A former attorney who argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court implored graduates of LDS Business College on Thursday to concern themselves with morality in the workplace.

Elder F. Burton Howard of the Seventy, one of the governing bodies of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said the Enron scandal has blurred the meanings of what is legal and what is ethical.

The latest Enron controversy centers on documents that describe how the energy trading company sought to cash in on California's power crisis in 2000 and 2001. During the crisis, wholesale energy prices shot up tenfold.

Quoting a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Elder Howard noted society's assumption that if the law does not forbid a particular type of conduct, it must be morally acceptable.

"To those who say to you that you should not concern yourselves with ethics and honesty in the workplace, I say nonsense. Only a prostitute does not concern himself with the morality of his actions," Elder Howard said.

He went on to say that graduates would face ethical challenges in the workplace.

"Which is the greatest, my company's wishes or my own integrity? Do I serve the end or do I serve the means? We must confront these questions more than once, and the battle never ends."

Roughly 225 students received one- and two-year degrees — most in business and accounting — at the commencement ceremony held in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square.

Students from 38 states and 45 countries made up this year's graduating class. Of those, 33 percent were first-generation college attendees.

About 55 percent of graduating students go on to further schooling, according to Craig Nelson, a spokesman for the college.

Ben E. Banks, president of Intermountain Wood Products, was awarded a Distinguished Alumnus Award during the ceremony.

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Banks graduated from the college in 1976 and went on to earn a degree in finance at Brigham Young University.

"Don't be afraid to go out and succeed. . . . In the end, you will be a much better person," Banks said.

LDS Business College, a small campus that sits on four acres in downtown Salt Lake City, was founded in 1886 on land deeded by Brigham Young for a church school.


E-MAIL: danderton@desnews.com

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