Former professional cyclist Tyler Hamilton will speak at the Beatty Center (5 Liberty St.) November 14, 2013 at 7 p.m. in an event open to the public.
This event is part of the School of Business’ Think Differently Forum, a speaker series that examines a minority viewpoint to create dialogue – in this case being a whistleblower when it’s standard practice to “dope” in many professional sports.
[Related: Find out more about Think Differently Forums]
“The Think Differently Forums challenge conventional perspectives on issues like fast food consumption or the team loyalty mindset,” Joey Pumilia, a senior history major said. “It made me realize how many opinions I had developed without really thinking about the issues.”
Hamilton’s speech will highlight the ethical and moral dilemmas associated with whistleblowing, as he famously did in the 2010 International Olympic Committee investigation of Lance Armstrong.
“Tyler Hamilton’s speech will educate the audience on ambiguous moral situations but also on taking responsibility and doing the right thing,” business school professor Elise Perrault said. “It’s the kind of topic that will get our students thinking about what they see in the media and about what standards they could address in their own decisions.”
[Related: Read Tyler Hamilton’s autobiography, The Secret Race]
Hamilton competed in the 2003 Tour de France and the 2004 Olympics, and retired from cycling in 2009. Since his retirement, Hamilton has published an award-winning autobiography and trained cyclists for competition.
The Think Differently Forum is funded annually by an endowment established by Stephen Knight Pond, a parent of a College of Charleston graduate and member of the School of Business Board of Governors. Pond created the Think Differently Forum in 2009 to expose students to minority points of view that are outside the main stream of campus thought on issues of societal importance and interest. The program is meant to underscore the importance of considering multiple perspectives in the processes of critical thinking and problem solving.
For more information, contact faculty advisor Elise Perrault at perraulte@cofc.edu.
