Student Leader Guides | Resources for Leaders | Campus Policies
Ethics
(Click Here for Printable Version) Ethics can be one of the hardest parts of being a campus leader. You may find yourself wearing many hats on campus: President, treasurer, student, friend, teaching assistant, confidante, and a regular 19-year-old person. Sometimes, all of these “titles” don’t fit so well together. Values and morals are important for you to think about. What are yours? Where did you get them? How strongly do you feel about them? ETHICS CHECK QUESTIONS • Is it legal? Not everything that is illegal is unethical and not everything unethical is illegal. • Will I be violating a civil law/ University policy?
• How will the decision/action make you feel about yourself?
Blanchard, Kenneth, & Peale, (1988). TWELVE QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN MAKING ETHICAL DECISIONS 1. Have you defined the problem accurately? 2. How would you define the problem if you stood on the other side of the fence? 3. How did the situation arise in the first place? 4. To whom and to what did/do you give your loyalty? 5. What is your intention in making this decision? 6. How does this intention compare with the results? 7. Whom could your decision or action injure? 8. Can you discuss the problem with the affected parties before you make the decision? 9. Are you confident that your position will be as valid over a long time as it seems now? 10. Could you disclose without qualm your decision to your boss, the president, your family? 11. What is the symbolic potential of your action if understood? Misunderstood? 12. Under what conditions could you allow exceptions to your stand? Nash, 1987. FIVE ETHICAL PRINCIPLES Respect Autonomy: Individuals have the right to decide how to live their lives as long as their actions don’t interfere with the welfare of others. Do No Harm: There is an obligation to avoid inflicting either physical or psychological harm on others. Benefit Others: There is an obligation to improve the welfare of others, even if it is inconvenient. Be Just: Be fair to all, equal treatment to all, and observe the golden rule (“Do unto others as you would have done to you.”) Be Faithful: One should keep promises, tell the truth, be loyal, and maintain respect and civility. FIVE STEPS OF PRICIPLED REASONING 1. Clarify! Get as much info as you feel you need. 2. Evaluate! Separate facts and assumptions and figure out the potential outcomes. 3. Decide! Make a decision about what you will do. 4. Implement! Once you decide what to do, figure out how to do it. 5. Monitor and Modify! Pay attention to the results and make changes as needed. ACTIVITIES FOR YOU AND YOUR GROUP Rank the statements below from 1 to 14 based on your feelings and opinion. Number 1 is the MOST ETHICAL statement, and Number 14 is the most UNETHICAL statement. Assign each number only once. ___ Looking on someone else’s test for an answer. ___ Playing a joke on a friend, and he or she gets slightly hurt. ___ Taking food from the dining hall when there are signs posted “DO NOT REMOVE FOOD.” ___ Hiding a book in the library so no one else can find it. ___ Using a fake I.D. card. ___ Lying to a police officer when asked for more information. ___ Using another student’s ID to get a non-Sac State friend into an Sac State event ___ Copying computer software ___ Missing class and then making up an excuse to tell the professor ___ Not answering the phone and listening when your machine picks up ___ Switching a price tag on a book/item in a store to pay less ___ Buying an article of clothing with the intention to return it after you wear it ___ Turning in the same paper for two classes ___ Asking a friend to work together on a lab assignment - the syllabus says labs are to be done individually OR, POSE THIS DILEMMA TO YOUR GROUP You are the treasurer for a student organization, the Mountain University Ski Club. The club has just sponsored a ski sale to raise funds for the winter trip. The group has planned the entire year to assure the success of this sale and the event. The written financial policy of the organization states that all cash funds collected must be deposited in the bank account within 24 hours of the receipt. The sale has been completed and the profits are $3450.00. It is Saturday dinner time and you take the cash back to your room in the residence hall with the intention to deposit it in the weekend deposit slot on campus. About 9 p.m. your roommate has a phone call and learns that his significant other has been injured in an auto crash and is in the hospital in St. Louis. He checks and finds that the plane fare to Missouri is $590 round trip. He has $25.25 in his checking account. He tries to borrow from several friends and then asks you for an unofficial loan from the ski club. He promises to pay it back as soon as possible. You know that you are the only one that knows the amount of the cash since everyone else in the club left the sale before it was counted. You could loan him the money and no one would ever know. Later, when he pays you back, you could deposit the additional funds in the account. What would you do? Why? Information adapted from Occidental College-Office of Student Life |