Philosopher and bestselling author Jacob Needleman called for a deeper appreciation of the meaning of America in a public forum held recently at Samford University. We must "remythologize" the nation's founders and history, he argued, for America is in danger of losing its soul by forgetting its larger purpose in the world.
"The founding fathers were moral figures in our history, and if you tear them down, then you must have something just as good to put in their place.” American democracy, he said, was never conceived primarily as an external form of government or an economic system, but was rooted in the world's need for a place where people are free to develop themselves according to their own consciences. "The world needs America," he asserted.
New York Times columnist David Brooks made a similar point this week in a commentary on the consequences of other nations achieving economic parity with the United States. "In a world of relative equals, the U.S. will have to learn to define itself not by its rank, but by its values. It will be important to have the right story to tell, the right purpose and the right aura. It will be more important to know who you are." He added, "Americans seem uncertain about how to answer that question."
The Samford forum, "Rediscovering the American Soul," was one of two appearances by Needleman in the Mann Center's ongoing series of A. Gerow Hodges Lectures in Ethics and Leadership. During his visit he was interviewed by center Director John Knapp for the video series, "Conversations on Ethics and Leadership":
For the first time, a majority of U.S. medical schools have implemented strong conflict-of-interest policies, according to the 2010 American Medical Student Association (AMSA) PharmFree Scorecard. The Scorecard, developed by AMSA and the Pew Prescription Project, finds that 79 of 152 medical schools (52 percent) now receive a grade of A or B for their policies governing pharmaceutical industry interaction with medical school faculty and students, compared with 45 last year. Related resource: AMSA Scorecard with grades for each medical school.
Speaking of the pharmaceutical industry, the public ranks it with oil, health insurance and tobacco as industries needing more regulation, according to a new poll by Harris Interactive. Together with the telecommunications and automobile industries, these are the least trusted businesses in America. "When asked which of a list of 17 industries are generally honest and trustworthy, almost half (48%) of all adults say 'none of these' which is the highest number giving this negative response since we first asked this question in 2003," the firm reported. The findings confirm a number of other studies showing that public trust of institutions is in decline. Related resource: Press release on survey findings, Dec. 2, 2010.
Can empathy be learned? And if so, can it be taught? An innovative project at Capital University in Ohio aims to find out by immersing six selected students in activities designed to let them "walk a mile in someone else's shoes." The Empathy Project was conceived by Capital President Denvy Bowman, who calls it a "monumental undertaking" but is not willing to divulge many details while students are applying for the chance to participate. Below is a short video of Bowman describing the project:
A University of Michigan study concluded several months ago that today's college students are not as empathetic as students of the 1980s and 1990s. Sara Konrath, a researcher on the 30-year study of 14,000 students, suggests that exposure to media and social networking could be a reason: "Compared to 30 years ago, the average American now is exposed to three times as much nonwork-related information. In terms of media content, this generation of college students grew up with video games, and a growing body of research, including work done by my colleagues at Michigan, is establishing that exposure to violent media numbs people to the pain of others." Related resources: University of Michigan research on students and empathy; sample questions from the University of Michigan study.
One in every four people in the world paid a bribe to a public official during the last year, according to a study by Transparency International released this week on International Anti-Corruption Day. The Berlin-based non-governmental agency reported data on small-scale bribery from polls of more than 91,000 people in 86 countries and territories. While bribes were frequently paid to health, education and tax authorities, it was law enforcement that proved most corrupt, with 29 percent of people who had dealings with police saying they paid a bribe. Worldwide, sub-Saharan Africa was the region reporting the greatest incidence of bribery with more than one person in two saying they had bribed government officials in the last year. The Middle East and North Africa was the next most corrupt region, followed by the former Soviet republics, South America, the Balkans and Turkey, the Asia-Pacific region, the European Union, and North America. Related resource: Transparency International 2010 Global Corruption Barometer.
