Academic Integrity Seminar: Ethical Concerns for PA Graduates in School and in the Workplace

1. Academic Integrity Seminar: Ethical Concerns for PA Graduates in School and in the Workplace Kristin Wetherbee AAC&U Core Commitments Grant Participant UCF Ph.D. Student, Public Affairs May 1, 2008

2. AAC&U’s Core Commitments • Five dimensions of personal and social responsibility: • Striving for excellence • Cultivating personal and academic integrity • Contributing to a larger community • Taking seriously the perspectives of others • Developing competence in ethical and moral reasoning Core Commitments is an initiative of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and is funded by the John Templeton Foundation. The Core Commitments language and graphics should not be reproduced for purposes unrelated to this project.

3. University of Central Florida (UCF) Grant Involvement • Faculty development • UCF Ethics Bowl competition http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~stanlick/UCFEthBowlRegForm.doc • College, departmental, and student participation on the Ethics Task Force • IPL/StoryBox Research on ethical decision making http://www.iplonline.org/ • Academic Integrity Seminars

4. Ethics All Around Us at UCF • Creed: Integrity, Scholarship, Community, Creativity, Excellence http://www.sdes.ucf.edu/Creed/default.htm • Golden Rule http://www.goldenrule.sdes.ucf.edu/ • Office of Student Conduct

5. Professional Codes of Ethics American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) I. Serve the Public Interest II. Respect the Constitution and the Law III. Demonstrate Personal Integrity IV. Promote Ethical Organizations V. Strive for Professional Excellencehttp://www.aspanet.org/scriptcontent/index_codeofethics.cfm Relativity applies to physics, not ethics. — Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist (1879-1955) (Josephson Institute, 2008)

6. National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration

7. What is “Ethics?” From dictionary.com Ethics: • a system of moral principles • the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc. Moral: • of, pertaining to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong

8. How do You Learn “Ethics?” • Parents • Teachers • Observation • Education

9. Ethic Theories • Virtue ethics - emphasis on virtues and character; motivations like charity and kindness (Aristotle, Hume) • Deontology – emphasis on duties or rules (Kant, Ross) • Consequentialism – emphasis on consequences of actions • Utilitarian - maximizes social well-being (Bentham, Mill)

10. Social Justice Theories • Social Contract – one’s moral and political obligations are dependent upon an agreement with government to maintain social order (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau) • Social Justice - rights that society members are owed by the government; should be distributed in ways that promote the most overall good for society rather than the most good for the most underprivileged (Rawls) • Entitlement Theory - Equality due to access to the process; distribution will be unequal but not considered an inequality (Nozick)

11. Why are Ethics Important? • Personal relationships • School outcomes • Employer expectations • Civil society • Trust is the basis of social stability • Education is the foundation for civic engagement • Civil society is built upon civic participation (Field, 2003; Lin, 2001; Moore, 1998; Shirley, 1997; Verba, et al., 1995) Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right. - Isaac Asimov, author and biochemist (1920-1992). (Josephson Institute)

12. What Do You Think? Never create by law what can be accomplished by morality.— Charles-Louis de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu, French jurist, philosopher (1689-1755). (Josephson Institute) What are some differences between moral rules and laws?

13. Cheating Behavior in Higher Education • Cheating behavior has remained fairly constant over the past decade • Studies show 70% - 80% of students admit to cheating in college • Incidents of plagiarism are on the rise (McCabe & Pavela, 2005; McCabe & Treviño, 1993; McCabe, Treviño, & Butterfield, 2001; Rettinger & Jordan, 2005; Thompson, 2006)

14. Public Administrator Ethical Issues • Conflicts between personal beliefs and organizational values • Social justice issues; responsibility of government • Enforcing a policy you disagree with • Loyalty to imperfect institutions

15. Case Study You - coordinator for your state’s DOE in a new building Legislature - found $200K to furnish your building Vendor - 6 to 8 weeks for furniture; purchasing contract w/state so no bids State policy - no purchases w/o a PO prior to placing the order 2 months - Governor and state reps coming 2 days left to make purchases before fiscal year-end. Funds not spent will be lost and next year’s budget can’t cover it. Large purchases require budget office sign-off. You sent the form to the budget office 2 weeks ago but no one knows why it hasn’t been signed. The salesman says, “We’ve done business before, sign the quote. We’ll start the order and enter the PO# later.” Your supervisor is pressuring you to place the order but the PO won’t be created until signatures are received; she tells you to sign the quote. What factors would you consider before taking action?

