Join the intellectual intramurals
You’re smart, right? What should you do?
This is the scenario: Katie is from Memphis. She just startedher first year at college. Like everyone else, Katie is living inthe dorms.
She is quite close to her family, so being away for the firsttime is harder than she expected. However, her roommate Elizabethand a few other girls on her hall have been going out with Katie– making her feel accepted.
Two weeks into the semester, everything has been going great.Late on a Thursday night, after visiting with some friends, Katiewalks into her dorm room and finds Elizabeth with some other guysand girls from the hall in her room.
What Katie finds is troubling: Elizabeth and the others havebeen drinking and smoking marijuana.
Over in the corner of the room – on Katie’s desk– one of the guys is using Katie’s mirror to line upcocaine for some hits. This is not amateur stuff; this is serious.The room is a mess, the music is loud, there are drugs and alcoholall over and everyone is wasted.
What should Katie do? What would you do?
To some, this scenario is simply outlandish, and to others thissituation may be more than arbitrary – it could happen.People will fit into both camps – take my word for it. So,what should you do?
Some people may decide to analyze the scenario from a simple,pragmatic perspective.
On one hand, these people are your friends. You go to school andlive with them. Because of the proximity, it may not be in yourbest interest to burn bridges by turning them in.
You would be ostracized. People would label you a square and aprude. If you ride the wave and let the situation pass, you areautomatically “in” and one of them.
Besides, it is your roommate; she has made you feel welcome andput you at ease during your first days at college.
However, what if they took your complicity as approval? Youmight opt to turn them in because you do not want your dorm roomturned into a petite rave scene every weekend. What about yourconscience – can you live with yourself? What if someone gotsick or hurt? What would you do?
Other folks might look at this situation from a more legalperspective: They would recognize that because drug use is illegal(not to mention the alcohol), that they are breaking the law ifthey do not inform an authority.
For simply being there or knowing about the situation and nottelling, you can be arrested.
Those who view the situation from this perspective would takeinto account the fact that if anyone got hurt or sick, and you knewabout it, that you are liable – you can be sued.
Moreover, if the school found out about the situation, and youwere involved, you could be kicked out of the halls and/or collegealtogether. Do the dorm rules and the law matter? What do youthink?
Other people may be inclined to view this situation through apurely moral window.
They might argue that because their instinct, religion orpersonal values tells them that what Elizabeth & Co. are doingis wrong, that they ought to find an RA or call the campus police.Conversely, one might find it normal and moral to drink and takedrugs – seeing no problem with it. What is the rightview?
The answers to these questions and many more are embodied inethics. Often, to find what is ethical in a given situation is tolook at that situation and its necessary facets from a variety ofperspectives – encompassing pragmatic, legal and moralviewpoints. However, people do not usually think in this way.
From deciding whether to plagiarize a paper to evaluating therightness of a corporate action – ethics is ever-present. Oneneeds to look no further than themselves or the newspaper to find adecision requiring ethical analysis.
In just a few short years, we will be the ones analyzing,leading and making decisions.
One purpose of your university education is to gain knowledge.To gain this knowledge is a burden that lies mainly on you. To knowhow to use this knowledge justly is another burden.
Universities like SMU provide a path to this knowledge.Increasingly, universities are also instilling ethics to temper andhone that knowledge – to fulfill their obligation of puttingeducated, responsible people into tomorrow’s oval offices andboardrooms. Additionally, employers are more frequently looking forpeople with the skills to make the right decisions, not merely theprofitable ones.
The path to informed and ethical judgment takes practice. Oneway to augment your education and hone your ethical skills is touse them.
At SMU, the best way to practice ethics is to join SMU’sEthics Team. The Ethics Team is a student organization that workswith the Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility.Teaming up with distinguished members of the faculty and MaguireCenter staff, the Ethics Team analyses various cases (some of whichresemble the one above) – with the goal of competing (andwinning) national and regional ethics competitions. In thisrespect, the Ethics Team competes in intellectual intramurals, ofsorts.
And for the emerging leader in you, the ethics team is growing– internally and externally – this is the start ofsomething big. Come see what ethics is about: temper yourintellect, hone your reasoning, cultivate valuable relationshipsand become a leader.
You’re smart – but are you right? Join the EthicsTeam and learn what to do.
