Sociological Investigation
Comparable Worth
In October of 1999 the government of Canada agreed to pay 2.3 billion
dollars to 230,000 federal workers, both current and retired, in the
form of back pay with interest, to conform with the principle of "equal
pay for work of equal value" embodied in Canada's Human Rights Act. The
drafters of this law, enacted more than twenty years ago, noted that
the vast majority of women in the workforce in Canada were clustered in
a small number of "women's" jobs, such as office worker, nurse, or
waitress. Women in these jobs, the drafters of Canada's Human Rights
Act observed, usually receive less pay than men in predominantly male
jobs, which, despite their higher salaries, are comparable to the
predominantly female jobs in terms of factors such as the mental or
physical demands of the job, working conditions, or educational
prerequisites.
To address this situation, the government of Canada organized a
committee made up of employees and managers drawn from various Canadian
federal government departments to develop a numerically based system
for comparing predominantly male and predominantly female jobs. The
committee rated a wide array of jobs in terms of four factors:
educational prerequisites, job responsibilities, mental demands, and on
the job working conditions. The committee determined that "male" jobs
tended strongly to have higher salaries than female jobs at the same
point levels. For example, a chief librarian made $35,050 while a dairy
herd improvement manager made $38,766. A computer operations supervisor
made $20,193, while a forestry project supervisor made $26,947. A
typist made $10,531, while a sailor made $14,097. In all of the above
instances the predominantly female and the predominantly male jobs were
determined to have comparable point levels.
The Canadian government's 2.3 billion dollar settlement has drawn
strong criticism. Monte Solberg, a Reform Party member of the Canadian
Parliament lamented that "[t]o come up with some concept where a bunch
of bureaucrats arbitrarily decide, based on some abstract theory, that
one job that women dominate is somehow the same as another completely
different job that men dominate - it's unworkable." Other critics
protest that the settlement will increase the taxes in Canada, whose
taxpayers already shoulder the highest tax burden among the Group of
Seven industrialized nations.
Defenders of the Canadian government's settlement view it as needed to
rectify, what they consider, the discriminatory impact upon female
workers of the Canadian government's employment compensation policies
over many years. Even if the lower wages for predominantly female jobs
reflect going market salary rates, say the supporters of the
settlement, these market rates themselves reflect pervasive
discrimination against women in the workforce. Furthermore, the
supporters of the settlement contest that the settlement will have a
severely negative impact upon the Canadian economy. In this regard,
Daryl Bean, President of the Canadian federal service union, estimated
that over 40% of the 2.3 billion would be returned as taxes to the
government.
Author
Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage:
http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department
of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Illinois
Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty Associate, Center for the
Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site:
http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2000
Dancesafe
and Ecstasy
In 1999 Emanuel Sferios founded DanceSafe, an organization whose
purpose is "promoting health and safety within the rave and nightclub
community." In addition to dispensing free earplugs, condoms, and
information on recreational drugs, DanceSafe also provides free (and
anonymous) testing of (alleged) Ecstasy.
Ecstasy, also known as MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine), X, and E,
affects the brain's production of serontin, a neurotransmitter that
regulates mood, memory, sleep, and body temperature. But unlike other
drugs that stabilize serontin levels on a continuous basis (e.g.
antidepressants such as Prozac and Zoloft), Ecstasy floods the brain
with serontin. This deluge of serontin creates a "high," but can also
lead to dangerous dehydration, overheating, muscle spasms, and
seizures.
Pill testing is DanceSafe's response to Ecstasy's growing popularity
with ravers. Americans buy close to one million doses a week at $20 to
$30 apiece. The popularity and price had led to fake or adulterated
pills. At best, fake Ecstasy pills are harmless (e.g. Excedrin, whose
tablets are marked with an "E" have been sold as Ecstasy). However,
pills can be dangerous if other, more toxic, substances are
substituted.
Sferios reports that screening has revealed alleged Ecstasy pills that
actually contained caffeine, antacid, over-the-counter sleeping pills
and pain relievers. Other pills contained speed, and other life
threatening drugs. In 1999 an unusually large number of ravers, having
taken what they thought was Ecstasy, wound up in emergency rooms. The
pills contained dextromethorphan (DXM), a common ingredient in cough
suppressants. DXM can cause convulsions.
DanceSafe's test identifies the presence or absence of Ecstasy, as well
as the presence of speed and several other drugs. If the test
demonstrates the presence of Ecstasy, the pill's owner is given a
laminated white sheet that reads: "This test produced a normal
reaction. It means the pill contains an Ecstasy-like substance. It does
not mean the pill is 'safe.' There could still be something else in
this pill."
Critics charge that drug testing encourages drug use, but Sferios
disagrees. He argues that most ravers are going to take their drugs
anyway, so free and anonymous testing enables users to make an informed
choice. Thus, Sferios sees DanceSafe as a part of the growing
harm-reduction movement, which emphasizes drug education, rather than
abstinence or criminalization. He compares pill testing to another
risk-reduction program -- needle exchanges, that minimize the risk of
HIV infection risk for IV drug users.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/Copyright: Association for Practical
and professional Ethics
Culture
Going Nude
Twenty-nine year old Debora Rodriquez is a militant member of
Brazil’s landless movement, the Movimento Sem Terra (MST)
which is battling for redistribution of under utilized land to as many
as 4.8 million landless families. Recently Ms. Rodriquez made a
decision to appear in an upcoming Brazilian edition of Playboy,
photographed in the nude. Many fellow members of the MST are highly
critical of her decision, believing that it will tarnish the
Movement’s image. Some other members (apparently) do not have
this concern, but believe Ms. Rodriquez should contribute a portion of
the $18,000 she will earn to the MST’s efforts on behalf of
impoverished Brazilian farmers. Ms. Rodriquez says she will use the
money to buy a home for herself and her two children, aged 11 and 9, as
well as other things the children need. Currently Ms. Rodriquez and her
children live in a tent at a settlement organized by the MST.
Is Ms.
Rodriquez’s decision morally justifiable? If so, why? If not,
why not?
Author
Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage:
http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department
of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Illinois
Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty Associate, Center for the
Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site:
http://ethics.iit.edu
Copyright: 1998
Organ
Transplants
Over 75, 000 people are on waiting lists to receive organ transplants.
Every day people die waiting. The list grows longer daily, as the
number of people needing organs increases faster than the number of
donors, and as advances in technology increase the number of viable
recipients. Typically, patients who have been on the list the longest
are the sickest, but occasionally a critically ill patient may "jump"
to the head of the list if it is thought that her death is imminent
unless she receives a transplant. "Jumping" is considered morally
justified in virtue of the absence of any other available therapy for
end-stage organ disease.
Patients needing kidney transplants are
not allowed to jump the queue. Here transplant eligibility is
determined by length of waiting time because an alternative therapy
exists -- dialysis. Most patients (over 50,000) waiting for organs need
a kidney. The average wait for a kidney transplant is five years. In
the year 2000, 13,372 kidney transplant operations took place in which
the kidney was the only organ transplanted (nearly 1,000 additional
transplants involved a kidney plus another organ.) In the 13, 372
kidney-alone transplants, 5293 of the kidneys were from live donors.
The Hope-Through-Sharing Program lets
patients waiting for a kidney jump ahead of others on the list, if a
friend or relative, who is not a suitable match for the patient,
donates a kidney to another recipient with whom the donor is
compatible. This gives the patient priority over those who have been
waiting longer. While the above-described policy is designed to result
in kidney donations from people who otherwise might not choose to do
so, there is no guarantee that the donor's relative or friend will
receive a kidney -- only that he or she moves closer to the top of the
list. Although the program increases the likelihood that someone who
might die before receiving a kidney will live, there remains the
question of fairness in regard to a system that penalizes those who
have no one willing, able, or available to donate a kidney on their
behalf.
Kidney transplantation from a living
person involves risks for the donor. There are concerns, therefore,
that such risks might not be adequately considered or that the donor
may be coerced. The transplant operation is not standardized, and its
procedures are both complex and vary widely. Inadequate long-term data
exists on outcomes for donors. Some hospitals that offer live-donor
transplants do few of these operations and may lack adequate experience
to ensure satisfactory outcomes.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: Association for Practical and professional Ethics
Hate
Crimes
Pange and Matini were two women who lived all their lives in a secluded
area of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) belonging to the primitive Kalanga
tribe, and had never interacted in any significant way with people
outside of the tribe. In 1961 there was a drought in the area, which
posed the threat of starvation to the entire tribe. While talking to a
local witch doctor, the women expressed their fears to him, and he
promised to prepare some muti, a magic potion, to mix with seeds during
planting so that crops would be plentiful. It was a custom among the
Kalanga people to prepare such a potion during the times of drought,
consisting of several ingredients collected by witch doctors plus the
fingers, toes, and inside portion of the stomach of a tribe member who
is killed, usually a relative of the person who requests the potion.
The witch doctor told Pange and Matini they must kill a child. Neither
woman had children, however, they killed Matini's two year old cousin,
and brought her body to the witch doctor. The colonial authorities of
Rhodesia (Rhodesia was a British colony) learned of the killing and
brought murder charges against Pange and Matini. The two women were put
on trial in a Rhodesian court.
Author
Information
Name:
Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail:
ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage:
http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution:
Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty Associate, Center
for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web
site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright:
2001
Society
Overweight Children
At 156 pounds and just under 4 feet and seven inches tall, first grader
Taylor Bibian found himself in the middle of a dispute between the
Florida Department of Children and Families (FDCF) and his own family.
The FDCF believes that Taylor's obesity poses significant health risks
to the seven year old, and four times sought the approval of juvenile
courts to intervene. The FDCF is legally sanctioned to investigate
allegations of child abuse and neglect, and may take protective custody
of a child if a harm (or risk of harm) to a child is significant
enough, and is due to some action or inaction of a parent/guardian.
According to the FDCF, harm may be categorized as abuse or neglect. The
FDCF defines "abuse" as "non-accidental infliction of physical or
psychological injury or sexual abuse by a parent, adult household
member or other person responsible for care of the child," and
"neglect" as "failure/omission by a caretaker to provide the care,
supervision, services or protection necessary to maintain physical and
mental health." On some occasions the FDCF will allow a child to remain
in the care of a neglectful or abusive parent, if there is a court
approved safety plan in place.
Taylor, whose parents are divorced, now
lives with his father and grandmother. Taylor's family said that they
do not understand the State's concern. "He's just going to be a big
kid," his father said, "I was the same way." "He's been overweight his
whole life," added Taylor's grandmother, Darlene Bibian. "If weight is
such a worry," she said, they should monitor every fat kid." "This is
Big Brother telling you how to raise your kids. They want to control
his diet, his exercise .. This is ridiculous. This is supposed to be
America?"
The FDCF offered to drop charges if the
family would agree to State oversight of Taylor's health, but the
family declined. The Bibian's claim that they are taking steps to
control Taylor's weight, putting him on a strict diet. They reported to
the judge that Taylor likes raw vegetables and fruit, and that Taylor
also swims and takes tae kwon do. Taylor's father Tony, 24, added that
he was planning to have Taylor checked by a pediatrician since he now
has medical insurance through a new job.
At a recent court proceeding, the State
of Florida called as a witness a doctor who examined Taylor. Although
the doctor said that he was troubled by Taylor's weight and the risk of
future complications, he concluded that the problem was not life
threatening.
