A Note from the director

We are very pleased to be publishing the first issue of the Rutland Institute for Ethics Issues and Perspectives.

Welcome to the Rutland Ethics Alliance! We very much appreciate your support and interest in the Institute’s activities. We also welcome your input, for example, in determining what to include in this publication. More important, we welcome your ideas about how we can extend the good work of the Institute, particularly if you can help us make connections with people and organizations in the business and professional communities.

In this issue we provide information about what we have done and what we are working on. In addition, in the first part of a two-part article on three ethical perspectives, or tools of ethical deliberation, C. Calhoun Lemon Fellow of the Institute Stephen Satris discusses the “harm-benefit approach” and the “rights approach” (The third tool, the virtue ethics approach, is the subject of part II.) In future issues we will take a look at other perspectives in ethics as well as issues that are, quite rightly, on our minds and yours. Here then is an opportunity for you to tell us what ought to be taken up in the issues section of the RIE Issues and Perspectives. In the section Ethics Challenges and Responses you will find links to articles that may be of interest. We will be updating this section of RIE I&P periodically, so you may want to bookmark this site.

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Ethics Challenges and Responses

In a rare personal email from Ethisphere Executive Director, Alexander F Brigham, on September 21st, he had the following to say:


“It is time for business ethics to become a regular part of the boardroom agenda.

The Ethisphere Institute, in response to newly proposed SEC Rules “Proxy Disclosure and Solicitation Enhancement,” File No. S7-13-09”, has issued a lengthy comment letter this week. I strongly encourage you to read it.”


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Education Week Commentary


"We know what schools of integrity look like. We know how to build them. It's time for school leaders to get out in front of the crowd and make it look like a parade."

That's the conclusion of coauthors Patrick Bassett, Paul Houston, and Rushworth Kidder in "Building Character in Crisis," published in the July 15, 2009 edition of Education Week.


http://www.globalethics.org/resources/Building-Character-in-Crisis/174/


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Section 7009 of America COMPETES Act implementation effective January 4, 2010


This section of the Act requires that “each institution that applies for financial assistance from the (National Science) Foundation for science and engineering research or education describe in its grant proposal a plan to provide appropriate training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research to undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers participating in the proposed research project.''


http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-19930.htm

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2009 Center for Academic Integrity International Conference

Teddi Fishman is finishing preparations for the CAI International Conference, to be held October 16-18 at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. The conference is one of the premier events of the Center, now in its 17th year, and serves as  a venue for faculty, students, administrators and others involved or interested in academic integrity issues on college, university and K-12 campuses. A typical conference welcomes between 250 and 350 participants, from the US. and abroad, who enjoy presentations, panels, and workshops on research and best practices in the academic integrity field. Attendees also enjoy the opportunity to network and build relationships with other professionals. The Center for Academic Integrity is housed within the Rutland Institute for Ethics. The two organizations collaborate frequently on issues of ethics and integrity in academic and professional environments. The conference, like the day-to-day work of CAI, underscores the need for ethics and integrity education at all levels of instruction. To learn more, visit the website: http://www.academicintegrity.org/conferences/2009_Conference/index.php

For more Information:

~Dr. Teddi Fishman, Director CAI

tfishma@clemson.edu

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Resolving the Shortage of Organs for Transplantation: Ethics, Science, and Technology

The Rutland Institute for Ethics is proudly coordinating a unique collaborative event in Charleston on the MUSC campus on November 20th:

Resolving the Shortage of Organs for Transplantation: Ethics, Science and Technology


To learn more click here.

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Three Ethical Tools (Part One)...

This is Part One of a two-part article. My intention is to review three of the basic tools of ethical thinking that we at the Rutland Institute treat in much more detail in our regular Ethics Across the Curriculum seminars. The tools aren’t tied to any one subject matter, or even to the curriculum or to the academic world; they are basic ethical approaches that are applicable in any context. I’ll call the three approaches the harm-benefit approach, the rights approach, and the virtue ethics approach.

Here in Part One I’ll briefly cover the first two of the three ethical tools (or perspectives). I’ll talk about the third one – the virtue ethics approach -- in Part Two.

First then there is what I’m calling the harm-benefit approach. Here, we try to act rightly by paying attention to the benefits (good results) as well as to the harms (bad results or costs) that our actions are likely bring about. Although very young children might consider only the harms and benefits that they themselves might receive, by the time most of us are older, we are able to consider the harms and benefits that will accrue to an expanding circle of others – family members, friends, neighbors, random people, and even animals (especially, perhaps, our pets) and entire towns and eco-systems.

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A Two-Year Reflection: Linda Gallicchio looks back on her first two years at the Institute

As I sit reflecting on my two years with the Rutland Institute for Ethics, one thing stands out: I am too busy to have much time for reflection! Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining. Joining the institute in a new position responsible for outreach has been quite a journey—one that I remain grateful to be on.