16. Policy Analyst Ethical Issues • Efficiency vs. equity • Greatest good for society vs. distributive fairness • Analytical integrity vs. responsibility to client vs. adherence to personal beliefs • White House staff analyst vs. a regulatory commission analyst (Weimer and Vining, 2005)

17. Case Study You are a policy analyst for your county’s parks service. You have prepared an analysis regarding the placement of a new park in the county. You have calculated and weighted the costs and benefits of the project, such as, cost to buy land, level of use, community needs, etc. You conclude that the best location for the park is in a high-crime, high-poverty, urban community with no parks. This idea is politically unpopular and your supervisor is going to use part of your analysis to justify building a second park an upper-class community. What factors would you consider before taking action?

18. Research Issues • Plagiarism • Faking data to get the results you want • Removing outliers without explaining why • Sending the same paper to multiple journals without telling the editors Adapted from http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis.cfm

19. Solutions Research • Ask a professor or mentor for guidance • Review IRB guidelines and training Writing • http://www.plagiarism.org/ • UCF’s University Writing Center http://www.uwc.ucf.edu/ • Buy a publication manual or style guide for the citation method used in your discipline • APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian

20. References • Association of American Colleges and Universities. (2008). Core commitments: Educating students for personal and social responsibility. Retrieved January 28, 2008, from http://www.aacu.org/core_commitments/index.cfm • Crown, D. F., & Spiller, M. S. (1998). Learning from the literature on college cheating: A review of empirical research. Journal of Business Ethics, 17, 683-700. • Field, J. (2003). Social capital. New York: Routledge. • Josephson Institute. (2007). Quotations on management and business ethics. Retrieved January 29, 2008, from http://www.josephsoninstitute.org/business-ethics_quotations.html • Lin, N. (2002). Social capital: A theory of social structure and action. New York: Cambridge University Press. • Mayer, J. & Seidel, R. (1998).Citizenship and the policy professional. In J. Bowman & D. Menzel (Eds.), Teaching ethics and values in public administration (p. 107). Albany: State University of New York Press. • McCabe, D. L., & Pavela, G. (2005). Honor codes for a new generation. Inside Higher Education. Retrieved October 17, 2007, from http://www.insidehighered.com/views/new_honor_codes_for_a_new_generation • McCabe, D., & Treviño, L. (1993). Academic dishonesty: Honor codes and other contextual influences. Journal of Higher Education, 64, 522–538. • McCabe, D. L., Treviño, L. K., & Butterfield, K. D. (2001). Cheating in academic institutions: A decade of research. Ethics & Behavior, 11(3), 219–232 Moore, D. (1998). What makes these schools stand out? (Designs for Change, April 1998). pp. 1-19, 81-107. Retrieved October 7, 2007 from http://www.designsforchange.org/pdfs/SOScomplete.pdf • Resnik, D. B. (2007). What is ethics in research & why is it important? Retrieved January 30, 2008, from http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis.cfm • Rettinger, D. A., & Jordan, A. E. (2005). The relations among religion, motivation, and college cheating: A natural experiment. Ethics & Behavior, 15(2), 107–129. • Smith, K. J., Davy, J. A., Rosenberg, D. L. & Haight, G. T. (2002). A structural modeling investigation of the influence of demographic and attitudinal factors and in-class deterrents on cheating behavior among accounting majors. Journal of Accounting Education, 20, 45-65. • Shirley, D. (1997). Community organizing for urban school reform. Austin: University of Texas Press. Chapter 8 (“Texas”), 200-220. • Swift, C. O., & Nonis, S. (1998). When no one is watching: Cheating behaviors on projects and assignments. Marketing Education Review, 8, 27-36. • Thompson, C. C. (2006). Unintended lessons: Plagiarism and the university. Teachers College Record, 108(12), 2439-2449. • Verba, S. Schlozman, K. L., & Brady, H. E. (1995). Conclusion: Voice and equality in democratic participation. Voice and equality: Civic voluntarism in American politics (pp. 509-533). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.