Based on the evidence presented, Polk County Judge James Yancey
concluded that there was insufficient justification to allow the FDCF
to intervene and oversee the health and nutrition of Taylor Bibian.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: Association for Practical and professional Ethics
Tribal
Rights
Papua New Guinea, an island nation in the Pacific, became an
independent state twenty two years ago. It has only been a few decades
since the tribes populating remote mountain regions of the island
discovered they are not the only people on Earth. Village life in these
areas still mostly follows ancient tribal traditions. Central to the
tribal way of life, the compensation demanded when members of one clan
kill the leader of another clan includes money, livestock, and a female
clan member. Recently, for the first time in Papua New Guinea, a young
woman, named Miriam Wilngal, refused to go along with the practice,
fleeing instead to the home of relatives in Port Moresby, the capital
of Papua New Guinea, more than three hundred miles from her village.
Papua New Guinea has a legal system alongside of which the customary
ancient tribal law coexists in an uncertain relationship. Ms. Wilngal
went to court, represented by another woman, Ms. Susan Balen, who has
broken with tradition to become a lawyer. Ms. Balen argued that the
traditional tribal law can be challenged if it violates Papua New
Guinea’s democratic constitution. A judge in a court forty
miles from Ms. Wilngal’s village ruled in her favor. The
elders of the aggrieved tribe are furious. They plan to take Ms.
Wilngal’s clan to court, in effect using the modern legal
system to demand their traditional tribal rights.
You are the judge in this case. What is your decision? On what grounds?
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 1998
An Explosive
Dispute
The use of firecrackers is a prominent ritual in many traditional
celebrations of the Chinese New Year. For the past three years,
however, the administration of New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has
refused to allow the setting off of firecrackers in Chinese New Year
celebrations. Citing safety considerations, a spokesperson for the
Mayor's office recently noted an Associated Press report of a
firecracker storage area in China that caught fire, resulting in the
deaths of forty seven people. Opponents of the Giuliani
administration's policy say they simply want to be allowed to use
firecrackers in specially designated areas under close city
supervision. They point out that such procedures are used in large
public fireworks displays on the Fourth of July, which to their
knowledge, have not resulted in any deaths or serious injuries. The
opponents of the firecracker ban emphasize the enormous cultural
significance for many of the Chinese people living in New York City of
celebrating the Chinese New Year in a traditional manner that includes
using firecrackers.
In February of 1998 Mr. Wang Jian, a
twenty eight year old former U.S. Marine, set off a string of
firecrackers on the steps of New York City's City Hall. Seconds later
he walked down the steps and calmly allowed himself to be handcuffed by
police officers who arrested him. Mr. Wang was charged with four
misdemeanor counts, including reckless endangerment and disorderly
conduct, and one count of an administrative code violation,
unreasonable noise. Released on $500 bail, he faced, possibly, up to a
year in prison and a fine of $1,000. "I did it to make a political
statement," said Mr. Wang. "I wanted the politicians to know that the
Chinese will stand up for what they believe in."
Upon his release Mr. Wang received a
hero's reception from many residents of New York's Chinatown. "He did
what many of us didn't have the courage to. …. He is not
only my hero, but a hero for the whole community, said Mr. Thomas Lee,
a businessman who waited in line in a Chinatown restaurant to shake Mr.
Wang's hand shortly after he was released on bail.. Restaurant owners
in New York's Chinatown offered Mr. Wang free meals, local businessmen
offered to contribute money towards his legal defense, and even police
officers showed deference towards him.
Some members of the Chinese community in
New York, however, were critical of Mr. Wang's action. Mr. Richard
Hsueh, President of Chinese American Voice, a radio station in
Flushing, expressed the opinion that Mr. Wang went too far in
expressing his point. "I do not have any problems with a safe legalized
fireworks display, …. But [Mr. Wang] should not have done
what he did, It's dangerous," said Mr. Hsueh.
Mr. Wang said that before setting off
the firecrackers on the steps of New York's City Hall, he made sure the
steps were empty. "Public safety was the most important thing in my
mind that moment," he said.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2000
Socialization
Intra-familial
organ transplants
A 19-year-old woman is being treated for a serious kidney disease. She
is currently on a dialysis machine, but treatment is steadily
decreasing in efficacy. Before her condition declines any further, the
physician suggests family members undergo tests to determine tissue
compatibility to transplant a kidney. Only the brother shows a degree
of compatibility high enough to be considered a candidate. The
physician meets the brother alone to discuss the risks and benefits of
the operation. Although agreeing to be tested, the brother decides not
to donate a kidney after weighing the various alternatives because of
the risks, and because, as he puts it, he doesn't "feel he and his
sister have ever been close enough that they would ever take that kind
of a risk for each other." The physician repeats a full explanation of
the risks involved, and urges him to rethink his decision because of
the serious nature of his sister's illness with increasingly little
time to spare. The brother remains adamant in his refusal. What should
the physician tell his kidney patient?
Author Information
Name: Carole F. Huston
E-mail: huston@acusd.edu
Homepage:
Institution: Department of Communication Studies, University of San
Diego
Web site: http://www.acusd.edu/bulletin/as/Communication.html
Copyright: 1998
Social Interaction in Everyday Life
Racial
Profiling
The tension between civil liberties and national security is posing new
challenges for United States public policy. The events of September 11,
2001 have dramatically affected Arab communities across the nations.
Nearly 1,200 people have been detained by law enforcement agencies on
charges not yet made public. On November 9, the Justice Department
announced that over 5,000 visitors from middle eastern countries would
be contacted in an effort to discover possible ties to the Al-Quaeda
terrorist network. A recent Gallup poll shows that 1 out of 4 Americans
support these unusual measures and believe that some civil liberties
may have to be compromised in order to combat terrorism. On the other
hand, there is growing concern that federal authorities are
over-stepping constitutional bounds and violating the rights of
individuals of Arab ethnicity.
Across the country, local law
enforcement agencies, in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of
Investigation are conducting interviews with Arab individuals. There
interviews range from door to door visits to the mailing of letters
encouraging recipients to schedule appointments at designated law
enforcement offices. According to several police chiefs, these on-going
queries are similar to those used in any standard crime investigation.
According to one federal spokesperson, "These people are not suspects
… they are simply people we want to talk to because they
might have helpful information."
These investigative tactics, however,
have been severely criticized. The American Civil Liberties Union and
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People assert that
targeting persons of a specific ethnicity in criminal investigations is
patently unconstitutional. Several police departments have refused to
collaborate with federal investigators because, they claim, the
procedures violate either state laws or department guidelines. Although
officials from the Immigration and Naturalization Service claim the
interviews are "voluntary," some legal experts feel that the threat of
incarceration may cause some foreigners to believe cooperation is
mandatory, and unwittingly subject themselves to detention.
The question of racial profiling has
lawmakers divided. While the Bush administration is pressing forward
with the counter-terrorism investigation, many members of Congress who
once supported stiff counter-terrorism measures now express misgivings.
An Assistant Attorney General defended the Justice Department's
methods, however, by saying: "I agree we have taken steps here that
represent a departure from what we have done in recent times. We are
not in recent times. Are we being aggressive and hard-nosed? You bet."
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2002
Groups and Organizations
Free
Speech and the Klan
The "Adopt-A-Highway" programs began in Texas in 1985 to enlist the
help of private citizens and organizations to keep highways clean. The
program allows an individual or, more typically, an organization to
take responsibility for cleaning up and beautifying a stretch of
highway that it "adopts." In recognition of this effort, the name of
the organization is posted on a sign along the highway, indicating that
particular stretch of the highway is maintained by that organization.
Similar programs now exist in most other states and have proven to be
an effective way for states to save money and keep highways clean.
In 1994 the Ku Klux Klan submitted an
application for Missouri's "Adopt-A-Highway" program, but was denied on
the grounds that the Klan had a history of violating
anti-discrimination laws and committing violent acts against
individuals from racial minorities. However, the Klan sued, arguing
that Missouri's rejection of its application violated its right to free
speech under the First Amendment. The lower courts ruled in its favor.
Senior U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh, in St. Louis, stated that
"the state unconstitutionally denied the Klan's application based on
the Klan's views." Hence, in November of 2000, signs went up
designating a one-mile stretch of Interstate 55 south of St. Louis as
having been adopted by the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan seemed to have
selected that particular section of I-55 because it is used for bussing
St. Louis Black students to county schools under a court-ordered
desegregation program. In a symbolic response to the KKK, Missouri
passed a bill to name that section of I-55 "Rosa Parks Highway" in
honor of the famous civil rights heroine. (Parks became a symbolic
figure in the civil rights movement after refusing to give up her bus
seat to a white man in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama.)
Missouri's subsequent appeal to the U.S.
Supreme Court was joined by 28 other states arguing that a highway sign
acknowledging the Klan suggests an implicit acceptance of the Klan and
gratitude for its participation. However, forming an unusual alliance,
the Klan found legal representation in the American Civil Liberties
Union. The ACLU attorneys representing the Klan successfully argued
that the First Amendment protects the organization "against those who
would misuse government power to suppress political dissidents."
Attempts have been made in other states
to prohibit the Ku Klux Klan from participating in their
Adopt-A-Highway programs. In 2000, high school students in Palatine,
Illinois adopted all available stretches of highway in order to prevent
the KKK from adopting any section of highway in the state. Maryland's
Anne Arundel County tried a different strategy. When the Klan asked to
participate in its Adopt-A-Highway program, the county took down all 52
of the Adopt-A-Highway signs, rather than allow the Klan to
participate. In Missouri's case, some community leaders are suggesting
that the Adopt-A-Highway program be discontinued altogether.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: Association for Practical and professional Ethics
Non-smoking
Happy
Trails is an adult residential community (neither a hospital nor a
nursing home). As in any community, residents need to accommodate
mutually exclusive needs in a fair manner. Smokers living at the Happy
Trails Retirement and Assisted Care Community insist they have the
right to light up when and where they please in their home, which they
equate with the community. Non-smokers, however, demand the right to
live in a healthy, smoke free environment. One smoking resident noted
that she, like many other residents, purchased her unit in this
particular community in part because it promised "all the comforts of
home." A facility that forbids smoking in most areas, she contends,
does not offer all the comforts of home. Conversely, one non-smoking
resident stated that he, like many other residents, purchased his unit
in part because this particular community was affiliated with a health
care system, and promised a "healthy environment." A smoke-filled
environment is not healthy, he says.
Years ago when some residents purchased
their units, they were free to smoke in the dining room, the library,
the game room, the lobby, and the hallways. Over time, with increased
awareness of the danger of second hand smoke imposed on others
(especially the elderly who are at greater risk for respiratory
disease), more restrictions were imposed. Smoking is now limited to
inside the residents' private units and any out of doors areas on the
property of Happy Trails. However, non-smokers want to breathe fresh
air in the garden and on the front porch, and are demanding further
restrictions that impose greater limitations on the least ambulatory
residents who are increasingly limited in their physical environment.
During a community meeting, residents presented many arguments, and
asserted many claims, on both sides of the issue, including the
following:
- Additional costs of insurance (cigarettes are the number one cause of
fire deaths in the U.S.) and maintenance (more frequent cleaning of
carpets, draperies, and furniture) are borne by all residents, smokers
and non-smokers alike, which is unfair to non-smokers.
