Annually, Warren Buffet sends a letter out to each of his CEOs that outlines his expectations for the upcoming year. Interestingly, his letters always begin with the same message: “We can afford to lose money. We can afford to lose a lot of money. But we cannot afford to lose one shred of our reputation. Make sure everything you do can be reported on the front page of your local newspaper….”
I was talking recently with a group of UHD faculty who were lamenting the fact that it seemed some students had been able to purchase the test bank for a textbook currently utilized in a required class at UHD. “What is the world coming to?” they were asking.
I had another professor relate an incident to me that occurred during an exam in his class this past semester. He had stepped out of the room briefly. While he was gone, a student called out the answer to one of the questions on the exam. One student remained behind after the exam and reported the incident. There were 3 distinct breaches of integrity within this incident. The first, and obvious, was the calling out of the answer. Less obvious were the other two – a) those who benefitted from the information called out; and b) those who didn’t report the incident.
While this situation was a potential violation of the academic honesty policy, the professor decided there was a lesson in ethics and integrity to be taught. He therefore sent a note to each student outlining his expectations of their ethical behavior and how trustworthy behavior creates a bond. He then asked each student to own up to any breach of integrity that had occurred during the exam and outlined the penalty for each breach. The professor, of course, knew who had called out the answer and who hadn’t reported the incident. But approximately 50% of the class admitted to using the information that was called out. There were several students who exerted pressure on their classmates to “do the right thing”. The student who had called out the answer asked to speak briefly to the class and apologized to each student for putting everyone at risk with his inappropriate behavior.
Ethics is a tricky subject. The guide for “what’s right” isn’t always published in black and white. In fact, what’s right is often defined in the “eyes of the beholder” or popularity or convenience. And as the above example shows, peer pressure is often as impactful as any other influence.
Integrity isn’t something to be affirmed once and forgotten. It’s more like a marriage vow – not frequently mentioned but always there….
