News Release
Sept. 17, 2007
Movie during
UW conference depicts extreme debt’s wallop
Universities
may be the best venues to have the film Maxed Out shown,
said the director and producer of the movie depicting how debt
can sour the American dream.
The film will
be shown as part of Money Matter$ Consumers Issues Conference
2007 Sept. 26-27 on the campus of the University of Wyoming.
“It’s even more
relevant because of how credit card companies are marketing to
students,” said James Scurlock, “and because of all of the
recent revelations of how student loan companies and some
universities have been colluding with each other to sell
students debt, often at less favorable terms than otherwise.”
The days
students were protected by administrators are over, he said.
A free showing
of the documentary is sponsored by the UW chapter of the
American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences and the
Associated Students of the University of Wyoming (ASUW) Student
Activities Council. The presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. at the
Arts and Sciences Auditorium on the campus and is open to the
public. Scurlock and Norma Garcia, Consumers Union senior
attorney, will have a discussion session after the movie.
This year’s
conference focuses on credit and finance issues – right on
target for Scurlock.
“It is the
really big question of our lifestyles,” he said, “because we’re
all affected – rich, poor, black or white, religious or
agnostic, old or young, gay or straight, etc., – but it’s the
contradiction that got me hooked. There are more debt diets and
debt gurus and Suze Orman books every year, yet we just keep
falling further and further behind.”
Scurlock,
despite attending four years of business classes before dropping
out of college, said he knew nothing about the subject when he
started. “One thing you learn about this industry is that it
defies anything you learn from a textbook,” he said. “Here is an
industry where your profits explode the more your customers go
broke. For the past generation, defaults, bankruptcies and
foreclosures have all skyrocketed, but so have banking profits.”
The documentary
shows the disastrous images beyond advertisements marketing
credit. Scurlock said he didn’t set out to make an informative
film – that was secondary, but he said people putting to use
information from the documentary would be satisfying.
“It’s certainly
changed me, and a lot of people have said it’s changed the way
they look at debt as well as their own behavior,” said Scurlock.
“Maybe someone will cut up their credit cards after the
screening or a student will start a petition to kick the credit
card marketers off their campus. That would be rewarding.”
Without
permission from the university president or vice president of
administration, vendors, including credit card companies, are
not allowed to advertise or solicit on UW’s campus.
UW’s approach
to credit card usage and debt is to educate students, said Sara
Axelson, vice president in the Division of Student Affairs. “We
initiate these discussions during new student orientation,” she
said. “The conference being hosted by the College of Agriculture
and the hosting of the movie by the ASUW Student Activities
Council are perfect examples of important educational
opportunities on the topic.”
Recognized
experts on personal finance, credit and financial safety will be
at the conference. Dee Pridgen, a conference planner and a
professor in the UW College of Law and herself the author of
several books on consumer protection law, said the conference
will provide invaluable information on credit cards, credit
scores, bankruptcy, debt collection and ID theft, investment and
retirement, among other issues.
How ordinary
citizens can influence public policy on consumer credit will
also be a focus.
“One of the
objectives of showing the movie and having the conference every
year is that we want to empower all citizens to be engaged in
the process of making our communities better,” said meeting
organizer Virginia Vincenti, a professor in the Department of
Family and Consumer Sciences in the College of Agriculture.
“We’re trying
to empower people to be involved in the process of addressing
some of the inequities we find in our lives,” she said.
Full program
information is available at
www.uwyo.edu/consumerconference.
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Contact:
Steven L. Miller, Senior Editor
Phone: (307) 766-6342
E-mail:
slmiller@uwyo.edu
Archived News Site
http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/UWAG/news.asp
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