- Some residents, non-smokers as well as smokers, engage in behavior
that others find offensive, such as speaking loudly and using
profanity. If smokers are restricted then shouldn't people who engage
in the above kinds of behaviors be restricted as well?
- Smoking is not a choice, but an addiction.
- Smoking is a chosen behavior. People can choose to start and choose
to quit. - Many residents who are adamant about their right to live in
a healthy environment and who are critical of those who choose to
smoke, nonetheless eat unhealthy diets, do not exercise, and are
overweight -- all choices. Shouldn't they be similarly restricted?
- Although a monthly surcharge is assessed upon those who smoke in
their units, several residents don't pay this, saying they only smoke
outside. Yet they "cheat" and smoke in their units, especially in
inclement weather.
- Non-smokers are free to move to other places where the air is not
"offensive." After all smokers have had to remove themselves entirely
from some areas.
- Happy Trails does not have the resources to support separate smoking
and non-smoking public areas.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: Association for Practical and professional Ethics
Sexuality and Society
Inter-sexed
children
According to rough estimates, 1 in every 1000-2000 infants born each
year has ambiguous genitalia. These inter-sexed infants display various
combinations of both female and male genitalia (e.g., an enlarged
clitoris without a vaginal opening and with undescended testes).
According to the American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP), "The birth of a child with ambiguous genitalia
constitutes a social emergency." Parents, understandably, are
distraught, and the AAP notes that both the ambiguity of the child's
sex and the parents' reactions to that ambiguity carry significant
implications for the child's long term well-being. The most acute
quandary is to determine whether the child will be raised as a girl or
boy; in fact, parents are typically advised not to name the child or
register the birth until the child can be assigned a sex.
Typically, genetic evaluations are
undertaken to determine the infant's genetic sex (i.e., whether the
child's chromosomal pattern is XX of XY) and the cause of the sexual
ambiguity. Additional pediatric, urological, endocrinological and
gynecological evaluations determine how best to assign potential
fertility capacity for normal sexual function, endocrine function,
potential for malignant degeneration, and intrauterine testosterone
imprinting. Following sex assignment, surgical interventions are
undertaken to revise the genitalia to conform to the selected sex.
While surgical reconstruction is not
urgently required for medical reasons in most cases, the majority of
pediatricians believe that sex selection should be completed as quickly
as possible. Since parents and other family members, as well as members
of society, interact differently with boys and girls; until the child's
sex is established, say the pediatricians who favor immediate sex
selection, interactions are likely to be stilted, stunted, aberrant,
confusing, or discomfited. In addition to the distress of the parents
and others, say the majority of pediatricians, the child whose sex is
undefined may experience ostracism and suffer from confused
self-identity and self-understanding.
This assumption, and accordingly, the
propriety of early surgical correction, has come under increasing
challenge. Medical ethicists have recently argued that, as
intersexuality is seldom threatening to life or health, the surgery
should be postponed until the person who will be most affected -- the
intersexed individual -- can give autonomous consent. Moreover,
autonomous consent requires a full explanation of burdens and benefits,
the nature of which have yet to be determined. In opposition to the
assumption that early treatment is always in the child's best
interests, intersexed adults have begun to come forward to report
various harmful effects of early surgical intervention. For example,
first-person accounts testify to the pain and loss of trust that arise
upon learning that one's parents and physicians have deceived them
about the nature of one's gender. This loss of trust is often
accompanied by a perception that the deceit stems from embarrassment or
from seeing the intersexed person as a "freak." Further, surgery that
involves reducing the size of a penis or clitoris often results in loss
of sensation and of orgasmic capacity.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage:
http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department
of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Illinois
Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty Associate, Center for the
Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site:
http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: Association
for Practical and professional Ethics
Deviance
Keeping Watch
When the video of a mother apparently repeatedly hitting her child was
flashed across the evening news throughout the United States, viewers
paid close attention to the mom’s actions, but scant
attention was paid to the surveillance camera that recorded the event.
The medium, Marshall McLuhan once wrote, is the message, and the medium
here was the security camera. .Surveillance cameras are everywhere. The
ACLU estimated in 1998 that there were 2,397 surveillance cameras in
public places in Manhattan aloe, and the number has certainly grown
since then. CCS International, a security firm, estimates that the
average New Yorker is recorded about 75 times a day by various
surveillance cameras. These cameras have become increasingly popular in
the schools as well. In Santee, California, at the site of a school
where there had been a shooting several years ago, school officials
have instituted an extensive system of camera monitors that can track
the 2300 students as they move through their day. They are considering
adding face recognition capabilities to the system so that the computer
can automatically detect when people are in places they are not
authorized to be. None of this surveillance is illegal, although the
vast majority of it is in private hands. In addition, much other
surveillance occurs by other means—the logging of phone
calls, automobile navigation systems, log files of internet surfing,
red light traffic cameras, and the like. In the aftermath of the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, demand for surveillance has
increased dramatically, just as opposition to it has decreased as such
opposition came to be seen as unpatriotic. Imagine that you are the
principal legislative advisor on surveillance issues to a U.S. Senator.
The senator plans to introduce legislation establishing the limits of
private surveillance and the rights of the individuals who are the
objects, whether intended or not, of such surveillance. Outline the
main points of your policy recommendation.
Author Information
Name: Lawrence M. Hinman
E-mail:
hinman@sandiego.edu
Homepage:
http://ethics.sandiego.edu/About/editor/index.asp
Institution: University
of San Diego
Web site:
http://ethics.sandiego.edu/
Copyright: Lawrence M.
Hinman 2002
Legalizing
Assassinations
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and
the Pentagon, President Bush announced that the nation was at war, but
emphasized that it is a new kind of war. Unlike traditional acts of
war, these attacks were not the official action of a government, but
rather the work of the terrorist group Al Quaeda, lead by Osama Bin
Laden. To this extent, the attacks seemed more akin to criminal
activity. Nevertheless, the U.S. government took the position that it
would not distinguish between the terrorists involved in the September
11 attacks and the governments that give them refuge. Even though
Afghanistan had no official government (recognized by the United
States) the Taliban, a fundamentalist Muslim group had control over the
people of Afghanistan and functioned as a government. Because it
provided refuge and support to Bin Laden, U.S. military activity was
initiated against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Soon after the terrorist attacks, a
number of U.S. government officials, including Secretary of Defense,
Donald Rumsfeld, proposed a relaxation of policies and guidelines
precluding certain strategies that might strengthen U.S. efforts to
combat terrorism. One such policy is the 1976 Executive Order, issued
by President Gerald Ford, which was intended to prohibit the
assassination of foreign heads of state. The policy, however, is worded
more broadly. It essentially prohibits the use of assassination as a
strategy by the United States Government. Another policy, adopted by
the Central Intelligence Agency in 1995, contains guidelines that place
restrictions on the recruitment of persons with criminal backgrounds.
This restriction was proposed following the revelation that the CIA had
a relationship with Guatemalan military officials who were involved in
series of murders in the early 1990s. Others on the CIA payroll have
included Col. Manuel Contreras, who was believed connected with a car
bombing in Washington that killed former Chilean Foreign Minister,
Orlando Letelier. The apparent motivation behind this policy is that
the U.S. does not want to be seen as condoning or supporting unethical
and illegal activities by enlisting the assistance of those who engage
in such activities.
In response to proposals to lift the ban on assassinations and to relax
CIA policies on the recruitment of informants, the organization Human
Rights Watch wrote a letter to President Bush urging him to maintain
these policies as they are. According to Jonathan Fanton and Kenneth
Roth of Human Rights Watch, relaxing the current policies on
assassination and the CIA recruitment of CIA informants and others with
human rights abuses would "threaten the very values that came under
attack [on September 11], … the basic values we should now
be redoubling our efforts to defend."
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: Association for Practical and professional Ethics
Retaliation
In 1944 it became known to the Free French Partisan fighting forces
that the Germans had executed 80 partisans and planned soon to execute
more. The Partisans thus decided they would shoot 80 Germans prisoners
who had recently surrendered to them. At this point the Red Cross
intervened, won a postponement of the executions, and sought an
agreement from the Germans to treat captured partisans as prisoners of
war, who may not be shot. The Partisans waited 6 days and the Germans
did not reply. The Partisans then shot 80 German prisoners. After these
shootings the Nazis executed no more Partisans.
Was the shooting of the 80 German prisoners by the Partisans morally
justifiable? If so, why? If not, why not?
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 1998
Social Stratification
Native
American Rights
In 1997 the Skull Valley Band of the Goshutes, a small Native American
nation, agreed to store 40,000 metric tons of high-level uranium on its
reservation (60 miles southwest of Salt Lake City) until a permanent
site is opened elsewhere. Utah State officials and environmentalists
adamantly oppose the project. Governor Michael Leavitt reasons that
since Utah has no nuclear reactors, it should not be responsible for
other States' nuclear waste. He also fears that the temporary site
could become a permanent one given the difficulty and expense involved
in transporting nuclear waste to the site.
Leon Bear, a Goshute leader, however, condemns the opposition to the
temporary storage plan of "blatant racism." He says, "Before Utah was
even a State my people signed a treaty with the federal government. We
were granted a small reservation in Skull Valley. During the past fifty
years, the Utah and U.S. governments have built many hazardous-waste
facilities and disposal sites near our reservation, even burying sheep
killed by nerve gas on our tribal lands. Did either government ask for
our permission? Of course not."
For Leon Bear, opposing the temporary storage project is tantamount to
denying the Goshutes the right to pursue financial prosperity. Few
economic opportunities exist on the reservation, and the project will
provide desperately needed income. The estimated cost of the project
exceeds $3 billion, and, although the Goshute's remuneration is
confidential, sources predict that each tribal member should receive
$100,000 at a minimum, and, possibly, as much as $2,000,000.
The
agreement marks a significant shift in tribal leaders attitudes toward
the environment and nuclear waste. In 1992 leaders wrote: "European
Americans must re-examine their lifestyles and ask how we can co-exist
with the environment. They must understand, as Chief Seattle warned
over a century ago, that man is only a strand in the web of life."
Support for the project within the tribe is not unanimous, however.
Margene Bullcreek, who lives three miles from the proposed site,
believes that the repository is inconsistent with traditional Indian
respect for the land. "It's about being in harmony with our creator,
and showing Him we do not wish to spoil His gift to us," she says.
Despite the widespread opposition to the Skull Valley repository, plans
continue to move ahead. In May 2000, Governor Leavitt conceded that the
State of Utah may not have legal authority to stop the project in
virtue of the 1863 treaty between the Goshutes and the federal
government which gave the tribe sovereignty over its traditional land,
which includes Skull Valley.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2001
The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion
You are the Principal of Pleasantville High School, located in an area
twenty-five miles from the center of a large Midwestern city.
Originally semi-rural, the area has undergone rapid growth and social
change over the past two decades. Completion of a major expressway has
brought high tech growth and large numbers of engineers, scientists,
and other professional people with extremely diverse ethnic and
religious backgrounds.
Ahmed Said, a student at Pleasantville
High School, browses the shelves of the school library one day in
search of sources for his history paper on the historical roots of the
Arab-Israeli conflict. His eyes fall upon a volume entitled "The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion” which he looks over and
decides to check out. The next day at school he tells other students
about the contents of the book. A Jewish student, David Greenburg,
overhears Ahmed's description of The Protocols and tells his parents
about it.
