dressers met local regulations.

Chinese news agency Xinhua criticized Ikea, referring to the company's "arrogance":

"The behavior shown contradicts to the 'Ikea spirit' that founder Ingvar Kamprad talks about, being helpful and responsible" and "China is a huge market, and should not be deprived of the high standards that the brand promises." 

In a turnaround a few days after the WeChat post, Ikea recalled all dressers, which includes about 1.7 million in China. On a page on its Chinese website, the company announced the recall and reinforced its campaign, "Firmly Fixed," which encourages people to anchor certain products to the wall. Consumers also can read the recall FAQ. 

Image source.

Discussion Starters: 

• What is Ikea's responsibility to communicate installation instructions? What is the consumer's responsibility to install furniture properly?
• Should Ikea have recalled all products? Did the company do the right thing after the criticism? What are the consequences of each decision?

Chipotle's New Film Short

Chipotle needs to win back customers, so it went back to its film-making roots and created a new short video: "A Love Story." 

Kids with competing lemonade and orange juice stands grow each and lose sight of natural ingredients. Set to the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way," film is a direct hit to fast-food restaurants like Burger King. The last line is "I never want to hear you say, 'I want it that way.' " The couple, of course, return to fresh fruits and vegetables and live happily ever after.

The end of the video announces Chipotle's rewards program. Like the free burrito, this is a another attempt to rebuild loyalty.

Mark Shambura, Chipotle's brand marketing director, explained the goal: "We think 'Love Story's' message will galvanize our loyalists and remind people of the Chipotle they love." Shambura is not to be confused with Mark Crumpacker, the company's former chief creative and development executive who, before being placed on leave because of a drug arrest, led the company's rebranding efforts.

Discussion Starters:

• One analyst warns that Chipotle shouldn't ignore the core issue of how the company is overcoming the crisis of food safety. How well do you see Chipotle explaining new procedures, etc. to consumers?
• Chipotle's video short, The Scarecrow, with more than 16 million views on YouTube, has been criticized. Some say Chipotle didn't live up to its claims even before the E. coli outbreaks; for example, what does "naturally raised" mean? What criticism could you foresee with the "A Love Story" short?

Phrases to Avoid on Your Resume

Business Insider has identified nine phrases that "make hiring managers cringe." Some recommendations are based on data by ZipRecruiter, but much of them are the writers' opinions. Still, I agree with most of them, except "Microsoft Word." For students, this could be a differentiator, and I would include it for entry-level jobs. 

It makes sense to avoid pronouns and general traits that can't be verified. "Team player" is my personal pet peeve; who would say "I'm not a good team player. I don't like people"? 

In addition to the video, Business Insider offers more phrases to avoid, including "extracurricular activities" with the explanation, "Unless these activities are in some way related to the job you're applying for, no one really cares what you do in your spare time when they're skimming your résumé."

I'm not sure I agree. It depends what the activity says about you as a person, which some employers may care to know. You can also make a personal connection this way, and it could be a good icebreaker during an interview. Particularly for students, I'd keep it in. 

Similarly, employers seem to like seeing applicants' volunteer work, for which LinkedIn added a section in 2011. 

Discussion Starters: 

• We don't see any context for this advice. Would it differ depending on the industry, region, job, or level? 
• How many of these phrases do you include on your resume? Will you omit them in the future? 
• What other phrases could employers find annoying? 

Communications Around Shootings

More police shootings this week led to a peaceful protest in Dallas until a sniper killed five police officers, wounded seven more, and wounded two civilians. Videos and messages are shaping our understanding of the incidents and our perspective on how to solve the problem of ongoing violence.

Diamond (Lavish) Reynolds posted a video after her boyfriend, Philando Castile, was shot in a car in St. Paul, Minnesota. The video, viewed more than 5 million times, is graphic, showing the man dying while Reynolds narrates. 

In a statement, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton asked for a full investigation of the incident. 

Another graphic video this week showed police shooting Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, LA. The FBI has opened an investigation of this incident.  

President Obama made a statement on Facebook and in video. After expressing condolences, he gave data showing "disparities in how African-Americans and Latinos are treated."

Today's New York Post's cover reads, "Civil War," and people aren't happy about it. One Twitter user called it "insanely irresponsible."

Discussion Starters: 

• Assess President Obama's statements. What else is there to say? 
• What's your reaction to the graphic videos (of course, you don't need to watch them-I could take only about a minute. In what ways do the videos help and hurt the victims and their families? 
• What's your view of the New York Post front page? What are the dangers of this headline?  

Plagiarism by Trump Institute

In addition to Trump University, which is taking heat for defrauding students, Trump Institute is now criticized for plagiarism and other issues.

Donald Trump promoted the $2,000 institute in an infomercial to wannabe real estate investors, but his claims fell short. He said instructors were handpicked, but at least one person connected with the program said she responded to a Craigslist ad. And the Institute's organizers were Irene and Mike Milin, who The New York Times describes as "a couple who had been marketing get-rich-quick courses since the 1980s." In April, The Daily Beast wrote a long piece about the Milin's history of "legal entanglements," including promising government loans that no one received. 

The Times offered this comparison between Trump's materials and a 1995 book published by Success magazine. 

This example is part of the 20 pages that were copied from the original book.

Discussion Starters: 

• What is Trump's ethical responsibility to check the organizers' past? What responsibility does Trump Institute have to prospective students? Finally, what responsibilities do prospective students have? How could people avoid being hoodwinked into paying $2,000 for a program that doesn't deliver? 
• What plagiarism guidelines would you like to share with Donald Trump? 

Cameron's Resignation Speech

Having campaigned for the UK to stay part of the European Union, Prime Minister David Cameron had little choice but to resign when the vote was for "Brexit." (See full text.)

Cameron complimented people on both sides of the debate: 

I want to thank everyone who took part in the campaign on my side of the argument, including all those who put aside party differences to speak in what they believed was the national interest.

And let me congratulate all those who took part in the "Leave" campaign - for the spirited and passionate case that they made.

As expected, he ended positively: 

I love this country - and I feel honored to have served it.

And I will do everything I can in future to help this great country succeed.

Discussion Starters: 

• Reactions to Cameron's speech have been highly positive. Do you agree? If so, what makes this a successful speech? How could it be improved? 
• Consider the speech organization. Create an outline showing his main points. What is the logical sequencing?