Welcome to MBA506Ethics Blog. Here is the way this is going to work. I will post an article and I expect each one of you to read the article and respond to the questions about it. Make sure your responses are in complete sentences. Each response will be worth 5 points. This is a recent article from the Wall Street Journal. The questions to respond to are at the end of the article in RED.
Feel free to pose a question about this article . I will try to respond in a timely fashion.
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Ethics 101By PETER BERKOWITZ October 8, 2007; Page A19 It should not be surprising that our universities generate interesting and urgent ethical challenges. After all, higher education is a big business. Scholarship is a demanding discipline. Teaching is a noble undertaking fraught with weighty responsibilities. And liberal education plays a crucial role in the formation of free citizens. What may surprise is that, at the programs and centers devoted to the study of ethics and the professions that have been established over the last two decades at our leading universities, one profession whose ethical issues the professors generally ignore is their own. The return to campus this fall brings sharp reminders of the confusion about their purpose that plagues our campuses, and so underscores the need for serious study of university ethics. In the recently published and already critically acclaimed book "Until Proven Innocent," K.C. Johnson and Stuart Taylor Jr. show how the Duke University faculty and administration collaborated with a reckless press and a lawless prosecutor in the rush to convict in the court of public opinion -- and, but for the superb work of their attorneys, in the criminal courts of Durham, N.C. -- three white lacrosse players falsely accused of raping an African-American stripper. On Sept. 28, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, "Indoctrinate U," Evan Coyne Maloney's riveting documentary about the war on free speech and individual rights waged by university faculty and administrations enjoyed its Washington premiere. Also, in September, for crystal clear political reasons, following a faculty petition circulated mostly by women from the University of California, Davis, the UC Board of Regents withdrew a speaking invitation to former Secretary of the Treasury and former Harvard President Lawrence Summers. But don't expect the leading ethics centers -- Harvard's Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics, Princeton's Program on Ethics and Public Affairs, or Yale's Program in Ethics, Politics, and Economics -- to sponsor lectures, fund graduate student and faculty fellowships, or publish writings that examine these and numerous other ethical questions that stem from contemporary university life. While lavishing attention on legal, political and medical ethics, and to a lesser extent business ethics and journalism ethics -- worthy areas of inquiry all -- our leading university ethicists have shown scant interest in exploring university ethics. Celebrating its 20th anniversary last spring, the Harvard University Program on Ethics and the Professions is among the nation's oldest and most distinguished. Yet of the more than 130 public lectures by eminent visitors sponsored over the last two decades by the Harvard ethics program, only three deal with the university -- one defending affirmative action, one defending the propriety of academics engaging in public debate and one defending academic freedom. The program's Web site lists more than 875 publications by over 120 ethics fellows and senior scholars. Hundreds of the writings deal with law and politics and ethics. Hundreds explore medicine and ethics. Dozens discuss business ethics. But only about 10 of the 875 publications, and five of the 120 authors, address university ethics. Take away a few defenses of affirmative action and multiculturalism, and a few reflections on teaching ethics at the university, and little is left. All in all, after 20 years of generously funding research in practical or applied ethics, Harvard's program has made no discernible contribution to illuminating the challenges of university governance, and the variety of duties and conflicts confronted in their professional roles by professors and administrators. Much the same holds true of the Yale Program in Ethics, Politics, and Economics and the Princeton University Center for Human Values. What explains the neglect by our leading university ethics programs of a vital topic that so plainly falls under their purview? The major cause is probably routine thoughtlessness: Surrounded by like-minded souls and therefore protected from questions that might rock the boat, and from research projects that might call for scholarly retooling, it may never occur to many ethics professors that, no less than law, medicine, business and journalism, their profession too is worthy of systematic scrutiny. One cannot rule out that a few ethics faculty may have convinced themselves that professors and administrators, because of their peculiar virtue, already confront and wisely dispose of all the moral dilemmas and professional conflicts of interest that come before them. It would not be the first time that intellectuals, so aggressive in finding false-consciousness and self-interest in others, concealed or overlooked their own. Nevertheless, if they are impelled or compelled to overcome disciplinary inertia and intellectual orthodoxy and turn their attention to their own profession, professional ethicists will discover a trove of fascinating and timely questions. Here are a few: Is it proper for university disciplinary boards, often composed of faculty and administrators with no special knowledge of the law, to investigate student accusations of sexual assault by fellow students, which involve crimes for which perpetrators can go to jail for decades? Should universities have one set of rules and punishments for students who plagiarize or pay others to write their term papers, and another -- and lesser -- set for professors who plagiarize or pay others to write their articles and books, or should students and faculty be held to the same tough standards of intellectual integrity? How can universities respect both professors' academic freedom and students' right to be instructed in the diversity of opinions? What is the proper balance in hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions between the need for transparency and accountability and the need for confidentiality? What institutional arrangements give university trustees adequate independence from the administrators they review? Is it consistent with their mission for university presses to publish books whose facts and footnotes they do not check? In accordance with what principles may a university bar ROTC from campus because of the military's "don't ask, don't tell policy" concerning homosexuals, while inviting to campus a foreign leader whose country not only punishes private consensual homosexual sex but is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, and who himself denies the Holocaust and threatens to obliterate the sovereign state of Israel? By exploring these and myriad other issues, our ethics programs would do more than fulfill their mandate. They would also vindicate liberal education by demonstrating the premium academicians place on ensuring that their own practice conforms to the proper principles. Mr. Berkowitz is a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and a professor at George Mason University School of Law. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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1. Give on example of an ethics issue at a college or university you have attended