Deeply disturbed, David's parents
contact the B'nai Brith Anti Defamation League (ADL), a group devoted
to combating anti-Semitism). After verifying that Pleasantville High
School's library in fact has a shelf copy of The Protocols of the
Elders of Zion, the ADL lodges a furiously angry protest with the
Principal of Pleasantville High School (i.e. yourself). You, in turn,
investigate the situation and learn the following. It appears that in
the early years of the high school, when it opened in the late 1960's,
there was an assistant school librarian with anti-Semitic inclinations
who worked for the high school only a short time before being let go
for unsatisfactory work. This individual, however, during her short
tenure, had the responsibility of ordering books, and it is believed
that, without authorization, she had The Protocols of the Elders of
Zion purchased by the library.
*The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is
a notorious tract of anti-Semitic propaganda, widely used to stir up
anti Semitic passions in Europe in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth century. Purporting to be the manifesto of a tightly knit
Jewish conspiracy bent on dominating the world, The Protocols is a
fraud, in all likelihood, the work of secret police in czarist Russia
during the late nineteenth century, who wanted to provoke widespread
anti-Semitic violence against Russian Jews.
Author
Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage:
http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department
of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Illinois
Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty Associate, Center for the
Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site:
http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2001
Social Class in the United States
Financial
Aid
Until 1993 Carleton College, in Northfield, Minnesota, did not take a
student’s ability to pay tuition and living expenses into
account in making admissions decisions. That year, however, Carleton
changed its policy. It adopted a system, now used by numerous other
colleges and universities, under which the college admits as many
students without looking at need as its financial aid budget allows,
offering these students enough money to attend. When the aid budget is
exhausted Carleton then only admits students who need a grant of $2,000
or less to pay the $25,610 that, at this time, a person needs to cover
tuition and living expense costs at Carleton. Under this policy,
Carleton took a student’s ability to pay into account for the
final 5% of admitted students in 1994, and for the final 9% in 1995 and
1996. At the time Carleton changed its policy the financial aid budget
comprised one fifth of the school’s annual expenditures, and
the budget for financial aid had increased 38% from the previous year.
Is Carleton’s policy fair or unfair? Explain your answer.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 1998
Money and
Friendship
Shawn and Kevin, two young men in their mid-twenties, have been close
friends since they met during their college years. They share numerous
similar interests and greatly enjoy each other's company. Kevin
gratefully acknowledges to himself that Shawn has been a fine friend in
every respect that counts. Shawn has listened patiently, and responded
empathetically, on the many occasions Kevin sought him out to talk
about major issues in his life concerning, for example, school plans,
job opportunities, or romantic matters. Shawn has always been there
when Kevin needed encouragement. He has provided assistance unselfishly
in large and small matters - e.g. lending Kevin his car when Kevin's
broke down, several times helping Kevin move his belongings from one
apartment to another, and putting up Kevin's relatives from out of town
when Kevin didn't have room for them at this apartment. This is not to
say, however, that the friendship has been one sided in any way. Kevin
has provided similar kinds of support, encouragement, and assistance to
Shawn over the years. Kevin does not view all the things he and Shawn
have done for one another as at all like a sequence of quid pro quos,
but instead (although Kevin has never consciously stated the point in
this way to himself) he views the deep reciprocity between Shawn and
himself as flowing organically from the nature of their friendship.
Shawn, who has written a number of short
stories and poems, has been working on his first novel for the past two
years. Kevin is well aware of Shawn's first major literary project and
fully supports it, in the sense of considering it a highly worthwhile
thing for Shawn to do. Several weeks ago Shawn learned about a small
house in a quiet semi-rural outer suburban area. He believes the house
would provide an ideal working environment for him.
Recently Shawn has asked Kevin to loan
him $5,000 for the down payment on the house. The request takes Kevin
by surprise. Over the years of their friendship neither Kevin nor Shawn
has asked the other for a loan until now. Monetary affairs have not
played a significant role in their relationship as friends, either
directly or indirectly. Kevin and Shawn both grew up in families where
discussion of personal financial issues outside of the family was
disapproved of strongly. For this reason, both Kevin and Shawn seldom,
if ever, discuss their personal finances with each other.
Kevin, who works as a project manager
for a large engineering firm, can afford to loan the money to Shawn. He
(Kevin) is not sure, however, exactly how Shawn plans to repay the loan
on his salary as manager of a small bookstore. Kevin feels acutely
uncomfortable raising issues with Shawn such as how he plans to repay
the loan, what might be a reasonable repayment schedule, and so forth.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2000
Global Stratification
www.cashforbirthcontrol.com
The State child welfare systems across the United States are
overflowing with abused and neglected children. A large proportion of
the children taken into the system are born to drug addicted mothers.
Such, so-called "substance exposed" infants often suffer cognitive
deficits, psychological and behavioral disorders, and chronic health
problems. Such problems are substantial barriers to the well-being of
these children and often significantly limit their opportunities. For
instance, because of these problems it is notoriously difficult to find
adoptive homes for substance-exposed infants. Families realize that
adopting such a child will likely bring ongoing disruption to their
homes, increased health care expenses and an overall uphill battle.
What is worse, because non-infants are more difficult to place than
infants, such children become harder and harder to place as they grow
older. In reality, most of these children grow up in the child welfare
system, victims of "foster care drift," i.e. being transferred from
foster home to foster home. This reality costs society millions of
dollars, but worse, it brings harm to children.
The traditional ways of addressing this
problem have focused on treating drug addiction as well as encouraging
families to consider adopting state wards. A more radical alternative
has been proposed by an organization known as Children Requiring a
Caring Kommunity, "C.R.A.C.K." With chapters and representatives across
the Untied States, the basic premise is captured by C.R.A.C.K.'s web
page address, www.cashforbirthcontrol.com. Crack offers $200 for any
drug addicted woman who is willing to undergo long-term or permanent
birth control. The organization's primary goal is to prevent drug
addicts from giving birth to children that may have the deficits and
disadvantages mentioned above and, in so doing, reduce the size and
cost of public child welfare systems. While some argue that
C.R.A.C.K.is unethical because it exploits the vulnerability and
desperation of marginally competent or incompetent women, among
C.R.A.C.K.'s supporters is radio talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger.
"Some organizations just need me to mention them; others just need my
money. I felt this was an organization that not only needed my money
but my name too", said Schlessinger.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2001
Gender Stratification
Equal Opportunity
Harassment
Sexual harassment law was originally drafted in order to protect women
from sexual pressure and unwanted attention from men, including what
was called a “hostile work environment.” When men
continually make lewd comments, tell off-color jokes, and the like, the
create a situation that women—according to the original
thinking on this issue—find very uncomfortable. The
assumption was that such behavior would make women uncomfortable but
not men. Underlying this was an assumption that women were more
vulnerable than men.
However, in recent years a number of
complaints have been brought forth by men against other
men—cases where men have felt sexually harassed by other men,
even though everyone involved was heterosexual. (Harassment against
individuals because they are gay or lesbian is not covered by this
law.) At a car dealership in Colorado, for example, the sales managers
typically referred to salesmen as “little girls”
and “whores,” and they would often denigrate the
salesmen by asking them questions such as, “Do you still use
tampons?” It was not uncommon for the managers to grope at
the genitals of the male salespersons, primarily in order to make them
feel uncomfortable. In that case, ten salesmen filed a joint suit
against the car dealership, eventually winning a $500,000 settlement
and the promise that the dealership would implement sexual harassment
training.. The Supreme Court eventually ruled on this issue in a case
involving Joseph Oncale, a man who worked on an offshore oil rig who
had suffered similar kinds of sexual treatment at the hands of his
co-workers on the oil rig. The Supreme Court found that the harassment
was so severe as to have a significant impact on his work experience.
Furthermore, the Court found that only men were exposed to this
harassment. Thus Oncale could be said to have suffered because of his
gender.
A key requirement here is that the
harassment had to occur because of the individual’s
sex—hence, one sex had to be treated differently than the
other. This had a paradoxical implication: if the same despicable
behavior were directed toward men and women alike, it would not count
as sexual harassment, since the harassed is not being singled out
because of his sex. In fact several lower court decisions upheld this
line of reasoning, dismissing suits against offensive bosses because
they were shown to be offensive to all, not just me or not just women.
Question: Should sexual harassment law cover same sex- heterosexual
sexual harassment? Why or why not? What implications does your answer
have for our understanding of the concept of sexual harassment?
Author Information
Name: Lawrence M. Hinman
E-mail: hinman@sandiego.edu
Homepage: http://ethics.sandiego.edu/About/editor/index.asp
Institution: University of San Diego
Web site: http://ethics.sandiego.edu/
Copyright: Lawrence M. Hinman 2002
Blood
Donations from Gay Men
Recently the FDA voted narrowly (7-6) to continue a ban on gay men
donating blood that it imposed in 1985. Dr. F. Blaine Hollinger, Chair
of the FDA Blood Products Advisory Committee said, however:
"Personally, I'm very open to a change. It's discriminatory. We have to
see all the data first. If it can be done without changing the safety
of the blood supply, it ought to be done."
Gay activists argue that the ban unfairly discriminates against gay
men. They note that a heterosexual woman who has had sex with an AIDS
infected partner may donate after a year. Similarly, promiscuous
heterosexuals are also at risk for HIV infection, but are not prevented
from donating blood. Jeffrey Haviland, a gay man who once lied in order
to donate blood argues, "The question should not be, 'Are you
homosexual,' [but] 'What risk factors have you engaged in?'"
New
testing procedures have increased the likelihood of detecting HIV in
donated blood. Ten years ago, tests searched for HIV antibodies, which
take as long as a year to appear. Now tests use nucleic acids, which
can detect tiny amounts of virus even before antibodies emerge - as
early as eleven days after infection.
However,
some blood experts worry that easing the ban could result in an
increased in the number of HIV infected donations. Dr. Michael Bush, UC
San Francisco, said, "The tests are not perfect. And even though they
are very good --- there remains a small but significant rate of test
error." In fact, each year approximately 10 HIV infected units of blood
(of 12 million units donated) escape detection and result in 2-3 cases
of HIV infection. Put another way, each year one in every 675,000
people who receive blood donations nationwide receives HIV infected
blood.
If the lifetime ban were changed to a five year ban, an estimated
62,300 men who have had sex with men would be eligible to donate. If
the lifetime ban were changed to a one year ban, an estimated 112,000
previously ineligible man could give blood. This information comes at a
time when the nation's blood banks are increasingly short of donors.
The National Blood Data Resource Center predicts that in 2001 demand
will exceed supply by 200,000 units.
Nonetheless,
the American Red Cross recommends retaining the ban, contending that
the increased benefit is not worth the very small increased risk of HIV
infection. The Red Cross insists that gay men are not singled out
unfairly. Any group posing a risk to blood recipients, says the Red
Cross, is restricted -- e.g. IV drug users, prostitutes, and persons
with infectious diseases, such as hepatitis. Other blood bank
organizations disagree, however. In this regard there is approximately
an even split on the issue among blood bank organizations.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage:
http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department
of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Illinois
Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty Associate, Center for the
Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site:
http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2001
Race and Ethnicity
The
Hurricane: Truth and Fiction
In 1967 Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, then a strong contender for the
middleweight boxing championship, was convicted with a co-defendant,
Mr. John Artis, of murdering a bartender and two patrons in a sudden
attack of gunfire on a tavern in Patterson, New Jersey. After a twenty
year legal struggle, Mr. Carter and Mr. Artis had their convictions
overturned. This struggle is the subject of a recent film entitled The
Hurricane, starring Denzel Washington, and directed by Norman Jewison.
