Rutland Issues and Perspectives: October 2012

>> Tuesday, October 30, 2012

From the Director...

Dr. Daniel Wueste

“A Poster Boy for Cheating”

According to Time’s Bill Saporito that — “a poster boy for cheating"— is what Lance Armstrong has become. We knew him as a world-class cyclist (winner of the Tour de France—seven consecutive times, 1999-2005), cancer survivor, philanthropist, and co-founder of Livestrong, an organization that fights to “improve the lives of people affected by cancer.” The New York Times reports that "...The decision to waive the right to take Armstrong’s case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest court in sports, formally strips Armstrong of the Tour titles he won from 1999-2005. The Amaury Sport Organization, the company that organizes the Tour de France, will erase Armstrong’s name from its record books..."

Corn for the Car

Kelly Durham

Did you know that you’re paying more for food so you can put corn in your car? As goofy as that sounds, it’s true and it’s another ‘pocketbook’ issue of which you should be aware.

In 2005, Congress passed and President Bush signed the Renewable Fuel Standards Act. This act was an attempt by the government to influence the free market by requiring a portion of our fuel supply to be composed of renewable fuels—in other words, ethanol. The farmers and the ethanol producers loved the new law. They predicted it would boost the market for their crops/product by creating a new government mandate. The law certainly did that!

Ethics Bowl Creative Inquiry: the Doors it Can Open

Courtney Dixon

In past editions we’ve run some articles about the Ethics Bowl team. The team in reality operates as a creative inquiry team and students choose to take it as a for-credit course over multiple semesters. Clemson alumna and current first year Yale Law School student, Courtney Dixon, provides another perspective on the experience. In Courtney’s words: "Ethics Bowl was a really fun experience that allowed me to develop research skills, public speaking, my ability to construct arguments, distinguish situations, and think on my feet - all skills that are extremely helpful for a law student and a lawyer in general."

First call for nominations: 2013 Bringing Ethics Into Focus Award

Consider nominating a person or organization that, according to institute director Daniel Wueste, “are challenging us to a greater awareness of ethics in our decision-making, our policies and our actions.”

Dr. Ida Spruill

The inaugural award recipient was Dr. Ida Spruill of MUSC for her community health/health disparities research. Read about it here.

Look for more information in the upcoming months on when and how to nominate!

The promise of a partnership on medical ethics with GHS

Dr. Kelly Smith

The Rutland Institute has launched a major new medical ethics initiative in partnership with the Greenville Hospital System. GHS wants to develop an ethics education program, which brings the entire campus together within a shared mission and set of conceptual tools. Dr. Kelly Smith, one of our Lemon Fellows, has been working intensively with GHS since the beginning of the summer to develop content and delivery methods for the new medical school curriculum, graduate medical education, and support services. “This is a really fascinating challenge,” said Dr. Smith, “The opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new medical school is very rare and the administration of GHS is deeply committed to developing a student centered curriculum which is truly transformative.”

2012-2013 Presidential Colloquium - Adding Value: Exploring the Means and the End

As posted on the Rutland Institute for Ethics webpage: “The theme of this year’s Presidential Colloquium, “Adding Value: Exploring the Means and the End,” was chosen with an eye to complementarity during the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of integration at Clemson. The theme is intentionally broad so that it can encompass discussion of the ways in which inclusion or diversity enriches an organization along with other ways of adding value, e.g., values-based leadership, innovation, promoting the arts, or encouraging entrepreneurial thinking and activity. In some cases, adding value is a project undertaken quite deliberately; in others it is an unintended but most welcome result.”

RIE co-sponsors Inaugural W.E. Lead events

On October 25 and 26 the Rutland Institute for Ethics co-sponsored several inaugural events for the Women Empowered to Lead Lecture Series.

Ethics Challenges and Responses

An interesting update from Reuters about Big tobacco companies resisting admissions of wrongdoing appeared on October 15:

http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/Legal/News/2012/10_-_October/Big_tobacco_companies_resist_admissions_of_wrongdoing/

This was right after coming back from presenting the Rutland Ethics Toolbox approach and decision framework at the first biomedical association national congress in Kumasi, Ghana. It may be a country only a fraction of the size of the USA (24 million), but Ghana took a mighty step in July, passing a law that bans smoking in all public places. While it goes much farther than any such law that would ever be passed in the USA, I can tell you that I saw no related trash and the leaders care deeply about the health of their fellow countrymen, especially youth.

http://www.ghana.gov.gh/index.php/component/content/article/96-top-headlines/14342-ghana-bans-smoking-in-public-places

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