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Bestselling author and philosopher Jacob Needleman will speak at Samford University in a two-day visit that begins Monday, Nov. 15, with a public program entitled, "Rediscovering the American Soul: A Conversation with Jacob Needleman." This event will be in Bolding Studio at 6 p.m., preceded by a reception at 5 p.m. There is no charge to attend, but reservations are required and may be made using the link on the Mann Center's website.
In his book The American Soul, Needleman delves into the beliefs and values that have shaped our culture, moving beyond politics to find the metaphysical and psychological ideas that define America and can help unify us. "America, for all its flaws, is still a place where we can work together and search for truth," he has said. "We need to value this country for that much more than we do. America is the place where we can find our proper duty to ourselves, to God, and to the earth."
A professor at San Francisco State University, he also will speak at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 16, in Samford's Reid Chapel. "Philosophy as a Spiritual Search" will be his topic for this presentation in the series of A. Gerow Hodges Lectures in Ethics and Leadership. (Convo credit will be awarded Samford students.) His other books include What is God?; Why Can’t We Be Good?; Time and the Soul; Money and the Meaning of Life; The Wisdom of Love; The Heart of Philosophy; Lost Christianity; The Way of the Physician; A Sense of the Cosmos; and The New Religions, among others.
The Mann Center's continuing video series, "Conversations on Ethics and Leadership," features two new conversations with business leaders. David Ratcliffe, chairman and CEO of Southern Company, discusses the lessons he has learned as leader of a company facing allegations of racial discrimination and criticisms of its environmental record. Southern Company is America's largest electric utility. Bill Johnston, past president of the New York Stock Exchange, comments on the causes of the Wall Street meltdown and prospects for reform of the financial services sector.
The International Statistical Institute (ISI) announced a new ISI Declaration on Professional Ethics for statisticians. The declaration expands a 1985 code that covered objectivity, conflicts of interest and privileged information, adding a section on "shared professional values" of respect, professionalism, truthfulness and integrity. It is intended to help statisticians make "ethically valid judgments and decisions" and is available in multiple languages. Related resource: ISI Declaration on Professional Ethics (PDF).
Fewer than three in five employees who witness unethical conduct at work report it to management or another appropriate person, according to Ethics Resource Center (ERC). Researchers have identified several consistent trends: women tend to report more than men; members of unions are less likely to report than nonunion workers; and managers report more concerns than do nonmanagement employees. ERC conducts annual surveys of U.S. employees across multiple industries. Related resource: ERC Brief on Employee Reporting (PDF).
The public sees business as more socially responsible than a year ago. So says a study by Boston College's Center for Corporate Responsibility and the Reputation Institute, which surveyed 7,790 consumers on their perceptions of U.S. companies' performance related to citizenship (the community and the environment), governance (ethics and transparency) and workplace practices. "The top 25 companies all rated at or above 75 in this year’s study compared to 2009 when only the top nine companies scored that high," according to the researchers who gathered ratings of 230 large companies. Related resource: Corporate Social Responsibility Index, full report (PDF).
Corruption remains an obstacle to achieving economic and social progress worldwide, according to Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), an annual measure of domestic, public sector corruption. This year's report shows that nearly three quarters of the 178 countries in the index score below five, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 10 (perceived to have low levels of corruption), indicating a serious corruption problem. Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore tie for first place with scores of 9.3, while Afghanistan, Myanmar and Somalia round out the bottom of the list. Related resource: Corruption Perceptions Index 2010.
William R. (Bill) Johnston, former president of the New York Stock Exchange, will join three Samford University professors on a panel to discuss the status of Wall Street reform two years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment banking firm and the creation of the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). "Financial Reform After the Wall Street Meltdown," a public program on Tuesday, Oct. 19, will be held at 4 p.m. in the Brock Forum of Samford's Dwight Beeson Hall. A reception will follow.
Mr. Johnston's perspective on today’s issues was gained over a 40-year career in New York’s financial services industry, culminating as president, chief operating officer and director of the New York Stock Exchange. Now retired, he continues to be a keen observer of industry trends and proposed regulatory reforms. Joining Mr. Johnston on the panel are Steven Jones and Melissa Woodley, both members of the Brock School of Business finance faculty, with Mann Center Director John Knapp moderating.