At the trial of Mr. Carter and Mr. Artis in 1967 the prosecution
introduced no motive. The only witnesses who testified for the
prosecution were two petty criminals, who admitted to having committed
a burglary near the scene of the crime, and claimed to see Mr. Carter
and Mr. Artis emerge from the scene of the crime holding guns.
Sentenced to life imprisonment, Mr. Carter undertook relentless efforts
to overturn the conviction. In 1973 he was able to secure the help of a
lawyer in the New Jersey Public Defender's Office and a free lance
journalist, who continued the search for evidence. In 1974 the
attorney, and a reporter for the New York Times tracked down the two
petty criminals, who separately recanted their testimony, claiming they
had been pressured into it by the prosecutors. Mr. Carter's case became
an international cause celebrety, with Bob Dylan writing and performing
a
song about it.
The New Jersey Supreme Court overturned
Mr. Carter's and Mr. Artis' convictions. After only ninety days of
freedom, however, in 1976 the prosecution brought the case to trial
again, this time contending that Mr. Carter and Mr. Artis, who are both
African-American, had been motivated by racial vengeance. The murders
in the tavern had occurred only shortly after an African-American
tavern owner in Patterson, New Jersey had been killed by a white
assailant. One of the petty criminals from the original trial took the
stand again and recanted his recantation. Mr. Carter and Mr. Artis were
reconvicted and returned to prison.
Although the international attention to
the case faded, the lawyers who represented Mr. Carter and Mr. Artis at
the second trial continued to work on their behalf for over ten years
without pay, eventually unearthing key evidence that the prosecution
had suppressed at the second trial. During this period a commune of
social activists from Canada became interested in Mr. Carter's case and
established communication with him. The commune members provided Mr.
Carter important emotional, moral, and financial support to continue
the struggle to gain his freedom. In 1985, after nine years of
unsuccessful appeals in State court, Mr. Carter's attorneys persuaded a
federal judge to overturn Mr. Carter's and Mr. Artis' convictions. In
1988 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision of the federal judge.
Film makers have always taken dramatic license by simplifying history,
and even conflating characters and events for narrative purposes, while
striving to retain the essential truth with respect to the subject
matter of a film. This is often difficult. In The Hurricane Mr.
Carter's and Mr. Artis' two trials are compressed into a brief
courtroom scene. No mention is made of the testimony of the two petty
criminals. The film leaves Mr. Artis almost completely out of the story
even though, in reality, with great moral heroism, he defiantly
rejected an offer to avoid a long prison sentence by falsely
incriminating Mr. Carter. The Hurricane depicts members of the Canadian
commune as uncovering vital evidence. In reality, although the commune
members did useful para-legal work, as noted above, Mr. Carter's
attorneys unearthed the critical evidence that lead to the setting
aside in federal court of Mr. Carter's and Mr. Artis' convictions. In
The Hurricane there is a racist detective intent on keeping Mr. Carter
behind bars, who, in one dramatic scene, almost succeeds in causing the
deaths of several commune members. All of this was purely fictitious.
There was no actual person corresponding to the racist detective in the
film.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2000
Conflicting
Rights
In Alaska about half of the State's native population of 100,000 people
live partially or entirely off the land. Several thousand Alaskan
Native Americans depend upon fishing, hunting, and gathering for more
than ninety per-cent of their food supply. About two thirds of Alaska's
lands are owned by the federal government but managed by the State. In
the summer of 1999 U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt announced that
the federal government would take over the allocation of fishing rights
in federally owned sections of Alaska unless the State legislature
agreed by October 1, 1999 upon an amendment to the State Constitution
which would guarantee a "subsistence priority" in times of shortage to
native peoples who live primarily off the land in Alaska. The State
legislature was unable to reach agreement upon such an Amendment by
October 1.
Title VIII of the Alaska Natural
Interest Lands Conservation Act, which Congress passed in 1980,
contained a provision which assured that in years of low yield Native
American Alaskans who live off the land would have priority rights in
regard to fishing and hunting. About ten years ago the Supreme Court of
Alaska ruled that this provision violates Alaska's State Constitution.
Since that time the federal government has urged the State to change
its Constitution. This past summer Secretary Babbitt expressed
disappointment that the State legislature had not yet brought the issue
before voters, and announced it was time for the federal government to
act.
Subsistence fishing and hunting involve
two to three per-cent of the State's fish and game annually, and the
issue of allocating priority rights arises only every few years, when
fish run low in some streams or caribou herds thin. Nonetheless, the
issue is complicated. In some cases streams have been closed off for
weeks to everyone except subsistence fishermen, which not only upsets
those who fish for sport, but also can make the difference between
profit and loss for some commercial fishing operations. There are also
issues of who qualifies as a subsistence fisherman or hunter. Some
non-native Alaskans live off the land, and many Native Americans
Alaskans live in Anchorage or Fairbanks, where they shop in
supermarkets and eat at McDonalds. Even the Native Americans who depend
upon fishing, hunting, and gathering for ninety per-cent of their food
supply commonly own motorboats, snowmobiles, and satellite television
dishes.
The issue of allocating priority rights
has elicited strong emotional responses throughout Alaska. In the words
of George Irvine, Director of the Alaskan Federation of Natives: "This
is not 19th century history here, some historical injustice we can do
nothing about today. These are the last aboriginal Americans still
striving to live as they always have, on their homelands. There has to
be room in the American system for them to survive." On the other side
of the issue, the Alaskan Outdoors Council, a group representing
sportsman and sportswomen, of whom many were born in Alaska, decries as
"special rights legislation" the efforts to establish priority fishing
and hunting rights for native peoples in the State.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2000
Aging and the Elderly
A
Matter of Principle
In early 1982 Ms. Corrine Worthen, a registered nurse, protested
against assignment to perform kidney dialysis upon a terminally ill
patient who was a double amputee. She notified her head nurse that she
"had moral, medical, and philosophical objections" against doing so.
Prior to her protest Ms. Worthen had performed the procedure on the
patient and twice had to interrupt it because the patient suffered
cardiac arrest and severe hemorrhaging. Convinced that the procedure
was more harmful than beneficial to the patient, Ms. Worthen asked to
be reassigned. The head nurse granted her request.
Several months later, however, Ms.
Worthen again was called upon to dialyze the patient. She objected,
stating that she thought she had worked out an agreement not to be
given this assignment. The head nurse referred Ms. Worthen to the
treating physician who informed her that the patient's family wanted
the patient kept alive, and that the patient would soon cease to live
without dialysis. Nonetheless, Ms. Worthen said she refused to dialyze
the patient anymore. The head nurse then warned her that she would be
fired if she continued in her refusal. Ms. Worthen continued to refuse
to dialyze the patient, and she was terminated.
The Code of Professional Ethics for
Nurses, that applied to Ms. Worthen at the time she was fired,
contained a provision with the following words:
1.4 THE
NATURE OF HEALTH PROBLEMS
The
nurse's respect for the worth and dignity of the individual human being
applies irrespective of the nature of the health problem. It is
reflected in the care
given the
person who is disabled as well as the normal, the patient with the
long-term illness as well as the one with acute illness, or the
recovering patient as well
as the one who is terminally ill or
dying. ….
If personally opposed to the delivery of
care in a particular case because of the nature of the health problem
or the procedures to be used, the nurse is justified in refusing to
participate. Such refusal should be made known in advance and in time
for other appropriate arrangements to be made for the client's nursing
care. If the nurse must knowingly enter such a case under emergency
circumstances or enters unknowingly, the obligation to provide the best
possible care is observed. The nurse withdraws from this kind of
situation only when assured that alternative sources of nursing care
are available to the client.
Ms Worthen sued the hospital for terminating her and lost.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage:
http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department
of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Illinois
Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty Associate, Center for the
Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site:
http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2000
The Economy and Work
Columbia Motors' Foreign
Investment
You are on a board of directors of Columbia Motors. CM is considering
putting a new plant in a foreign country. The people in that country
consist of three basic groups, the Settlers, the Immigrants and the
Natives. The Settlers are descendants of people who came to this
country several hundred years ago. They have most of the economic
wealth and political power. Almost all the people in the universities
are Settlers. The Immigrants moved to this country about a century ago.
They have set up small businesses and established their own small
colleges and trade schools so they can practice the professions within
their communities. The Immigrants have a small amount of political
power. The Natives are the original occupants of the country. They do
most of the manual jobs in the country. Their education system is very
basic, and they have very little political power. Each group lives in
its own neighborhood, and there is very little interaction among the
people, except for the Immigrants or Natives who work for the Settlers.
Each group funds its own social services, such as schools and
hospitals.
If CM sets up this plant, what should its policies be towards:
1) Workplace facilities,
such as cafeterias, rest rooms, locker rooms and recreation areas;
2) Pay scales;
3) Availability of
training programs for more skilled positions in the plant;
4) Promotion policies;
5) Benefits programs,
such as health coverage or tuition reimbursement;
6) Charitable donations
to community projects (CM likes to make charitable contributions in the
countries in which it has plants);
How would you present
these policies to the foreign country's authorities who will decide
whether to issue the permits to build and operate the plant?
Author Information
Name: Mary Gilbertson
E-mail: gilberts@lasalle.edu
Homepage:
Institution: La Salle University
Web site: http://www.lasalle.edu/
Copyright: 2006
Choosing Lots
You are the members of the board of the regional transit authority.
Your jurisdiction covers five counties, four of which are mostly
suburban, and one county that is urban. The authority badly needs a new
bus terminal with bus garage, since the population has grown in both
the city and the suburbs. There are new jobs in the city as well as in
the suburbs, and the authority wants to provide transportation,
especially so people from poorer neighborhoods can get to the new jobs
in the suburbs by public transit.
The authority has the power, as a government agency, to take property
by "eminent domain." This means that the owner is required to sell the
property to the government, but the owner is paid fair market value.
Lot A, the first lot could be purchased for $1000 an acre. Lot B, the
second lot, would probably go for $5000 an acre. Lot C, the last lot,
would go for $10,000 an acre.
The people near Lot A (inner city) claim that they are being
discriminated against because they are poor, and they are tired of the
city dumping bus garages, sewage plants and trash disposal plants in
their neighborhood. The people living near Lot A include many recent
immigrants.
The people near Lot B (edge of city) say that they have worked hard
over the past decades to revitalize their neighborhood and turn it into
a family-oriented, middle class area. Crime is down, home ownership and
property values are up, and they want only clean businesses in the
area. There are also many small businesses that have been here for
decades that could not successfully re-locate elsewhere.
The people near Lot C (suburbs) said that they paid good money to
invest in homes in a wealthy area with little pollution, traffic and
noise. There are some office parks nearby in which the companies need
more clerical and custodial workers. The people near Lot C have hired
an expensive law firm and said they'll take this to court for years.
They stalled a freeway bypass for fifteen years this way.
There are no other possible lots. Which one should the authority choose
to take by eminent domain and why? Also, could such a
decision help/hurt the area economy and how?
Author
Information
Name: Mary Gilbertson
E-mail: gilberts@lasalle.edu
Homepage:
Institution: La Salle University
Web site: http://www.lasalle.edu/
Copyright: 2006
Politics and Government
Sam
and the Governor’s Clemency Panel
Fifty years ago Sam was one of three students who went to their high
school, Madison High, and started shooting with automatic weapons.