2. Why do you think university ethicists have scant interests in exploring university ethics ?
18 comments:
I think an ethics issue at the university I attended are the minority recruitment and retention programs. For exaple, the university I attended had a Minority Engineering Recruitmenet and Retention Program. It was very helpful to minorities (Hispanic and African American) but it raised a lot of questions from others- non minority white students. Questions such as "why is the university funding a program like this- non minority students would like free tutoring services?
I think that university ethicists have scant interests in exploring university ethics because they want to avoid potentially uncomfortable situations with faculty and staff. Avoiding the issues altogether will not cause confrontation, and not causing confrontation relates to job stability.
1.) Give one example of an ethics issue at a college or university you have attended?
The university I attended was a private catholic university. I believe that one ethical issue in the university was the disbursement of scholarship funds. If you attended a catholic high school the university automatically granted you a scholarship. Although, some didn’t need the scholarship they still had the option of having it. The university also granted full scholarships to students who were the valedictorian of their high school. But what happens if you attend a high school with a graduating class of more than 150 students and you rank 25 and have a GPA of 3.7 on the other hand there is a student that attended an all girls catholic high school with a graduating class of 25, she is valedictorian with a GPA of 3.7, she gets a full scholarship and the other student doesn’t. Is this fair? Both students have the same GPA the only difference is their class rank and class size. To some this might be right to others this might not. I know a student that had a full ride scholarship and she also had outside scholarships at the end of each term she would have leftover money from the scholarships. Is it right that some students get so much money in scholarships that they even have leftover money?
2.) Why do you think university ethicists have scant inerests in exploring university ethics?
I think that university ethicists have scant interests in exploring university ethics because it can result in a big controversy that might make some feel uncomfortable. When an ethics issue arises it is sometimes best to avoid it so that it won’t escalate into a bigger issue. Although, in reality some ethic issues do need to be address some people believe that it is best to avoid them especially in a university environment when you are dealing with students.
1. Give an example of an ethics issue at a college or university you have attended? I attended an college where a foregin student was in a McNair Schloarship program and the team did a project and and won they sent students to accept the award, but not the foregin student. Worst of all the student did not even know the date the award was being given.
2. Why do you think university ethicists have scant interests in exploring university ethics?
I feel that University ethicists have scant interests in exploring university ethics is because it causes too much controversary and leads to other issues that are more senstive such as issues of racisims, sexuality,abortion, and religion etc. and these are subjects that cause hate and a chance that someone maybe harmed.
1. Give an example of an ethics issue at a college or university you have attended? I attended a college where everyone has to take a replacement test. However, it is not explained to you the purpose of this test and why one has to take it. You are just told that you have to take a test to get in. Therefore the students rush in and take the test not knowing the purpose of the test and end up taking way more classes than they really needed to take. Instead of advising the students as they enter the college of what to expect, for the most part this is not done. The ethics issues take place when the advisors are only willing to help you after you have made the mistakes. This is when they tell you that you didn't have to do that, after the fact. I think when new students enter college they should be guided and counsel on what options they might have as far as taking classes. One has to pay to go to college so where are the advisors when one needs advice.