Veteran political journalist and commentator Eleanor Clift spoke recently at Samford University on the emergence of women as a force in American politics, from attaining the right to vote 90 years ago to the elections of 2010. She was interviewed by Mann Center Director John Knapp while at the university on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship.
Teachings of the three Abrahamic faith traditions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) may offer sound principles to guide global economic reform. This was the conclusion of an interfaith gathering of scholars in theology and corporate responsibility organized by Caux Round Table, an international organization of business leaders promoting global standards for a more moral capitalism. The Mann Center was a co-sponsor of the gathering.
The 12-page Mountain House Statement(so called for retreat's location at Mountain House in Caux, Switzerland) asserts that "people of faith have unique resources" and an obligation to contribute to the dialog on economic reform. "Our traditions insist that there is an inherent social dimension to the human experience of life. We should, therefore, construe those circles of community expansively and generously. . . . The voices of the Prophets have long called all our communities to heed the overlooked voices of the powerless and the disadvantaged, and the too-often ignored voice of God."
Mann Center Director John Knapp participated in the retreat convened by Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, former Archbishop of Washington, D.C.; Ronald Thiemann, Bussey Professor of Theology and former Dean at the Harvard Divinity School; and Ibrahim Zein, Professor of Islamic Studies and Comparative Religion and Dean of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization at the International Islamic University, Malaysia. Related resource: The Mountain House Statement.
Is it really okay to treat a woman the way we treat a hen, pumping her up with hormones so we can farm more eggs for sale? Is a human egg a widget and the donor nothing more than a cog? These questions were raised recently in a Fast Company magazine article showing how demand for human eggs that has "grown uncontrollably, proliferating in lockstep with a fertility industry that has become a billion-dollar global behemoth." Glenn McGee, editor of American Journal of Bioethics, was interviewed for the article and discusses it in an audio interview on the Bioethics Channel, saying he is "terrified" by the absence of regulatory oversight of the industry. "We are not sufficiently reverent with regard to what it means to 'make' people, and that has gotten worse and worse and worse." Related resources: Bioethics Channel audio interview, "Selling Human Eggs"; Fast Company article, "Unpacking the Global Human Egg Trade."
Corporate boards of directors "must build long-term, sustainable growth in value for shareholders and, by extension, other stakeholders," says a new report of the New York Stock Exchange's Commission on Corporate Governance appointed last year in response to the financial crisis. The report reiterates a series of principles for responsible governance, management and investing, many of which are overlooked in practice. Acknowledging that shareholders often fail to share the long-term interests of managers, employees, customers, suppliers and communities, the commission points out the difficulty of exercising long-term judgment "in the face of shareholders who may have competing interests and investment time horizons, an especially formidable question given the changing definition of 'shareholder,' and the likely continued evolution of share-ownership as technology continues to transform trading patterns." Related resource: Report of the NYSE Commission on Corporate Governance, Sept. 23, 2010.
Cheating on exams is not just a problem at academic institutions. An investigation by the U.S. Justice Department finds that a "significant" number of FBI agents and analysts cheated on an exam about guidelines for domestic surveillance. "Some consulted with others while taking the exam when that was specifically forbidden by the test-taking protocols," the report says. "Others used or distributed answers sheets or study guides that essentially provided the answers to the test. A few exploited a programming flaw to reveal the answers to the exam." Among the violators were several supervisors and a legal advisor, and nearly all who cheated falsely answered the final question, which asked if they had cheated. Related resource: U.S. Department of Justice "Investigation of Allegations of Cheating on the FBI’s Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (DIOG) Exam."