Fourteen students and a teacher were killed. Many other students were
injured, including one girl who was paralyzed for life. Sam's two
accomplices committed suicide at the school. Sam was caught and tried
as an adult, as he'd turned eighteen the week before. Although the
prosecutor wanted the death penalty, Sam got life in prison without
parole from the jury.
A half a century later, Sam has asked the governor to commute his
sentence to time served. Although Sam's sentence means he can't get
parole from the prison system's parole board, a governor (or president)
has an historical power to change sentences, such as commuting a death
sentence to life in prison, releasing people for time served, and
pardoning. (A pardon erases the whole conviction.)
Sam says he doesn't want a pardon, but that after fifty years, he is no
threat to society, and is a changed person. He says he is no longer the
eighteen-year-old kid that committed the crime. He argues that he is a
harmless sixty-eight year old man who deeply regrets what happened, but
who has changed so much and experienced so much that he simply is "not
the person who committed the crime."
The survivors and the victim's families have objected to any change in
Sam's sentence. They think that "Life means life," and a life sentence
should be exactly that. The paralyzed woman died ten years after the
attack, and her family argues that Sam should have a "life sentence"
just like she did. They say Sam may look different and say he's sorry,
but the jury's sentence should remain if people are to have faith in
the judicial system.
You are sitting on a panel appointed by the governor to review Sam's
request to be released. Explain your choice.
Author Information
Name: Mary Gilbertson
E-mail: gilberts@lasalle.edu
Homepage:
Institution: La Salle University
Web site: http://www.lasalle.edu/
Copyright: 2006
Privacy
of Abortion Clinic Records
In May, 2002, workers in a county garbage sorting center in Storm Lake,
a small town in Iowa made a gruesome discovery: the body of a newborn
boy, which had been dismembered by the sorting machines. The body was
so damaged that identification of the body was impossible.
Police officials reasoned that the child
had been abandoned in a dumpster at birth, probably by the mother.
Unable to determine the baby’s identity, the police decided
to see if there were any women who had been pregnant and now were not
pregnant but did not have a baby. The first step in this process was to
identify all the women who have been pregnant at the appropriate time
in this same town of 10,000 residents. Police subpoenaed the records of
Planned Parenthood to obtain the names of women who had received
positive results on pregnancy tests in the previous nine months.
Planned Parenthood refused to comply
with the subpoena, arguing that a woman’s decision about her
pregnancy is among the most private of matters. Those who came to
Planned Parenthood to determine whether they were pregnant ought to not
be subjected, nine months later, to police officers knocking on their
doors and asking details about the outcome of their pregnancy. They
also point out that there is no guarantee that the woman even got a
pregnancy test or that she was a local resident, so the search of the
records could turn out to be futile.
Question: Should Planned Parenthood be
forced to turn over to the police the records of women who tested
positive for pregnancy? Why or why not? What are the competing
considerations in this case? Why does one outweigh the other?
At what point should authorities not be able to open private
documents concerning a case like this?
Author Information
Name: Lawrence M. Hinman
E-mail: hinman@sandiego.edu
Homepage: http://ethics.sandiego.edu/About/editor/index.asp
Institution: University of San Diego
Web site: http://ethics.sandiego.edu/
Copyright: Lawrence M. Hinman 2002
Oprah Speaks
Out-What's the Beef?
Oprah Winfrey is currently being sued by a group of cattle ranchers
from Amarillo, Texas under a newly enacted Texas statute that creates
legal liability for questioning a perishable food’s safety
without “sound scientific proof.” Twelve other
states have enacted similar laws. Oprah’s case, however, is
the first of its kind. On April 16, 1996 the price of cattle dropped a
dramatic 1.5 cents per pound on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange after
Oprah’s program that day. The program, which occurred during
the time that the British “mad cow” epidemic broke
as big news, dealt with the safety of American beef. Oprah’s
guest, a former cattle rancher turned vegetarian, claimed that large
numbers of cows that are “fine at night, dead in the
morning” get ground and fed to other animals. According to
the cattle ranchers who sued Oprah there is no evidence of mad cow
disease in the United States. They protest that the “Oprah
crash” on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange resulted in
devastating financial loss for cattle ranchers.
Is the Texas
Statute under which the cattle ranchers have sued Oprah Winfrey a
reasonable law to protect the legitimate financial interests of food
producers or does it encroach upon the fundamental right of free
speech?
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of
Technology (IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and
Faculty Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions
(IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 1998
Families
Responsibilities after
Divorce
Elmer donated a pint of blood that his wife Doris needed during
operation. Elmer and Doris were subsequently divorced. Several years
after the divorce Elmer was in an accident and needed a pint of blood.
His new wife, Cora, was of a different blood type, and thus could not
contribute blood to Elmer. Doris still lived in the same area as Elmer,
and there were no health-related reasons that would have prevented her
from donating blood.
Was Doris morally obligated to donate a pint of blood to Elmer;
“Yes,” “No,” or “It
depends”? Whatever your response explain the reasoning behind
it.
Author
Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage:
http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department
of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Illinois
Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty Associate, Center for the
Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site:
http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 1998
Marital
Equity
Recently Lorna J. Wendt turned down a $10 million divorce settlement
from her husband of thirty one years, Gary C. Wendt, the CEO of General
Electric, whose net worth may be as much as $100 million. She argued
that helping put her husband through Harvard Business School, and then
taking on the role of a corporate executive?s wife, which involved, in
her case, playing hostess at business parties, organizing charity
events, relocating on very short notice, and listening patiently to
tales of office woes, were investments that entitle her to one half of
Mr. Wendt?s fortune. While a 50?50 settlement is common practice in
divorce cases, American courts generally will not award a wife one half
when more than 10 or 15 million dollars is at stake. Instead, the wife
is awarded an amount that enables her to live in the style to which she
has become accustomed. Martha Fineman, a Columbia University law
professor who testified at divorce proceedings for Ms. Wendt, says that
a decision against Ms. Wendt ?would say that [women?s] typical
contributions to a marriage are not valued.? Mr. Wendt says, ?she (Ms.
Wendt) was not responsible for my success ??this is about who created
and preserved the assets.?
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 1998
Religion
Siamese Twins
An anonymous couple from Malta traveled to
England this past year for a
complicated delivery of their Siamese twin daughters, Jodie and Mary,
who were born on August 8, 2000, joined at the abdomen and with a fused
spine. Doctors soon determined that unless the twins were surgically
separated both would die. Mary, the weaker twin, whose brain was
underdeveloped, would never be able to survive separated from Jodie.
Jodie, who was strong and alert, had an 80-90% chance of dying if
surgery was not performed. She had a good chance of surviving in the
event of surgery, although, in all likelihood she would be severely
handicapped and need medical attention throughout her life. In similar
cases in the past, the surviving twin has sometimes died within six
months of surgery. In other cases neither twin survives. The medical
team at St Mary's Hospital, to which the twins were taken, had never
done a successful separation of Siamese twins.
When the medical team suggested surgical separation, the Parents, who
were Roman Catholic, refused on religious and moral grounds to give
their consent. The Hospital went to court, pleading that life-saving
surgery was in Jodie's best interest, and that saving one of the twins
would be morally preferable to losing both. The presiding judge
acknowledged the court's duty "to put the welfare of each child
paramount," but, nonetheless, concluded that Jodie's right to life
outweighed Mary's, thus ruling in favor of the Hospital.
The Parents appealed the decision of the court. In support of the
Parents' position, Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, head of the
Catholic Church of England and Wales, submitted a statement to the
court of appeals in which he said:
[T]hough the duty to preserve life is a
serious duty, no such duty exists when the only available means of
preserving life involves a grave injustice. In this case,
if what is envisaged
is the killing of, or a deliberate lethal assault on, one of the twins,
Mary, in order to save the other, Jodie, then there is a grave
injustice
involved.
Despite the objections of the Parents
and the Archbishop, the court of appeals ruled that the surgery should
go forward. On November 7, 2000 a team of twenty
surgeons,
nurses, and technicians at St. Mary's Hospital performed the 20 hour
surgery that would result in the death of Mary and give Jodie a chance
to live.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage:
http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department
of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Illinois
Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty Associate, Center for the
Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site:
http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright:
2001
Education
SAT exams and Affirmative
Action
The University of California system is considering a proposal to
eliminate the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) as an application
requirement for admission to any of its member institutions. The main
proponent of this change is the University of California system's
President, Richard C. Atkinson. One important reason for Atkinson's
proposal is the dramatic decrease in minority enrollment after a 1995
decision to bar the use of affirmative action in the system's admission
decisions. According to the National Center for Fair & Open
Testing, the two main University of California institutions, UC
Berkeley and U.C.L.A., suffered the most dramatic reduction of minority
admissions. At U.C. Berkeley, the number of minorities admitted was
less than half of the number for the previous year (prior to the
elimination of the affirmative action admission criteria). At U.C.L.A.,
the decline was more than one third. For all eight schools in the
University of California system the total of African Americans accepted
decreased by 17 percent and Chicanos/Latinos by 7 percent.
Many, including Atkinson, identify the SAT as the primary reason for
low minority acceptance rates in the university system. Said Atkinson,
"I do worry about the diversity of our student body, and I think the
SAT is really brutally hard on underrepresented minorities and students
who come from low-income families." According to critics of the SAT,
the exam is skewed in favor of higher-income families since such
students are able to enroll in expensive SAT preparation courses. In
place of the current admissions criteria that, according to Atkinson,
depend too heavily on SAT scores, Atkinson proposes a more "holistic"
set of admission criteria that would emphasize not only academic
achievement, such as grades, but also other kinds of achievement.
Additionally, Atkinson suggests a greater reliance on tests, such as
the SAT 2 (previously known as the achievement tests), that measure
competence in specific subject areas. Atkinson notes, in this regard, a
study showing that the SAT, in combination with the SAT 2 and
grade-point averages was not a significantly better predictor of
college success than just the SAT 2 in combination with high school
grade-point averages.
Many who admit the limitations of the SAT view it, nonetheless, as a
useful tool for admission decisions. For instance, while the difficulty
of the curriculum may vary significantly from high school to high
school, the SAT allows universities to compare applicants uniformly on
the basis of one and the same test. For this reason, many critics of
Atkinson's proposal see the SAT as providing an element of fairness by
offsetting unfair and misleading grade-point comparisons. There is also
concern, especially at the more prestigious UC institutions, such as
Berkeley, that eliminating the SAT may lead to admitting under-prepared
students and eventually lower academic standards. University of
California Academic Senate Chair, Michael Cowan, remarks that although
"faculty seem sympathetic to exploring ways of attracting a wider array
of students (they) want to make sure that nothing is done that would
lower quality."
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2002
“Not on our network,
you can’t…” Downloading
unauthorized files at colleges and universities
At many college and universities in the United States, internet
connections began to slow perceptibly in 2002 as more and more students
were downloading music and movies, often files that were pirated or
that they were otherwise unauthorized to download. In some cases, as
much as seventy-five percent of a university’s bandwidth is
being taken up with file swapping.
Two distinct issues became intertwined: the size and frequency of the
downloads was sufficient to clog college and university networks, often
interfering directly with the academic concerns that are primary to the
mission of the educational institutions. In addition, students were
often downloading files that they were not permitted to
download—and were making use of the university’s
internet connection to do so.