2. Why do you think university ethicists have scant interests in exploring university ethics? For the most part University ethicists have scant interests in exploring university ethics because most of the situations are not being addressed in a timely matter if even being addressed at all. I think no one wants to be named the bad guy in most cases because they know that someone has to take the blame. I am sure that ethic issues does arise but are they taken care of is the question. A lot of issues are put off until a later date and it never gets taken care of and this is the best way to cause misunderstanding. Ethic issues are such a big topic and discussion reason being everyone is different, think different and have different beliefs. For some reason no one wants to be wrong and everyone wants to be right this is where disagreement comes in. I think constantly putting issues off is really what causes most of the problems. Avoiding reality is not the solution to the problems, it is just like a bandage, just covers it up until the next one arises. Ethic issues becomes very personal and is easily taken out of context if not addressed properly so therefore many chose not to deal with them unless they really have to.
1. Give on example of an ethics issue at a college or university you have attended
I attended a private Catholic university that had many ethical rules that one must abide by and you had to. Especially since at the school there are a big number of monks present in administration. The consequences of not following ethical behavior or what the university thought was ethical behavior can be very severe. There was a rule put in so that students who did not follow what would be considered proper conduct could get expelled.
One of the ethical issues that arose was that there was a student who posed in Playboy with the university property on and the school name. The main issue that they had was that she was one of the brightest students in the school but did not follow what they would consider ethical. When asked why she did it she said it was for the need of money and she did not want to get additional loans and she was unable to attain more scholarships. The school was in a bind with the ethical dilemma should they expel her or do they just look the other way.
2. Why do you think university ethicists have scant interests in exploring university ethics?
May times why university ethicists wish not explore university ethics is they do not want to be confrontational with the university. They might feel that if they speak out too much they can lose their jobs and seniority. It is easier for the teachers to teach them about ethics of clear-cut issues than have the students question too much what is happening at the school and start demonstrating against the school itself because of ethical issues that the school is battling.
Almost MBA's:
Here is the link for the Ethics 101 Article
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119179910354751467.html
Have a nice weekend
CC
I attended Tennessee State University in Nashville, TN. I can clearly recall an incident that occurred during Greek Week my freshman year. A group of students (2 Black, 2 White, and 1 Hispanic) threw rolls of tissue all over trees, lights etc and trashed various parts of the campus. To make a long story short, once the President threatened to cancel some of our upcoming activities, the two White students came clean and confessed. They stated that the two Black students came up with the idea. The Hispanic student purchased the tissue and they all participated in the actual vandalism. As a result, the university President expelled all 3 of the minority students and the two non-minority students received a suspension for 1 semester with one year probation. Meaning, if they got in trouble again they would also be expelled.
The President implied that he was more lenient on them because they had enough courage to confess their wrong doings. Otherwise they would have never known who created such a disgrace to our beautiful campus.
Personally, I don't think that was fair at all. If they all took part in the activity, then they should've all received the same exact punishment.
University ethicists, in my opinion, have scant interests in exploring university ethics to dilute further confrontation and conflicts. Sometimes other people (universities in this case) tend to be stricter on outsiders than on their own people. Meaning, they'll judge others but never themselves. They do not want to stir up any trouble "in-house" that would jeopardize their reputation if the public found out. Most of the time, it's just swept under the rug unfortunately.
An ethics issue at the university I attended (probably at most universities)is the preferential treatment of athletes. In undergrad, I was a Resident Assistant in a coed residence hall which was predominantly occupied by football, basketball, and baseball players. I can recall an incident in which there was an alcohol bust, in a student athlete's room, and he was given a slap on the wrist. The case wasn’t reported to the Student Judicial System like all other alcohol or serious residence hall violations, for fear the student would lose his scholarship and not be able to participate in the athletics program. Is that fair to other students who faced violations for alcohol, who risked being evicted from the dorms? Both the student athlete and ordinary student are in violation but it definitely isn't right for one student receive preferential treatment over the other. Where are the ethics of the Residence Hall Coordinator who is in charge and allows this? I'm sure that there is some unwritten rule which states athlete misconduct is ignored.
I think university ethicists have scant interests in exploring university ethics because they don't want to be labeled as "nonconformists". They are comfortable in their environments and don't want to risk scrutiny from their colleagues. In addition, ethics discussions can lead to an array of topics that people don't want or are unwilling to discuss. Further, exploring university ethics may cause controversy, and no one wants that.
I attended the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.The ethical question that arose was relationships with Teachers Assistance (TA). TA's are students as well in most cases and they are designed to discuss various topics that the professor discussed. A friend began seeing the TA and choose to drop the class. However, nobody would have known and she Could have gotten an easy A.
University ethicists have scant interests in exploring university ethics because this can become a big problem for the university. Both for the student, TA and professor. These issues need to be addressed regularly to avoid major liabilities.