Americans' trust and confidence in the legislative branch of government has dropped to a record-low level, a September survey by Gallup finds. Just 36 percent have at least a "fair amount" of trust in legislators, down from 45 percent a year earlier. "Trust in the judicial branch and trust in the executive branch also suffered sharp declines this year but remain higher than trust in the legislative branch," the researchers report. Trust in Congress peaked in 1972 at 71 percent, then began a precipitous drop in the mid-2000s. Related resource: Gallup online report, "Trust in Legislative Branch Falls to Record-Low 36%"
Would you like to learn more about The Frances Marlin Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership? Could your own organization benefit from our programs and services? We encourage you to take a minute to complete our online form telling us about your interests and ensuring that you receive mailings about the programs that interest you.Please click here to provide us with more information.
The Mann Center will present two programs this month in the continuing series of A. Gerow Hodges Lectures in Ethics and Leadership:
Sept. 22, 6 p.m. lecture, 7 p.m. reception and book signing with Eleanor Clift.
Ms. Clift, a journalist and political commentator, will present, Women in Politics: From Suffrage to Shattering the Glass Ceiling. She is a contributing editor and former White House correspondent for Newsweek, and a panelist on the weekly PBS series The McLaughlin Group. Her column, “Capitol Letter,” is posted each Friday on Newsweek.com. She and her late husband, Tom Brazaitis, wrote two books together, War Without Bloodshed: The Art of Politics and Madam President: Shattering the Last Glass Ceiling . Her other books are Founding Sisters, about the passage of the 19th amendment giving women the vote, and Two Weeks of Life: A Memoir of Love, Death and Politics. Ms. Clift will be at Samford University as a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, a program of the Council of Independent Colleges. Open to the public at no charge; Brock Recital Hall, Samford University.
Sept. 23, 10 a.m. lecture by David Ratcliffe.
The chairman and CEO of Southern Company, Mr. Ratcliffe will speak on How to Avoid Leadership Failure. He leads one of the nation's largest generators of electricity, the parent company of Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power and Mississippi Power, as well as several other business units and subsidiaries. Mr. Ratcliffe recently announced he will retire Dec. 31 from a long career that began when he joined Georgia Power as a biologist in 1971, coordinating environmental monitoring and compliance programs for power plants. During his career he has served a CEO of both Georgia Power and Mississipi Power. Open to the public at no charge; Reid Chapel, Samford University.
Can physical cleanliness cause people to be more virtuous? A new study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology suggests there may be some truth in the old saying, "cleanliness is next to godliness." But the researchers at University of Toronto and London Business School warn that this "elevated sense of moral self" may also prompt "severe moral judgment" of others. "Three experiments using different manipulations of cleanliness showed that participants primed with self cleanliness rendered harsher moral judgments on contested social issues and activities with ambiguous moral implications."
The world has become slightly less peaceful in the last year, according to the Global Peace Index, a study that ranks New Zealand, Iceland and Japan as the most peaceful nations. The GPI looks at domestic and international conflict, safety and security in 149 countries. Indicators include the likelihood of violent demonstrations and criminal activity. Published in cooperation with The Economist, the report explains, "In some nations, an intensification of conflicts and growing instability appears to be linked to the global economic downturn in late 2008 and early 2009." Not surprisingly, Iraq was rated as least at peace, followed by Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan.
CEOs of companies in the United Nations Global Compact say their firms' future success depends on becoming more sustainable. A survey of 766 CEOs also found that 96 percent believe sustainability should be fully integrated into the strategy and operations of a company -- up from 72 percent in 2007. What is driving the business case for this? For more than 70 percent it is “brand, trust and reputation”; only 44 percent justify sustainability efforts on the basis of anticipated revenue growth or cost reduction. Members of the Global Compact might be expected to be more engaged than other companies in sustainable practices. Related resource: A New Era of Sustainability: UN Global Compact-Accenture CEO Study 2010.
Countries representing more than half of world exports now enforce a ban on foreign bribery, continuing a six-year trend of positive progress, according to the 2010 Progress Report of Transparency International (TI). However, among the 36 countries that have ratified the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business 20 still have taken little or no action on enforcement. "The difficult economic environment is no excuse for OECD governments to ignore their collective commitment to stop foreign bribery," said TI in a statement. "To the contrary, cleaning up foreign bribery must be regarded as a key part of the reforms needed to overcome the worldwide recession."
