Capturing the lively discussions, presentations, and other events that make up the daily activities of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.
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In a pre-Valentines Day look at love gone wrong, the Ethics Center is sponsoring a poetry slam featuring poems on relationships, Monday, Feb. 13, 9-11 p.m., in the Bronco at the SCU Benson Center.
Part of the Center's Big Q project, which focuses on everyday ethical issues for college students, the event will use the arts to explore how people treat each other.
In "Sleeping Around," the most recent case study posted on the Center's Big Q blog on college ethics, a student is challenged about his casual attitude towards sex. The best student comment on the case from any university or college wins a $100 Amazon Gift Certificate.
The case is also part of the classwork for a course on Theology, Sex, and Relationships, taught by Center Program Specialist in Health Care Ethics Karen Peterson-Iyer.
In a piece for USA Today College, Miriam Schulman, who heads up the Center's Big Q Project on big ethical questions for college students, asks readers to consider four ethical questions about sex:
What do I want sex to mean?
Do my partner and I both understand sex the same way?
Does the sex show respect for my parter and myself?
Am I choosing to have sex or am I letting alcohol make the decision for me?
A college student who works part time has just finished purchasing Christmas gifts for her family. Now she must decide whether to spend her remaining money on herself or give to charity.
That's the dilemma currently on The Big Q, the Ethics Center's social media project for undergraduates about the ethical issues in their everyday lives. The best comment from a college student is eligible to win a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit The Big Q's Facebook page to stay up to date on the project.
The trash from last night's party is in five giant trash bags, and Steve must decide whether to push his roommates to sort and recycle it, in the latest case from The Big Q, the Ethics Center's online dialog for undergrads about ethical issues in the life of a college student. Join the conversation. Best student comment wins $100 Amazon certificate.
"I think this is a pattern which is not surprising," Kirk Hanson, executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics told CNN reporter Ashley Hayes about coverups of abuse at Penn State and the Citadel. "Institutions would like to find a reason that they don't have to publicize their own failings. ... Institutions too often substitute their own interests for the interests of the victims. This is an institutional ethics problem, in general."
Hayes' article explored the kind of institutional culture that can tempt people to ignore abuse. As Hanson commented,
"As word of misbehavior goes up the chain of command, each level will have the temptation to sweep it under the rug," he said. "And they can frequently be pressured to ignore the behavior. ...
"What you hope will happen in the future is that anyone who witnesses a child being molested will take the personal responsibility to make sure the authorities are called and not just report it to the institution."
A college-aged couple going to separate schools considers sexting in the latest case from The Big Q, the Ethics Center's online campaign to involve undergraduates in discussion about the ethical issues in their everyday lives.
The case was created in conjunction with the SCU Religious Studies class "Theology, Sex, and Relationships," taught by Center Program Specialist in Health Care Ethics Karen Peterson-Iyer. Read comments from students in the class and add your own to the mix.
The best student comment wins a $100 Amazon gift certificate. Posts must be received by midnight, Sunday, Nov. 20.
The Center's new blog, Savage on Sports, kicks off with a discussion of whether student athletes should be paid. Written by SCU senior and Center Hackworth Fellow Matt Savage, the blog focuses on ethical issues in college sports.
Best-selling author of One Bullet Away, Nathaniel Fick, speaks with Center Director of Campus Programs David DeCosse on some of the ethical challenges facing soldiers. Fick's book was named one of the "Best Military Books of the Decade" by The Military Times.
"U.S. welfare and tax policies targeting single mothers were transformed over a decade ago. What was the impact on single mothers’ happiness?"
That's the question John Ifcher, SCU assistant professor of economics, researched with support from a Hackworth Grant from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. "The results appear to indicate that the package of welfare and tax policy changes increased happiness," Ifcher concluded.
Hackworth Grants are made possible by a gift from Michael and Joan Hackworth. They are available to Santa Clara University faculty and students for research on applied ethics and the creation of curriculum on ethics.