Administrators have reacted in various ways to this worsening
situation. Some have added more bandwidth, often just to see it gobbled
up as well. Others have been alerted by companies who felt their rights
had been violated. For example, Warner Brothers contacted one college
to inform them that one of their students had illegally downloaded a
copy of a new Clint Eastwood movie. The Naval Academy, which has a
strict honor code that prohibits stealing as well as cheating,
confiscated nearly one hundred computers with unauthorized downloaded
material on them. Cornell disciplined over fifty students for
unauthorized downloading. Other institutions have treated the issue
purely as a technical one and explored technical solutions such as
limiting the amount of bandwidth a particular student could use at any
one time, segregating dorms on the network from academic offices,
giving lower priority to the types of files typically found on
file-sharing sites, etc.
Imagine that this has become a serious problem at your college or
university, and that you are the head of a committee appointed to
develop a policy on this issue. What recommendations would you make?
What principles would underlie your recommendations? To what extent is
this an issue of academic integrity and ethics? What rights do students
have to privacy when they are on a university network? What
responsibilities do universities have when students are using the
university’s resources to accomplish something illegal?
Author Information
Name: Lawrence M. Hinman
E-mail: hinman@sandiego.edu
Homepage: http://ethics.sandiego.edu/About/editor/index.asp
Institution: University of San Diego
Web site: http://ethics.sandiego.edu/
Copyright: 2003 Lawrence M. Hinman
College
Athletics
The tension between college academics and athletics is nothing new.
Maintaining double standards for regular students and athletes dates
back to at least 1869, when Rutgers beat Princeton with a football team
that included three freshmen who were failing algebra. Early in the
twentieth century, President Theodore Roosevelt, by no means adverse to
strenuous physical activity himself, proposed outlawing intercollegiate
football because he thought it corrupted scholarship.
Academics criticize current college
athletic programs for a least five reasons. (1) Colleges routinely
lower admission standards for athletes, who, in the Ivy League, have on
average far lower SAT scores than the general student population. Many
prestigious schools admit athletes with scores of only 820, almost 200
points below the national average, and even farther below their own
standards. Some schools, such as Amherst and Williams designate a
certain number of admission slots specifically for athletes (at Amherst
75 out of 450). One Middlebury student, whose entrance scores fell far
below minimum standards, nonetheless gained admission by virtue of his
prowess as a star hockey player. (2) Once in college, athletes often
enjoy preferential treatment. Many schools have special tutorial
programs aimed solely at helping athletes meet minimum standards. (3)
Huge amounts of money are spent on athletic programs. More than a dozen
coaches now earn over $1 million a year. The University of Oregon spent
$80 million on a new stadium. This big money, critics assert, has
turned campuses into sports franchises. (4) Many athletes do not attend
college to learn, but rather, hope to use their collegiate experience
to land positions on professional teams. (5) Elite athletic programs
mean regular students have fewer opportunities to play in college
sports.
Those who support maintaining the
current practices in regard to intercollegiate athletics counter that:
(1) winning teams increase alumni giving and therefore benefit
academics in the long run. A consultant recently remarked that the best
way for Utah Valley State College to increase alumni contributions
would be to implement a high profile football program; (2)
intercollegiate athletics is excellent public relations. A former
Boston College student from the Midwest states that the only reason he
knew about the school, and applied for admission, was the fact that a
famous quarterback played there.
The Knight Commission, a panel composed largely of college presidents,
concluded last summer that the academic standards for varsity athletes
were "abysmal" and "disgraceful." Some schools are reevaluating their
athletic programs. The Trustees of Swarthmore College recently
concluded that athletic programs were inconsistent with the school's
academic mission, and voted to abolish football and wrestling. There
actions, however, are unlikely to have any impact at schools that covet
the public attention of fielding winning teams.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: Association for Practical and professional Ethics
Health and Medicine
Student
Health Insurance
In response to growing concern about undergraduates without adequate
health insurance and alarming medical related drop-out rates, the
University of California Board of Regents will require undergraduates,
beginning Fall 2001, to have health insurance.
An estimated 40 percent of UC undergraduates are currently uninsured or
underinsured, according to a report on student health presented at the
July Regents' meeting. System wide, an estimated 25 percent of students
who leave school do so for medical reasons, a significant portion of
which are linked to inadequate or no insurance, noted the report
prepared by the UC advisory committee on student health. One
explanation for the high drop-out rate is that many students who are
insured through their parents are insured through HMOs which provide
very limited out-of-area coverage. As a result, students beset by
serious injury or illness and whose parents live some distance from
campus have little choice but to drop out of school and return home to
receive health care.
Health
insurance packages will be determined by each campus, with an estimated
cost to students of $400-$500 for year-round coverage. Costs will be
factored into grants, loans, and work-study programs offered to
students who receive financial assistance. Students already covered by
adequate health insurance can waive the requirement.
The new campus-based insurance plans will not replace the primary
medical care, mental health, and referral services provided by the
student health services. However the health service is facing
increasing difficulties meeting students' health needs. In addition to
addressing typical health problems - upper respiratory tract
infections, musculoskeletal injuries, routine or non-routine
gynecological care, and dermatological conditions, clinicians are also
treating an increasing number of students with chronic and complex
medical and mental health conditions, and conditions affecting older
adults. Further, campus health services are treating increasingly
diverse students with diverse and complex health care needs, e.g.
physically challenged or older students with special chronic health
needs. If students' needs exceed health service capacities for care,
clinicians recommend referral to outside specialists. Students often
refuse, however, saying they cannot afford outside care. As a result,
students fail to get proper evaluations and appropriate care.
Opponents of the plan note that a UC education is already prohibitively
expensive for many. The average annual cost of $4300 impedes
matriculation by many otherwise qualified students; that number will
rise, the opponents point out, if another $400-$500 is added to the
cost. The also note that to make the insurance affordable will likely
require a deductible of $300-$500 that is itself beyond the means of
many students. Moreover, if the plan assumes an HMO or PPO approach, it
may not be able to insure easy of sufficient access to off-campus
providers.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2001
Whose
Limb Is It Anyway?
Kevin Wright came to Dr. Robert Smith, a general surgeon at Falkirk and
District Infirmary in Scotland, with an unusual request. He wanted one
of his legs to be amputated below the knee. Dr. Smith referred Mr.
Wright, a teaching assistant from Essex, to the senior psychiatrist at
Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary, Dr. George Dodds, for a
psychiatric consultation. After meeting with Mr. Wright, Dr. Dodds said
that he could not support the surgery and so advised Dr. Smith, the
surgeon.
Despite Dr. Dodd's negative
recommendation, and without further consultation, Dr. Smith amputated
Mr. Wright's leg below the knee, as requested. Earlier in the year, Dr.
Smith had carried out an amputation on a German citizen, Hans Schaub.
In both cases there was no medical reason for amputating the limbs. The
limbs were physically healthy and not diseased or deformed in any way.
According to a report by Dr. Smith, Mr. Wright subsequently e-mailed
him and said that he was very happy after having been in misery for
thirty years. Dr. Smith admits that he does not understand the
motivation of these patients: "It is a concept I still have difficulty
in understanding," he said. Although the operations were performed in
National Health Service hospitals, the patients were private patients
who paid the cost of the operation personally. Dr. Smith received no
fee for the surgery.
When Dr. Smith revealed that he intended
to perform a third amputation, this time on an American psychoanalyst
(Greg Furth, a Jungian analyst in New York) who also wanted a healthy
limb removed, the hospital board learned of his plans and refused him
permission to perform the operation. At a news conference, Ian Mullen,
a spokesperson for the hospital board said: "I don't believe it's
appropriate for this type of operation to go ahead without
consideration being given to the potential implications for the local
reputation of the hospital and the concerns that might arise among the
local population.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2001
Population, Urbanization and
Environment
Post-mortem Sperm
Collection
Mr. Jamison suffered a severe head injury in an accident and died
without regaining consciousness soon after being brought to the
emergency room. Upon his death, his wife requested postmortem sperm
procurement, telling doctors that the couple had been trying
desperately to conceive a child. Mr. Jamison had no advance directive
stating, or implying, his wish to father a child, or specifying his
agreement to this procedure in case of his death.
The hospital ethics committee noted that, under State law, the spouse
of the deceased is the surrogate decision maker, and concluded, for
this reason, that the decision rested with Mrs. Jamison. Mr. Jamison's
parents argued that their son would never have wished to father a child
who would be raised with only one parent. Mrs. Jamison's physician
expressed the opinion that the Jamison's efforts to conceive a child
demonstrated Mr. Jamison's desire that his wife have his child. The
hospital's social worker suggested that it would be unfair to bring a
child into the world with only one parent. The hospital chaplain
pointed out, however, that many children live in stable, loving single
parent homes.
The hospital has the equipment to do the procedure and offers services
for sperm collection and storage for various reasons, including
posthumous fatherhood. However, it has no policy for this situation,
where the father is not a competent participant in the consent process.
The medical staff is divided. Some feel that allowing the procedure
respects Mr. Jamison's wishes to father a child with his wife. Others
believe it is wrong to be an agent of conception without the explicit
consent of both parents. What are your thoughts on this case? Also, do
you believe this case can be related to the most recent case of the
Octuplets mom, Nadya Suleman? At what
point to hospitals have the right to intervene and say "no"?
Author
Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage:
http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department
of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Illinois
Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty Associate, Center for the
Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site:
http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright:
Association
for Practical and professional Ethics
Collective
Behavior and Social Movements
Fairness
in Punishment
On September 17, 1999 a fight broke out in the stands during a football
game at Eisenhower High School in Decatur, Illinois. The fight
disrupted the game. About half of the nearby spectators scattered to
avoid getting hurt. The fight, however, involved no weapons and
resulted in no serious injuries to anyone. Six Eisenhower students who
had taken part in the fight (which had been recorded on videotape), all
African American, were immediately suspended. Shortly thereafter a
hearing took place at which the students were presented with the
charges against them and given an opportunity to respond. In late
October the Decatur School Board voted, with only one dissent, from the
sole African American member of the School Board, to expel the six
students for a period of two years.
In August of 1998 the Decatur School
Board had adopted a resolution which declared a "no tolerance position
on school violence." In most other school districts a two year
expulsion would be imposed only in the most grave kinds of disciplinary
infractions. For example, of the three students expelled for two years
in the Chicago Public Schools during 1999, one was charged with
attempted murder (with a gun) off campus, another charged with
aggravated battery off campus, and the third allegedly threatened in
school to cut a student's throat with a pair of scissors.
The decision of the Decatur School Board
to expel the six students for two years generated immense controversy.
Reverend Jesse Jackson, and other members of the Push/Rainbow
Coalition, which he leads, came to Decatur to take up the students'
cause. In early November Illinois Governor George Ryan and State
Superintendent of Public Instruction Max McGee met with the Decatur
School Board and Jesse Jackson in an effort to defuse the situation.
Superintendent McGee proposed that the students be given an opportunity
to receive alternative schooling while expelled (the Decatur School
Board's expulsion order had made no such provision). He also suggested
that the students be allowed to apply for readmission at the end of the
fall semester contingent upon satisfactory academic work and conduct in
the alternative school setting. Jesse Jackson, on behalf of the
students, indicated that he considered Superintendent McGee's
suggestions fair and reasonable. The Decatur School Board rejected them
but, owing to intense persuasive efforts by Governor Ryan, reduced the
expulsion order to one year, with provision of alternative schooling.