Ethics issues at the college I attended has to do with professors, students, and potential jobs after graduation. The issues have come up when students have not completed the required work to graduate, but the professor passed them anyway. The ethics questions came in when the students had potential jobs waiting when they graduated. Should they have been allowed to graduate if the required work was not complete? I know a couple of people this happened to and they went on to graduate.
They may not show much interest in university ethics because of the difficulty to prove some things that may not be ethical. If they start questioning university ethics, there will be alot of issues that will arise that could be detrimental to a university
During my time at UW-Madison there was an ethical debocal regarding our football team; you may recall 'The Shoe Box Scandal'. A group of football players recieved 25% off their shoe purchases at the The Shoe Box, a shoe store off campus. Part of NCAA regulations prohibit players from recieving payment for playing for the school. This special discount was seen as payment. The school athletic department was involved in resolving the issue, removing the athletes from the team and reniging their scholarships.
If University Ethicists have scant interestes in exploring university ethics, it may be because there are multiple ehtical philosophies that people from different backgrounds could employ. For example, if the University Ethicist followed situational ethical theory they may offend natural ethicists or power ethicists.
1). Give an example of an ethics issue at a college or university you attended.
At the university I attended it appeared that athletes received special privileges and perks. Some students even argued that if you were the star athletes at your university certain behaviors were excused and/or ignored. I can remember working in the registrars office and knowing that certain athletes were clearly below the required G.P.A. to play football yet they were allowed and not put on academic probation however there were student who fell below the school required G.P.A. and were notified in writing that they were on academic probation and unless their G.P.A. came up to a 2.0 then they would be dismissed. Some college administrators will argue that a lot of the funding given to the university is due to the success of these football and/or basketball teams performance - yet they know ignoring or better yet enabling students to continue to perform below academic standards is an ethical issue that exist.
2. Why do you think that university ethicists have scant interests in exploring university ethics?
Depending on the ethical issues many university ethicists are not prepared although they understand the ramifications of dealing with such issues.., i.e. putting a star athlete on academic probation could cause the university to lose funding - this is a risk that the university can not or is simply not willing to take.
1. I attended a Business College for my Associates Degree. I was told, like most of the students, that once we graduated, we would be placed in jobs related to our degrees. Needless to say, that didn't happen. I was already employed, however, a lot of the students attended this school in hopes they would find employment in their field.
2. It’s no surprise ethicists aren't interested in addressing ethics issues within universities. Addressing these problems, is admitting there is a problem; which also means, you must .take a side. I believe these schools aren't willing to step up and take responsibility. Colleges/Universities are a "Big Business" and political, they can't afford to ruffle any feathers. These schools are funded by various benefactors and/or organizations; which means these schools must remain non-bias in order to keep the money coming their way.
An ethics issue at the college I attended was the coach of the baseball team allowed players to live with him at his place of residence and charge them rent. Not only was this against the school policy it was also against the law to have minors living in filthy, nasty, squalor conditions. It is his decision and right to live in those conditions if he choose, as long as he don't disturb the neighborhood with his filth. But it is morally wrong to take advantage of his naive, unsuspecting players who depend on him to provide them with adequate, good lodgings(this is probably why they did not win many of their games) and for him to take their scholarship and/or financial aid monies. Once the school learned of this slumlord,( I wonder who encouraged these poor young men to inform the staff of their wrong and unjust living quarters?) he was immediately terminated.
I think university ethicists have scant interests in exploring ethics because they do not want the school to have a negative reputation. Depending on the issues they may cause enrollment to drop and/or cause the school to lose grants and donations. They may also not want to offend any certain group for fear of bad press and smudges against their "good" reputation. Why get their hands dirty when their are groups/clubs that are willing to do it, therefore they are reponsible, so that particular group is made out to be the bad guy and all the university has to do is discipline or expel that group and it is not held against the university as a whole.
1.
National Louis University is the only US University I have attended. And, I haven’t experienced any ethics issues so far. Thus, I will use an example of my former college at Poland, my native country.
One of professors that though in Wyzsza Szkola Administracji Publicznej- WSAP for more than 20 years was caught taking bribes from its students. It was almost impossible to get a good grade without paying him “appropriate fee”. His form of examination was in person only-meaning nothing was submitted in writing. Thus, there was no proof or any documentation in case of further investigation. Student’s grade was based on final examination “under closed doors”. All students knew about it and most of them would rather give “an envelope” instead studying. This unethical behavior of university lecturer was accepted by majority of students. Luckily, one student had courage to end that unethical pattern. He videotaped his final exam and submitted to the university dean. And, WSAP dean responded immediately by terminating that unethical professor instantaneously. This case was publicized and televised all over the country of Poland.
