![Erin Brockovich, the keynote speaker of Penn's second-annual Academic Integrity Week, addresses the crowd at Irvine Auditorium last night. [Rachel Zamoiski/The Daily Pennsylvanian]](http://thedp.com/files/imagecache/article_250wide/paper882/stills/3bbc1330b8739-46-1.jpg "Jeffrey Barg")
She's tall, she's blond and she's Miss February -- for the National
Dyslexic Association calendar.
And last night, she spoke at Irvine Auditorium about academic
integrity.
Erin Brockovich addressed a nearly packed house about her
achievements and beliefs as part of Penn's second annual week
devoted to academic integrity.
Brockovich gained national notoriety last year after being portrayed
by Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich, the Academy Award-winning
film about her work to expose water pollution in a local California
community.
The University Honor Council brought Brockovich to campus as
the headline speaker for its second-annual Academic Integrity
Week. The event was co-sponsored by Tangible Change, SPEC
Connaissance and the Provost's Spotlight Series.
After a few words about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Brockovich
jumped into a motivational speech about her accomplishments in
the legal world and how she fought through tough times to get
what she wanted.
She spoke about her role in the water pollution trial, the lessons
she learned as a child and the movie that made her a household
name, which she said was "95 to 98 percent accurate."
"In reality, my skirts were shorter than Julia Roberts'," Brockovich
said.
Although she did not graduate from college, Brockovich said she
believes that her message carries over into academia.
Calling herself "a dyslexic with an attitude," Brockovich told
humorous anecdotes about her childhood. She credited her
parents with helping her learn the importance of honesty and
"sticktuitiveness."
"They're messages that were taught to me by my parents," she
said. "They're messages that were taught to all of us by our
parents. We just forget them."
After her speech, Brockovich held a question and answer session
with the audience, where students asked about characters from
the movie and how Brockovich's family has been affected by her
newfound celebrity.
Brockovich told a story about how her boss, lawyer Ed Masry, once
told her that Roseanne Barr would be better equipped to play her
in a movie than Julia Roberts, because Roberts "doesn't have the
mouth or the cleavage to play you."
In addition to Brockovich's speech, the week-long series of events
included two panel discussions on ethics and will culminate on
Friday with a regional conference on academic integrity.
Brockovich was introduced by Provost Robert Barchi, who said the
values that she promotes are central to academic success.
"At Penn, we value intellectual honesty and integrity as much as
we value intellect and knowledge," Barchi said. "Integrity is and
must be at the core of our academic conduct."
Honor Council Co-Chairman Alan Bell, a College and Wharton
senior, said Brockovich provided exactly what his organization was
looking for in a speaker.
"I thought her message was dead on," Bell said. "We're not
looking for someone to talk about cheating. We're looking for
someone who represents honor outside the classroom."
Many of the students who attended the speech came out of
curiosity to see the real woman behind the popular movie.
"Her personality portrayed in the movie seemed very interesting,"
College freshman Susan Ramirez said. "I like her strong feminist
ideals."
College freshman Lindsay Casmaer said Brockovich helped
shed some light on the importance of a Penn education.
"We all come here naive in the sense that Penn is such a great
educator," Casmaer said. "But no one knows how to use it to its
fullest."
Although the balconies only held a scattered few spectators, the
floor of the auditorium was almost filled to capacity.
Council Co-Chairwoman Lauren Davidson said she was thrilled
about how the event went, especially the question and answer
segment.
"She's a wonderful and engaging speaker," Davidson said. "The
audience seemed to relate well to her story. There was a great
conversation between the audience and Ms. Brockovich."
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