Santa Clara University

SCU President Michael Engh, S.J., took the occasion of the opening year convocation to address the importane of ethics at the University and the work of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.  He said in part:

As a campus community, we hold certain shared beliefs....  We share a common faith in the power of education to transform lives. We are committed to the worth of every individual. We believe that interactions among people must be respectful and honest.... 

As parents, alumni, and friends of the University who look to us to promote positive individual and social conduct, they ask that we introduce students to the professional standards of our respective disciplines – how to be a good scientist, how to be a good historian, how to do accurate research and not cut corners.  They believe, with us, that educating for ethics and integrity is a fundamental element of the SCU mission....

Last spring we had family weekend, and a whole group of parents came rushing up to me to talk about Kirk Hanson and what he had said.  Kirk, the Executive Director of our Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, had addressed parents on a workshop about the top ten ethical issues facing first-year college students. I was intrigued by this topic.  Not long after his talk came the article on the same subject that appeared on the Huffington Post [3 May 2011]. Then I heard about Markkula Center’s weekly blog, “The Big Q,” that continues to post cases with ethical dilemmas.

These are really interesting topics for all of us who work with young people.
Questions that students face: The proper role of parents in one’s college education; dealing with roommates; cheating; sex; when to call the EMTs when a friend has been drinking; and what about Facebook posting and cyberbullying. One topic concerns inclusive excellence. “How will I act with people who are different me?”This issue is worth quoting in full:

• “Your decisions about how you will deal with diversity may start before you even get to campus, when you must decide whether to live in a racially or ethnically themed dorm. Or the questions may arise when you’re invited to a “Ghetto” or “Fresh off the Boat” or “South of the Border” theme party.  How will you answer? How will you treat people from other backgrounds? How much do you want to move outside your own group?”

Teaching ethics involves each and every one of us here at Santa Clara. At this university, we really promote integrity in the classrooms, in the residence halls, on sports teams, on research projects, in the offices where our students work. Each of us plays  valuable roles for modeling ethical behavior whether in our academic disciplines, at work, with our peers and with fellow workers.  We all contribute to this ethical ethos each time we consider what is right and wrong, and choose the right....

Through our graduates we touch the Silicon Valley. We stir consciences of others about ethical behavior. We graduate people with a personal integrity that can serve them for life and serve our world.

"Oh, the Cleaners Will Get That" is the latest case study on The Big Q, a blog dealing with the everyday ethical dilemmas that college students face.  In this scenario, a student is discouraged from cleaning up after a club meeting with the assurance of the club president that the University's custodial staff will take care of the mess.  Join the conversation.

Photo by r_melgaresavailable under Attribution- Non Commercial- No Derivs License.

"I Want to Remain a Virgin" is the latest case study in the Ethics Center's Big Q Project, a social media campaign to involve undergrads in dialog on the ethical issues in their everyday lives.  In it, a student must deal with perssure from her boyfriend to have sex.

The Big Q has fostered a community where students from across the country can talk together about the important issues they face.  Last week's discussion on whether an African American student should choose a racially themed dorm was especially interesting.

Photo by AWKWORDrap available under Attribution- Non Commercial- No Derivs License.

One decision college students must make even before classes start is whether they will live in a racially or ethnically themed residence hall.  For example, Davidson College has international halls, UC-Santa Cruz has an indigenous peoples hall, Ujamaa at Stanford is an African-themed house.

In this week's Big Q case, Mo must decide whether to choose an ethnically themed living situation.  The Big Q project invites students to use the approaches of ethics to consider the important decisions in their own lives.

Photo by Derek Severson available under Attribution- Non Commercial- No Derivs License.

Annoyed with her roommate for her out-of-control partying, Paige complains in her Facebook status.  She's astonished when the resident assistant in the dorm calls her out for cyberbullying.

Comment on this case on the ethics of online gossip.  Best student comment wins a $50 Amazon gift certificate.

The case is part of The Big Q project, an online dialogue about the ethical issues in students' everyday lives.

Photo by Herbstkind available under Attribution- Non Commercial- No Derivs License.

Nathaniel Fick, author of "One Bullet Away" will deliver this year's Regan Lecture, Friday, Sept. 23, at noon in the St. Clare Room of the SCU Learning Commons.  Fick's book was named one of the "Best Military Books of the Decade" by The Military Times.

Fick's talk is made possible in part by a gift from New York Life Insurance Co. in honor of William Regan III.

The Center's Big Q project takes on alcohol poisoning this week, with a case that explores the responsibility of students when a friend has passed out after drinking too much. 

The Big Q is a social media campaign to involve undergraduates in dialog on the ethical issues in their own lives.  This summer, the project focuses on questions of particular concern to incoming freshmen.  Best student responses each week win a $50 Amazon gift certificate.

Photo by Laughing Squid available under Attribution- Non Commercial- No Derivs License.

Eric Stoller, host of Student Affairs Live, interviewed Campus Ethics Director David DeCosse and Communications Director Miriam Schulman on the Ethics Center's efforts to infuse ethical considerations into student life. 

The three talked about how ethics can provide student affairs professionals with a new tool for dealing with perennial issues like roommate problems, privacy concerns, sexual choices, etc.

The Ethics Center's Big Q project is featured today In an article on Inside Higher Education.

As Center Executive Director Kirk O. Hanson explains, “In any role we play in life, there are a set of unavoidable ethical dilemmas that come with that role, that come with the territory. Practical ethics is about knowing those are coming so they don’t blindside you, and preparing yourself to handle them. We can make it possible for freshmen to live their lives with greater integrity, or greater consistency with their own values, if they know what kind of dilemmas they’re going to face.”

Freshmen Brad and Wilson have to work out a fair way to share their dorm room when ladies' man Brad keeps bringing his dates home for sleepovers.  That's the latest case study in the Center's Big Q project, a social media campaign to involve undergrads in conversation about the big ethical questions in their own lives.

Photo by Chrissy Hunt available under Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial License.