Suite of courses promotes ethical decisionmaking as a life skill
Alumni & Friends, Winter/Spring 2004
It seems you can’t pick up a newspaper without reading a story dealing with ethics: the Enron, WorldCom and mutual fund scandals in the business world; stem cell research and rightto- die issues in the medical field. Add to that political scandals, animal rights, environmental protection concerns and a host of others, and you have a tangled net of ethical dilemmas that affect virtually all of society.
Universities have been addressing ethical issues for decades. At UW-Whitewater, ethics are woven into the curriculum throughout the four colleges. Students can also choose several courses dealing strictly with the subject of ethics.
In the philosophy and religious studies department, a bioethics class is offered on a rotating basis. Professor Crista Lebens, who teaches the class this semester, says a textbook is used, but the class also studies a lot of bioethics topics in the news, such as genetic engineering and end-of-life issues.
“Students from a variety of academic backgrounds take the class,” Lebens said. “Really, any student, regardless of their major, is likely to encounter the health care system in some form.
Lebens said that bioethics, a relatively new field, is rich in topics that interest students.
“In the past, ethics was strictly in the hands of the physician or the researcher. The class teaches you to be your own advocate for health care, to make your own informed decisions,” she said.
Ann Luther, professor of philosophy and religious studies, teaches the “Contemporary Moral Issues” class, where controversial ethical topics include abortion, euthanasia, cloning, capital punishment and world hunger.
“Some students come in with preliminary ideas on how they feel about an issue, but they’re open to other ideas,” Luther said. “Some come in without an opinion, but leave with a better sense of where they stand on an issue. Still others come in with strong opinions and leave knowing why they feel as strongly as they do.”
At the College of Business and Economics, ethics is also a staple for students.
“Business ethics is integrated into every core course in our curriculum,” said Dean Christine Clements.
David Cartwright, professor of philosophy, and Jerry Gosen, professor of business management, have both taught the “Business Ethics” course through the years. The class, a recommended elective course, relies heavily on a case study approach.
“We look at examples where things went awry,” Cartwright said. “There’s always been news about ethical breakdowns, despite companies implementing codes of ethics and educating workers on their expectations,” he said. “Even Enron had a substantial code of ethics,” Cartwright said. But it’s not always bad actions that serve as a study model. “There are cases in which there was exceptional ethical behavior and businesses did the right thing,” said Cartwright.
This semester, Gosen is teaching “Social Responsibility in Business,” a class that is required of graduate students in Business Management. Students do a significant amount of research into the role businesses have in being socially responsible.
Business scandals will never disappear completely, Gosen said, “but with the media and consumers as watchdogs, they may be less likely to happen if the atmosphere appears to be more enforcing.”
Ethical issues surface in nearly all disciplines across campus. “Today’s classes might make a difference when students leave here,” Gosen said. – Karen Kachel