Topic 109: College Ethics

Carol:

Do The Right Thing

One of the best college classes I took was Environmental Ethics. The course helped me think about how I use resources and interact with the environment on a daily basis. More importantly, it helped me change habits I had developed over a lifetime. Ethics is not just about conforming to a set of rules to avoid cheating in school or the workplace. Ethics is about developing a set of principles that guide the decisions we make. Ethics training is much more than memorizing rules or explaining punishments. And, it seems to work best when it is endorsed (and modeled) by those at the top, institutional leaders and high-level administrators who want to “grow” an ethical environment.
 

Take, for instance, a unique collaboration between Denver attorney Michael Sabbeth and the fire department of Littleton, Colorado. Shortly after the Columbine High School tragedy in 1999, Mr. Sabbeth attended a middle-school meeting in Littleton of concerned parents and local officials.  One of the speakers was then Littleton Fire Chief Bill Pessemier, who urged schools to take a more active role in teaching ethics. Sabbeth had been writing and teaching about ethics to corporate, civic and legal organizations, so he saw an opportunity to combine ethics/critical reasoning education with a public safety course the Littleton Fire Department was already using in local schools. In  Fire Chief magazine, Sabbeth describes how he adapted a program focused on “the foundational ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, justice and sanctity of life” with training firefighters to use their own stories as motivators and to illustrate principles with real-life firefighting situations rather than abstractions. Sabbeth continues to volunteer at schools using a variety of real-life scenarios to build ethical reasoning skills.

Or take New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. When he took office in January, his first executive order was to take down the post 9/11 barriers set up in front of the state capitol, to “symbolize a new era of openness in state government “(Karlin 2). His second executive order was to mandate ethics training for his staff and other government officials, to be followed up with refresher courses every two years. This comes after a decade marked by scandal as over 14 New York lawmakers had left office facing criminal prosecution or ethics scandals. His plan has received the endorsement of several public interest groups such as the New York State League of Women Voters, whose executive director commented “With the ethical morass that has engulfed state government in recent years this is a welcomed development…” (Source:  Governor’s Press Office).
 

What about the ethics education in colleges? Again, ethics training is embedded in a larger environment. At our local community college,  employees participate in required ethics training “following basic College values of honesty and integrity,”  followed by periodic “refresher” updates.(source YC website). Library personnel are critical players in educating students about academic integrity as a more global concept than plagiarism or cheating on tests, and faculty connect ethical responsibilities to professional guidelines and principles in the professional workplace (eg. Nursing, psychology, fire science, etc). Their approach is typical of colleges and universities across the country.
 

Does ethics education work? Not always, but some programs   show better results than others. Emphasis on legality, i.e. complying with the rules, is less effective than emphasis on ethical decision-making. Role-playing and case studies also increase effectiveness, such as the firefighter scenarios used in Littleton. Yes, there is controversy about teaching “character education” to elementary school children. Yes, there is skepticism about teaching “ethics education” to lawmakers, police, lawyers, doctors, corporations, etc. Yes, there is a concern about moral relativism.
 

 Ultimately, environmental ethics is about relationships-- with people, professions, organizations or the natural world. Ethics education should be as important, and common, as A B C.

Sources:
Karlin, Rick. “Off to Ethics School for Cuomo Staff.” Timesunion.com. 3 Jan 2011
 https://secure.timesunion.com/ASPStories/Story.asp?storyID=1006470&newsdate=2/8/2011&BCCode=MBTA
Andrew Cuomo: the Governor’s Press Office. http://www.governor.ny.gov/press/010211ethics 

Sabbeth, Michael G. “Elementary Ethics.” Firechief.com. 1 July 2000.
http://firechief.com/mag/firefighting_elementary_ethics/
Michael G. Sabbeth biography.
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/MichaelGSabbeth
The Insider. Can You Teach Ethics? http://www.insidermediagroup.com/working-world/can-you-teach-ethics 

Yavapai College Human Resources page. http://www.yc.edu/v4content/human-resources/training/ethics.htm

Megan:

College Ethics 

I’ve been thinking about this topic off and on all weekend. More off than on, because there was snow. Snow only seems to sweep through this town when I have plans to fly on a plane or go to roller derby. Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

It seems to me that there are two ways to approach this subject: in a serious way, or …  not serious. You’ve probably figured out by now that I’m only serious when I can’t think of something funny to say.

If I was going to be serious about this, I would probably talk about the number one ethical issue in colleges and universities – plagiarism. There’s nothing that will ruin your academic reputation and get you expelled faster than passing someone else’s ideas off as your own. Well, that and not sticking to the assigned word count.

Coming up with a not serious (or “funny”) approach is harder. But I have drawn up a list of other things you shouldn’t do in college-- ethical commandments, if you will.

1. Thou shat not Facebook (or play games) during class. It’s rude, but even if the instructor doesn’t notice because she can’t see your screen, it’s really distracting for other people in the class. You’ll always find someone who will take your lack of attention personally, as though you are wasting their time as well as yours. I feel like this also applies to texting in the movie theater – very distracting for everyone else.

2. Thou shalt not cut the same class more than once in a week. (This rule was passed down by my mother. Hi Mom! You must be so proud.) In my experience, I have added: If the class meets only once a week, thou shalt not cut that class more than twice in a month. 
I think I may have mentioned somewhere that I almost didn’t graduate from college due to cutting one too many yoga classes. For some reason, my college had a PE requirement, and the last week of classes senior year, I was sitting with my housemates discussing our post-graduation Vegas plans when I realized I had just missed my final class. I don’t remember the excuse I made, claimed a car accident or a family death or something… but it worked and I graduated.

3. In the same vein, thou shalt not purposely or accidentally snitch on a friend for ditching a class. If the teacher says, “Has anyone seen So And So today?” it is better to keep quiet than to say something like, “Well, she was in yoga this morning.” Another thing I learned in college – professors only care if you show up for their class. And that attending yoga but not “Race, Gender and the Environment” is unwise if your RG&E professor is also taking your yoga class. 

Well, there are probably many other things that could be added to this list but this project limits us to roughly 500 words. Current count: 500.