Notorious alum speaks on campus

Rogue financier-turned-philanthropist Michael Milken kept a capacity crowd entertained in Irvine Auditorium Friday afternoon, with tales of the activities that occupy his post-prison life and his computer-driven vision of America's future. Milken received an MBA from Wharton in 1979, and is credited with developing the high-risk field of "junk bond" investing while working for the investment banking firm of Drexel Burnham Lambert during the 1980s. But Milken pleaded guilty to six counts of securities law violations in 1990, the year Drexel collapsed into bankruptcy. He served two years in prison for his crimes, and paid a $1.1 billion fine. Milken's speech, which was sponsored by the Zweig Executive Dinner Series, focused on the importance of education and knowledge -- what he called "the scarce resources of the 21st century" -- for the nation's overall stability. Milken used examples from the business world to encourage the audience of primarily graduate students to recognize the power of their own ideas. The point of college and graduate school, he said, is to rekindle students' "belief in why." "It's easy to look to the past, but what about the future?" Milken asked, encouraging students to take risks. "What are you sure today will be in the newspaper 10 years from now?" By understanding society's needs, students can succeed, he said, listing cable television, cellular telephones and prescriptions-by-mail as examples -- all ventures in which Milken has participated. Milken, who according to the Forbes 400 is worth more than $500 million, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1993. He has invested much of his personal wealth into charitable causes such as cancer research and innovative educational techniques for inner-city children. He said he is also a tireless advocate of technology, which he said presents "an enormous opportunity" -- especially for institutions like the University, which have large amounts of knowledge stored and available in one place. "What [professors] are attempting to share with you now could be shared with the whole world," Milken said. "You don't need to come here." Yet even as the United States is recognized as a world leader in higher education and learning, as well as medical care and technology, the country's boundaries are becoming more and more blurred. Before taking questions, Milken challenged the students in the audience to get involved in the West Philadelphia community. "To me, if you don't care about society, you don't have to care about making money," he said. "You won't have a society to make money from." Students asked the former Wall Street tycoon about everything from the schedule of his typical day to the risks and potential problems of the information age to how he would go about hiding money overseas. "I don't know, I don't have any experience with it," he quipped. Milken also said that had he had known he was going to be forced to defend himself against the charges of violating securities laws -- on his own behalf and not as the head of Drexel -- he would have left earlier. Second-year MBA students Jose Achaval and Justin Ryan were enthusiastic about Milken's address. Ryan said he enjoyed Milken's forthrightness and "crystal ball analysis." "It was awesome," Achaval said. "I was surprised by the breadth of his activities. It seems that he's trying to do things at a better and slower pace."

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