B-School Groups Beef-Up Their Philanthropist Image

Hoping to raise $5,000 for charity organizations and to debunk what they called a reputation as selfish profit maximizers, several business school student organizations last night kicked off a weekend of charity fund-raising activities.

Last night's event, a panel discussion on corporate philanthropy, discussed corporate responsibility. A talent show tonight and a carnival tomorrow afternoon will raise money for Save the Children and multiple sclerosis research, said Peter M. Castleman, co-president of the Harvard Community Volunteer Association.

"With Reagan and so forth, it [government economic regulation] has become more decentralized so there is more emphasis on private philanthropy rather than private philanthropy rather than public," said Katie M. Hegarty, organizer of last night's panel discussion.

One thousand dollars of the raised money will sponsor five children in the Save the Children program for one year and the remaining $4000 will go to research on the muscle degenerating disease.

"Hopefully this will be an event that everyone enjoys. If it's positive, that will be an incentive to make it an annual event," said Castleman.

Tonight's talent show, which has already sold out its 850 five-dollar tickets, will feature parodies of popular movies and songs by each of the 18 first-and second-year Masters of Business Administration (MBA) student sections.

One section plans a take-off on this summer's movie big-seller "Ghostbusters" called "Casebusters," which will play on the case-study method B-School students use in the classroom.

The Community Volunteer Association, created just a year-and-a-half ago to provide information on volunteer opportunities to the B-School community, began planning the charity weekend last April with four other B-School student groups.