I am not a professional ethicist. I could best be described as a “practicing ethicist” in my prior work as a human resources professional and executive in a number of corporations spanning several decades. The “practicing” came from dealing with all those grey matters that I faced numerous times in the course of a day. It was not uncommon in the 1980’s and 1990’s for some to refer to the issues of dealing with people as the “soft” issues. I beg to differ. When situations are clear as mud it can be a challenge to navigate a course to its conclusion without breaking up on the rocks along the way. There are casualties in “soft” issues that can be anything from an irate customer who will never come back, and tell 20 other people their tale of woe, to millions (or billions) of dollars being lost in a white-collar (supposedly victimless) crime.

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CU Ethics Bowl Team

If it’s fall, then we are excited to begin another season of preparation with the Clemson University Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl team! I will once again coach the team, which is co-sponsored by the Rutland Institute for Ethics and the Department of Philosophy and Religion. With the regional competition occurring in November, in Richmond, Virginia, we don’t have time to lose.

For those of you who may not be familiar, the Ethics Bowl is modeled after the College Bowl competition and involves more than 100 teams from around the country. Each team receives 15 case studies prior to the competition. Each case study involves an ethical dilemma on which the team must develop a position. In preparing the case, they apply relevant ethical theories and perform research that allows them to incorporate a host of relevant information such as legal principles, scientific studies and sociological research that pertain to the case.

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SC Life Project/EMRGE

Kelly Smith has been busy working on enriching the K-12 science curricula. As part of the EMRGE project, proposed and coordinated by the Rutland Institute as the 2009-2010 Community-based Project of SC Life, he will be meeting with six science teachers from Westside and TL Hanna High Schools to help them fine tune lesson plans on stem cell biology in the fall and genetic engineering in the spring. They will focus on comfortably incorporating discussions of various ethical aspects as they impact society into their classes. Kelly’s work will build on some professional development the teachers received this summer when Dan and Teddi lead them through Ethics Across the Curriculum, a program that Dan initiated for Clemson faculty 10 years ago.

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Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind

Christopher Grau, an assistant professor in the Department of Philosphy and Religion (to which the Institute has ties) recently edited a collection of essays on the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In Chris’ words: “Most of the essays in the collection concern the ethical issues raised in the film. Julia Driver's essay in the collection considers the ethical ramifications of memory loss, and in particular whether the loss of memories should be considered a harm to those forgotten. Valerie Tiberius' essay considers the role of emotion in decision making and whether the distortion or deletion of memories allows one to make better or worse ethical (and other) decisions.” To read more about this work, click on the link.

 

 

For more Information:

~Dr. Christopher Grau

grau@clemson.edu

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Law, Liberty & Justice in and out of the Classroom

The Department of Philosophy & Religion is developing an internship option for students in the Law, Liberty, Justice (LLJ) track of the major. The LLJ track provides students with a broad understanding of social and political theory and the philosophy of law, while honing important critical thinking and argumentative writing skills. The internships will provide students with the opportunity to integrate academic studies with meaningful community service and career experience. We are currently working with local law offices, elected politicians, the South Carolina Supreme Court, and non-profit organizations with an orientation toward social justice issues (e.g., human rights, equal opportunity and access, immigration) to identify potential internship sponsors.

For more information:

Dr. Diane Perpich

 dperpic@clemson.edu

Dr. William Maker

makerw@clemson.edu

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Rutland Ethics Alliance Founding Members

The Institute gratefully recognizes the Founding Members of the Rutland Ethics Alliance, through whose generosity this e-newsletter is established, and other critical operating costs of the Institute are covered:


Cornerstone Members
Mr. Robert J. Rutland
Dr. Stephan Barton
Mr. Joel A. Berly
Mr. Harry Mahaffey
Dr. John E. Walker


Benefactors
Dr. Teddi Fishman
Locke Design Omnimedia
Dr. Daniel E. Wueste


Partners
Mr. and Mrs. Bob & Debbi DuBose
Mr. and Mrs. Harry & Ina Durham
Mr. Seth R. Sargent
Dr. Allan J. Thompson, Jr.
Wendy's Old Fashioned


Colleagues
Duke Energy South Carolina
Ms. Linda Brewer
Mr. Thomas L. Martin
Dr. Terry D. Phillips
Mr. and Mrs. Michael & Sheelah Bolick


Associates
Mr. Ernest W. Clamp, Jr.
Ms. Peggy Dean
Mr. Mark C. Dukes
Mrs. Linda Gallicchio
Golden Career Stratagies
Mr. Lewis T. Smoak
Mr. James B. Thompson
Mrs. Kathleen Wueste


Friends
Mr. Wayland P. Craven, Jr.
Dr. John C. Knapp


Supporters
Bekido, LLC
Ms. Michele Brinn
Mr. and Mrs. Dale & Donna Duncan
Mr. John B. Hardaway, III
Mr. David B. Jones
Mrs. Tricia Phillips
Mr. Joseph P. Rostron
Mr. Stephen R. Schultz
Mr. John R. Steer (In memory of Marion C. Thompson)
Synchlora, LLC
Mr. William B. Sykes, Jr.
Mr. Gerald O. Tollison

Not yet a member, but would like to join the

Rutland Ethics Alliance?
CLICK HERE

Members support positive and proactive efforts to create and sustain a vigorous sense of integrity and responsibility on the Clemson University campus and in the communities it serves. 

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