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] [Click to enlarge]

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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