This example of an ethical problem at my previous university had a major effect in my native country. Most of Polish Universities made some changes in their ethics regulations at that time.
2.
I think that university ethicist have scan interest in exploring university ethics because they want to stay away from potentially uncomfortable situations with university faculty. Fortunately unethical actions of WSAP professor was addressed without any delay. And, the issue was it was escalated to its nation in massive way.
In general, most of university staff doesn’t want to deal with ethical issues. They try to pass them up as much as possible. But, I don’t think it is appropriate and usually it is harmful to school participants. If all students were to give bribes for A grade, who would be studying anymore? What about those who don’t have money to pay for his/her exam? What if a student wants to show his/her ability to learn and understand?
Many questions could be raised when it comes to instance of a famous WSAP professor. But, most of all I wonder why people allow situations of such to happen in fist place. And, who is responsible for such unprofessional manners if every human being believes and opinions are not the same?
Agnes
Question 1
One ethics issue I met was about a project 10 years ago. My mentor needed funding from this project to support the whole lab. The project owner wanted 10 full time developers but we only had 8 students (I am one of them). My mentor asked me about the project and I was sure that 8 people were enough. When the project owner visited us, my mentor has to “borrow” two people that didn’t belong to our project. We were lucky that this project was very successful and there was no significant negative result because of this ethics issue.
Question 2
Human beings always like to use a magnifier to find mistake of others. Nobody likes to turn this magnifier to himself. This is one of the highest challenges for us. University ethicists are trying to compromise between funding, publications, tenure, etc, which will affect their interests in exploring ethics issue of themselves.
That’s why check and balance exists at the country level. This system is not highly efficient or it is inefficient sometimes, but it is a structure to find problems we don’t like to face. This is the way to improve both our morel standard and living standard.
1.) Give one example of an ethics issue at a college or university you have attended?
I attended Fisk University in Nashville, TN. After applying and being accepted, I was ecstatic about attending a historically black university. Upon my arrival and mingling with my new freshmen classmates, the conversation of pictures being required at the time of application submission. It was said that Fisk was originally built for the racially mixed children of white slave owners who had fathered children with the black female slaves. It was said that some applicants were asked to submit pictures with their application to allegedly determine if the potential student was ‘light enough’. Although this was never actually acknowledged by the University, many students verified that they were subjected to this process. I personally did not experience this but had that been the case, I would have had to question the ethics of the University with regards to how this could affect students who were both accepted and rejected. Could this have played a role in the decision making process? Is this an understood practice amongst faculty to make a difference based on shades of color? This accusation touched upon many ethics and moral issues that would have made me think twice about my attendance had it been substantiated.
2.) Why do you think university ethicists have scant inerests in exploring university ethics?
I believe that university ethicists have scant interests in exploring university ethics simply because any great interest would require ethicists to actually police themselves. For individuals whose profession calls for the scrutiny of everyone else, it would probably be extremely difficult to take a look at themselves and access any sort of accurate results. Right or wrong, university ethicists will most likely not address any ethics questions associated with their university to simply avoid controversy.
Carrie Joiner
According to Peter Berkowitz, one of the main reason why university ethicists have scant interest in exploring university ethics is probably routine thoughtfulness, surrounded by like-minded souls and are therefore protected from questions that might rock the boat, and from research projects that might call for scholarly retooling.
I could not agree more for several reasons. For the most part, universities are built on tradition and reputation. It is of the utmost importance to build brand equity by avoiding negative publicity at all cost. One might compare it to the cloaking concept, which is something that covers or conceals. Specifically, it is an underhanded technique practiced more often than not by university ethicists; their actions are simply not congruent with their ethical teaching. In other words, they “talk the talk but do not walk the walk.”
It all simply boils down to a matter of economics. Negative PR would adversely affect finances in terms of endowments as well as enrollment.
Lastly, it is a matter of comfort and lack of accountability. For example, the university, which I attended as an undergraduate did not present a realistic and true picture of what was required in order to attain a degree in the accelerated program. Transfer credits were placed on the record, but most was not accepted toward actually credit against the degree. Despite the fact, that students were told that a degree could be attained in 18 months with 90 transfer credits, in essence, that was not the case at all. Thanks to many complaints, the program was finally re-structured and student was given a more realistic time frame so that they could make a more informed decision and plan their lives accordingly.
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