Scenario:
You have not been doing as well in your History
course as you had hoped. You decide the best course of action is to
speak with your professor so you drop by her office. As you approach the
door you hear her ask her assistant to make copies of a surprise pop
quiz she plans to give during the next class. Getting a good grade on
the quiz might be just the boost your grade needs, but you have already
forgotten most of the material. If you re-read the chapter to prepare
for the exam, are you cheating? Can you tell your friend who is also in
the course about the quiz?
The Winner
No, you are not quite cheating if you re-read the chapter to
prepare for the exam. It was a coincidence, you did not see the
questions she will ask nor did you deliberately spy on her to acquire
this information. However, it does leave me with an unfair advantage for
this quiz. Thus, I would still meet with the History professor and
admit that I just overheard something about a pop quiz as I was
approaching her office. It would be my hope that she would decide I have
an unfair advantage and email the rest of the class (making it a
PLANNED quiz) or cancel the pop quiz for this week, and perhaps plan it
on a later date. Clearly, it would also be unfair for me to pass the
information to my friend (because it would give both of us an unfair
advantage then).
Janaki Khatri ‘14
Scenario
You work in the bookstore with a guy
named Jack. At the end of the night you have the task of restocking the
merchandise while he counts out the cash register and makes the
deposit. One night while you are stocking the shelves, you notice that
after Jack makes the deposit, he reaches into the petty cash box and
takes out three twenty dollar bills. He looks up and notices you
watching him and tells you, “Don’t worry, I do this every Thursday
night. I take a little money so I can go out with my friends. We get
paid tomorrow and on Monday, I’ll slip the money back in. I do it all
the time, the manager doesn’t even know.” On Monday afternoon you go
into the cash box and sure enough, all the money is there, but you still
have a nagging feeling that what he’s doing is wrong.
Is Jack stealing? Will you inform your manager?
The Winning Entry: Kesha Sheth
There
is no honor among thieves. While Jack may not be stealing as
conventionally understood, this act is still considered to be stealing.
Anytime another person's property or money is taken without permission
or legal right, it is considered a theft. Even after he returns the
money, it does not absolve him of the embezzlement he committed. A
morally good act never cancels out a morally bad act.
Centuries
ago, Plato and Aristotle promoted virtue ethics, a theory that continues
to be important in today's society. In professional and personal life,
people ought to strive to act in accordance with virtues that improve or
maintain their good character. Not telling the manager about Jack's
transgressions would be unethical and diminish my character. Jack's
actions cannot even be justified by necessity. If he really needed money
to go out, he could always save some money from the paycheck he
receives every Monday to use later that week.
The consequences of
keeping quiet should also be considered. If the manager ever discovered
Jack was "borrowing" money, not only would I get in trouble for not
reporting him, I would also be seen as untrustworthy. Therefore, it
would be in my best interest to inform the manager. If a person is given
the responsibility of handling someone else's money, he or she should
do so in the most respectable manner. As tempting as it might be to
secretly take no-interest loans from the storeowner, it is an unethical
act, and my not speaking up would be equally unethical.
Scenario
Scott’s family never expected to be able to send
their son to college because they simply could not afford it. They were
thrilled when he received a full ride scholarship to play basketball at a
big university, giving him an opportunity they never imagined he’d
receive.
As wonderful as this, Scott has a problem. You see,
between his course load, practice schedules and games, Scott does not
have time to get a job and earn extra money. His scholarship only covers
the cost of his tuition; it does not provide him with money to afford
social outings with his friends or flights home to visit his family.
Meanwhile,
the university itself is making millions of dollars off of the ticket
sales, concessions, and memorabilia that Scott’s athletic talents have
helped stimulate. Given that he is the team’s star shooting guard and
the reason the team is putting up such high numbers this season, the
value of his scholarship is probably just a mere fraction of the value
that he generates among the school’s rabid fan base. His friends have
told him that the school should be paying him a salary because without
players, the school has no team. Is it fair that Scott is not receiving
some form of monetary compensation on top of his scholarship? Is he
being cheated by the school or is it a fair arrangement?
Winner - Michael Cuomo, '13 - History Major
The ethical question that Scott's scenario
raises - should he be receiving some sort of compensation given his abilities
as a student athlete - is indeed a complicated one. The college's basketball
team would not be as successful as it is now, or even exist for that matter,
without the star athletes that are currently on the team. When coupled with the
fact that the college makes an extremely large profit because of the games, it
only seems fair that members of the team, especially Scott, should receive some
sort of compensation. However, Scott receives a full scholarship from his
college because of his abilities, which in a way is a form of compensation.
This raises the question of whether this scholarship is enough, especially when
compared to the amount raised by the games.
I can see both sides of this scenario, but after examining the pros and cons of
each, I am leaning towards the decision that it is a fair arrangement. A
successful institution of higher education aims to teach the student not only in
the classroom, but also in extracurricular activities, like athletics. Thus, I
would argue that the basketball team is an important component within the
"big picture" of the college, and contributes to the learning
outcomes and success of students on the team. With this understanding, I think
that the basketball team and athletic department, regardless of however
successful it may be, is all part of the "package" that a student
gets when applying to the institution. If the athletic department has the right
goals in mind, then the student athletes obtain all the compensation that they
need; i.e. the primary goal should not be collecting titles, trophies, and
ribbons, but learning the valuable life-skills that come from working as a
team, competing fairly, and knowing how to both win and lose. Therefore, it is
clear than the college compensates its students with its intrinsic value so
that the students are prepared to improve their lives once they leave.
In addition, it is important to remember that it is not professional athletics
- it is an extracurricular activity. Yes, the college makes a lot of money
because of the games, but that money is then used to purchase the resources and
infrastructure to improve the quality of education at the college for the students,
including the student athletes. Plus, student athletes getting paid raises some
other problems: how would the college determine what to pay the student
athletes? If the student athletes can get paid because of abilities, then why
can't the math students get paid because of theirs? In the end, I believe
Scott's scholarship is a fair arrangement in terms of compensation. The free
education he receives is more valuable than any monetary value. Moreover, he
would never have been able to attend the college without the scholarship, so to
me it is not right of him to ask for more. It may seem unfair, especially
because he cannot go out with friends and fly home, but there are ways around
that - hang out on campus and Skype his family.