Jesse Jackson made it clear that the six
students, their families, and their supporters in the community, which
included many of the African American residents of Decatur, viewed the
School Board's response as unacceptable. He denounced the "zero
tolerance" position on school violence in Decatur as the latest in a
series of vindictively harsh policies directed at young people
throughout the United States. Jackson called attention to the fact that
not long before the fight that took place on September 17, 1999, a
student at Roosevelt Junior High School in Decatur, who had made a bomb
threat, received a suspension of only a few days. Jackson also pointed
to statistics indicating that of the last fifty seven students expelled
from Decatur public schools, forty seven had been African American.
Push/Rainbow Coalition attorneys filed a lawsuit in federal court
protesting the expulsion of the six students. On January 12, 2000 a
federal judge in Urbana, Illinois issued a decision that upheld in
every respect the action taken by the Decatur School Board.
Author
Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage:
http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department
of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Illinois
Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty Associate, Center for the
Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site:
http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2000
Designer
Babies
Most of us know families where all the children are of the same sex,
either boys or girls. In at least some of these cases, the parents
often wish for at least one more child of the other sex. They desire
this, not because they do not like or appreciate the children they
already have, but because their hopes and dreams of parenthood often
involve having a child of the other sex. A father may dream of teaching
a son sports or being the father of the bridge, a mother may look
forward to sharing in her daughter’s journey into womanhood
or her son’s carrying on of the family name.
Until recently, these desires would remain unfulfilled unless they were
lucky. Now physicians have available a technique called PGD
(Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis), which allows physicians to screen
embryos for a wide range of possible diseases as well as for gender.
Suitable embryos can then be implanted, while the future parents may
decide not to implant other embryos. These other embryos, depending on
the reasons why they were rejected, may be destroyed or given to other
infertile couples, where they will be implanted in the woman and
(hopefully) brought to term.
Consider the
following three questions in regard to PGD:
•
What restrictions, if any, should the government impose on the use of
PGD?
•
What restrictions, if any, should physicians and health care
organizations impose of the use of PDG?
•
What moral considerations should prospective parents consider in regard
to their use of PDG?
Author Information
Name: Lawrence M. Hinman
E-mail: hinman@sandiego.edu
Homepage: http://ethics.sandiego.edu/About/editor/index.asp
Institution: University of San Diego
Web site: http://ethics.sandiego.edu/
Copyright: Lawrence M. Hinman 2002
Boycotting
Convention Cities
You are the Executive Director of a large professional organization.
One of your responsibilities is to oversee arrangements for the
organization's annual convention. In the first instance, this involves
making recommendations about convention sites to the organization's
Board of Directors. On your recommendation, in 2000 the Board approved
Cincinnati as site for the 2003 annual convention.
In the spring of 2001 fourteen groups in Cincinnati initiated a boycott
movement, appealing to organizations, such as yours, not to hold their
conventions in Cincinnati. The boycott movement is principally a
response to the following situation. On April 7, 2001, a Cincinnati
policeman shot and killed a young African-American man. In the course
of pursuing the young man, who had refused to stop when ordered to do
so, the policeman thought the young man had reached for a gun, although
later investigation revealed he had been unarmed. News of the young
man's death set off three days of rioting, in which arson, looting,
property destruction, and shooting took place. Police arrested more
than 800 individuals.
The riot, one of the worst civil disturbances in the United States over
the past decade, reflected pent-up anger of numerous African-Americans
in Cincinnati concerning, what they perceive as, grievous police
misconduct over many years toward African-Americans, especially in the
vicinity of the Over the Rhine area adjacent to the downtown Cincinnati
business district. At the time of the shooting, there had been four
African-Americans killed by Cincinnati police since November of 2000,
and fifteen killed since 1995. The police contend that every such
incident involved circumstances justifying the use of deadly force.
Credible evidence seems to establish that in many of the incidents the
police indeed responded appropriately. Nonetheless, African-American
and civil liberties organizations in Cincinnati have numerous
additional complaints against the police dealing with racial harassment
and discrimination. In March of 2001, the month before the rioting
occurred, the Cincinnati American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and a
coalition of African-American organizations, the Black United Front
(BUF), filed a lawsuit in federal court against the city, alleging
decades of police misconduct toward African-Americans.
In the aftermath of the rioting, two potentially significant efforts to
address the underlying problems were initiated. First, Cincinnati
mayor, Thomas Luken, announced the formation of a panel to explore ways
of improving race relations in the city, and he invited the leader of
BUF, Reverend Damon Lynch III to serve as co-chair of the panel, which
was named Cincinnati Community Action Now (CAN). Reverend Lynch
accepted the mayor's invitation. Second, the city council of Cincinnati
agreed to participate in an effort at achieving a mediated settlement
of the lawsuit filed in federal court by the ACLU and BUF. Under the
innovative procedures for mediation that the parties agreed upon, focus
groups of city, police, and community leaders were to develop six goals
for a settlement. The city government, police department, ACLU, and BUF
were then to attempt negotiating an agreement to address the six goals,
and, if successful, they would then submit the agreement for approval
to the federal judge presiding in the lawsuit.
Both of the above mentioned efforts to address Cincinnati's problems in
the area of race relations have moved forward since the weeks following
the riots, but, unfortunately, in a polarized atmosphere that makes
their success uncertain. Toward the end of September in 2001 the
policeman who shot and killed the young man was acquitted (He had been
charged with negligent homicide, a misdemeanor). In November of 2001
another Cincinnati policeman, brought to trial on assault charges in
connection with the suffocation of an African-American man in November
of 2000, was also acquitted. After the second acquittal, Reverend
Lynch, leader of BUF, co-signed a letter supporting the boycott
movement which accused police in Cincinnati of "killing, raping,
planting false evidence, and, along with prosecutors and the courts,
destroying the general self respect of black citizens." In early
December of 2001, an incensed Mayor Luken removed Reverend Lynch from
his position as co-chair of CAN.
So far the
boycott movement has not generated much attention from the
media outside of Cincinnati. Most members of your organization seem
unaware of it. None has raised the issue with you -- yet. Many member
of the organization, however, have deep interest in and concern about,
racial justice and civil liberties. (Time still remains for your
organization to cancel the arrangements that have been made with the
convention center and hotels in Cincinnati.)
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: Association for Practical and professional Ethics
Social Change: Traditional, Modern, and
Postmodern Societies
In 2000 a reporter for the New York Times, developing an article about
gay and lesbian teenagers and the Internet, posted a notice in an
on-line chat room. The reporter received responses from a number of
adolescents, and followed up by meeting and talking with them. She
learned that the Internet was helpful to many children with questions
about their sexual identity. For example, children who worried about
their homosexual interests found support from others in similar
situations. Many found consolation in discovering they were not "the
only one". Some were developing mutual interests and even falling in
love.
Adolescent lust made its presence felt in these interviews as well. One
teenager reported he had been visiting pornography sites, and thrilling
to the experience, since age 11. The reporter asked teens about sexual
experiences ("cybering") they had carried out on-line. Masturbation to
sexy messages and pictures was common. The reporter learned some teens
had been in contact with people many years older who were interested in
them sexually, and that one boy had hacked his way into the account of
someone in whom he was sexually interested, viewing and deleting
messages from a competitor.
In one instance, the reporter traveled to a rural Southern town and met
with a 15 year old boy without the knowledge of his parents. Such an
approach would not be permitted by the codes of conduct for researchers
in areas other than journalism (e.g. psychologists and sociologists)
relative to the protection of research subjects. Such protections are
considered particularly important when dealing with children; for
example, typically interviewers are not allowed to question children
without their parents' consent. Particularly when topics are sensitive
(e.g. sex, religion, illegal activity) parental consent must be
obtained before children can be asked to give information.
The reporter's article in the New York Times stressed the value of the
Internet for early exploration of sexual identity, especially for
children who are isolated and worry about their parents' reactions.
While articulating many benefits of a cyberculture protected from
prying eyes, however, the article made clear the dangers of sexual
predation. Still some critics of the article worried that in touting
the benefits of on-line conversations, the article may have the result
of exposing naïve or troubled teens to sophisticated sexual
predators.
The Society of Professional Journalists recognizes a commitment to
avoiding harm. It appreciates that "gathering and reporting information
may cause harm," and that reporting is "not a license for arrogance."
The Society further recognizes the importance of being especially
sensitive when dealing with children, as well as an obligation to the
"voiceless," and to support exchange of viewpoints, especially those
that others might loathe to air.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2001
MP3 on Campus
MP3 audio files enable users to exchange compact disk recordings
digitally over the Internet. Music lovers use MP3's to search for rare
recordings. They also can use them to copy an entire compact disk and
transmit it to anyone at no cost. Recently the Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA) has undertaken a major effort to combat
copyright violations. The RIAA sends letters to colleges and
universities whenever its researchers discover on campus servers
offering copyrighted music. According to Frank Creighton, an RIAA
Senior Vice President, when the Association began its monitoring
efforts several years ago it discovered that about seventy per-cent of
the infringing sites were on university campuses. "…We're
willing to give individuals or students a first pass," said Mr.
Creighton. "But if we catch you doing it again," he said, "we have no
alternative but to take the stance that you're thumbing your nose at
us, and you don't take us seriously, and there are potential civil and
criminal remedies that we will invoke if we need to."
In the fall of 1999 network administrators at Carnegie Mellon
University, without prior warning, checked the public folders of two
hundred and fifty (250) student computers connected to the University's
network, and found seventy one (71) students whose files contained
illegally copied MP3's. The students lost their in-room Internet
connections for the rest of the semester, which meant they had to use a
university computer lab to gain access to the Internet. All the
students were given a right to appeal their penalties, and students who
attended a ninety minute class on copyright had their penalties reduced
by one month. Speaking of the investigation, Paul G. Fowler, Carnegie
Mellon's Associate Dean for Student Affairs said, "It wasn't a big
caper. All we did was go in to take a look at the culture of our
Internet." Mr. Fowler noted that prior to the investigation, University
officials had discussed whether it would be a good idea to step up
efforts at educating students about copyright violations. "We now know
it would be," he said.
Under the Digital Millenium Act, which Congress passed last year,
on-line service providers, such as universities, can avoid liability if
they take certain steps specified in the Act. These include, in cases
when the university has been informed of an infringement, shutting off
access to the infringing material, and notifying the user who posted
it, so that he or she can take up the matter with the copyright holder.
The user must be given the right by the university to appeal the
shutoff. According to Mr. Arnold Lutzker, an attorney for the American
Library Association, if a university meets the above requirements, in
all likelihood, it will avoid liability for any given infringement.
"I'm no fan of the recording industry," said Mr. Fowler of Carnegie
Mellon, "but our students need to understand they're probably going to
be out there creating software some day that's going to make them a
million dollars." If that software winds up in some shared community,"
Mr. Fowler observed, "their livelihood is jeopardized." "So why should
we not afford the same opportunities to make a living to other members
of our community?", asked Mr. Fowler.
Author Information
Name: Robert F. Ladenson
E-mail: ladenson@iit.edu
Homepage: http://www.iit.edu/departments/humanities/
Institution: Department of Philosophy Illinois Institute of Technology
(IIT), and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Faculty
Associate, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)
Web site: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Copyright: 2000