 March 7 , 2007
| Topic: |
Academic Codes of Ethics: Separate, Combined, or Aligned? |
| Presenter: |
Tricia Bertram Gallant, Ph.D., Academic Integrity Coordinator, UCSD |
| Location: |
SDSU Foundation: Sky Park |
| Discussion: |
Universities typically have up to three discreet codes of ethics for academic conduct: one for students, one for faculty, and one for researchers. Sometimes, faculty conduct (whether in the classroom or in the laboratory/field) is guided by one code, but student academic misconduct is always separate and often subsumed under a more general student conduct code that serves to also guide non-academic student conduct such as excessive drinking and noise.
This possibly arbitrary separation of student academic conduct from faculty or researcher academic conduct seems to be grounded in three assumptions:
1) problems with student academic conduct are assumed to be a result of students behaving badly, rather than a result of complex ethical dilemmas;
2) student academic misconduct is unrelated to the academic culture and the notion of professional ethics; and
3) the handling or discipline of students behaving badly is the jurisdiction of student affairs professionals, rather than faculty or the academic side of the house.
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| Discussion Questions: |
- What are, if anything, the differences between the ethical academic conduct of students, versus that of faculty and/or researchers?
- Should universities continue to frame and respond to student academic misconduct differently from the framing and responding to faculty academic or research misconduct?
- What might a universal academic code of ethics, framed by a sense of professional ethics for all university members, look like?
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| Readings: |
- Auster, C. J. (n.d.) Ethics-Higher Education
- Callahan, D. (1982). Should there be an academic code of ethics? The Journal of Higher Education, 53 (3), 335-344.
- McCabe, D., & Pavela, G. (2005). New Honor Codes for a New Generation. Inside Higher Education, March 11.
- Schurr, G. M. (1982). Toward a code of ethics for academics. The Journal of Higher Education, 53 (3), 318-334.
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