The Ethical University

Review
[T]his volume sheds a bright light on the spate of recent administrative, academic, financial and sexual scandals. This volume asks why institutions long accorded a high degree of societal respect and deference have, all too often, failed to uphold their ethical and legal responsibilities. It also offers practical advice about what needs to be done if our colleges and universities are to overcome their moral lapses and oversights and ensure a safe, principled campus. ― Inside Higher Ed
This volume provides a timely and important overview of many of the issues that confront higher education. The value of, and the values of, universities are being called into question. This book will help guide us through these ethical challenges.
-- Martin Dupuis, senior associate dean, Burnett Honors College, University of Central Florida
Among the many crises facing humanity, the problems of the university may not seem to amount to a hill of beans. But universities are not only the longest surviving institutions in the world, they are essential guardians of the lessons of the past and incubators of the solutions we desperately need as we face the challenges of the future. The academy benefits from societal respect and deference, but this special status comes with an obligation to uphold ethical and moral principles, and our universities are all too often failing this responsibility. As the authors of the present volume clearly demonstrate, the unexamined university is not worth defending.
-- Larry Gross, professor, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California
This is a book that challenges the American university system to look in the mirror and see some of its ugliness. Reading this collection of essays re-centers the moral obligation that our colleges and universities owe to our society. It's a wake-up call to a higher purpose.
-- Jonathan Collins, assistant professor of education, Brown University
Universities and colleges across the United States have become hotbeds of administrative, academic, financial, and sexual scandals. Each new case erodes the societal recognition of the value of higher education systems. It is clear that in order for these institutions to reclaim their respected status requires an examination and rebuilding of the ethical foundations of higher education.
This book gathers faculty and administrators from highly respected schools to examine the current situation and mark directions for change. Chapters address such topics as privacy, shared governance, grievance procedures, accountability, adjunct instructors, student athletes, campus policing, pedagogy and rubric review, libraries and access to information, aging faculty, international students, secrecy and public relations, and the corporatization of universities.
Reviewing the challenges and opportunities that face higher education, this book argues that what holds institutions together over time are the values, principles, and traditions that contribute to moral character and lay a foundation for institutional integrity.
Contributors: Michael Boylan, Cher Weixia Chen, Zenon Culverhouse, Darin Dockstader, Cora Drozd, Robert Labaree, Jonathan Liljeblad, Matthew Mahrt, Rita Manning, Glen Miller, Melissa L. Miller, Charles P. Milne Jr., Laura Nader, Alison Dundes Renteln, Paul Renteln, Steve Sanders, Wanda Teays, Rosemarie Tong