Doctors with deep religious beliefs are significantly less likely to take actions to hasten the death of the terminally ill, according to a British survey of 8,000 doctors. Researchers at London University School of Medicine said the findings suggest a need for greater acknowledgement of how beliefs influence care. Responses were from doctors practicing in a wide variety of fields, with a particular focus on those in palliative and elderly care. Those who described themselves as very or extremely non-religious were about 40% more likely than religious doctors to prescribe continuous deep sedation until death, the study in the Journal of Medical Ethics reported. Related resource: "Doctors' Religious Beliefs Strongly Influence End-of-Life Decisions, Study Finds," Science Daily 26 August 2010.
Spending on state Supreme Court elections has more than doubled in the past decade, says a research report by Hofstra Law School Professor James Sample. Campaign spending rose from $83.3 million in 1990-1999 to $206.9 million in 2000-2009, heightening concerns that special interests are playing a more dominant role in choosing jurists. The report, "The New Politics of Judicial Elections, 2000-2009: Decade of Change," features a foreword by Former U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor who writes, "Elected Judges in many states are compelled to solicit money for their election campaigns, sometimes from lawyers and parties appearing before them."
Would you like to learn more about The Frances Marlin Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership? Would your own organization benefit from our programs and services? We encourage you to take a minute to complete our online form telling us more about your interests and ensuring that you are included in mailings about the programs that interest you. Please click here to provide us with more information.
David Ratcliffe, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company will speak at Samford University at 10 a.m. on Sept. 23 in Reid Chapel. One of the nation's largest generators of electricity, Southern Company is the parent of Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power and Mississippi Power, as well as several other business units and subsidiaries.
Ratcliffe recently announced he will retire Dec. 31 from a long career that began when he joined Georgia Power as a biologist in 1971, coordinating environmental monitoring and compliance programs for power plants. During his career he has served a CEO of both Georgia Power and MississipiPower.
His appearance is part of the Mann Center's continuing A. Gerow Hodges Lectures in Ethics and Leadership. Convo credit will be awarded to Samford students.
Jim Leach, chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, spoke July 29 at a Samford University forum entitled "Civility in a Fractured Society." Formerly a Republican congressman from Iowa for 30 years, Leach was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009 to chair the NEH. The event was part of his nationwide tour to promote greater civility in the nation's political life, and was sponsored by the Mann Center's Hodges Lecture Series, The Alabama Humanities Foundation, and the Birmingham Area Consortium for Higher Education.
Mann Center Director John C. Knapp interviewed Leach for the center's video series, "Conversations on Ethics and Leadership."
The cautionary story of a college student denied a degree because of a photo on her MySpace page was featured recently in a New York Times Magazine article entitled, "The Web Means The End of Forgetting." Her experience, a lesson for all users of social media, should be of particular interest to students preparing to enter the workforce, as employers increasingly examine online activity in background checks. The Mann Center last year conducted a program for Samford students on these risks and responsibilities. Concerns about online privacy are at the center of several current controversies, including the Obama administration's proposal to give federal agents power to compel employers to turn over records of individuals' Internet activity; the actions of United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other countries aimed at preventing BlackBerry users, especially political dissenters, from sending and receiving encrypted messages; and news of Internet giant Google's internal debates about profiting from its vast collection of information on web users. Related resources: Washington Post, 29 July 2010, "White House proposal would ease FBI access to records of Internet activity"; Reuters, 8 August 2010, "Gulf activists brace as BlackBerry secrecy targeted."Wall Street Journal, "What They Know" (coverage of privacy issues).
Direct-to-consumer genetic tests are of questionable value and reliability, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), and the marketing claims of testing companies are virtually unchallenged by regulators, as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has little oversight of the industry. Such tests often purport to estimate one's risk of contracting various forms of cancer. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom's Human Genetics Commission this month issued voluntary guidelines entitled A Common Framework of Principles for direct-to-consumer genetic testing services. The commission's chairman stopped short of calling for more regulation of the industry. Related resources: American Medical News, 2 August 2010, "Consumer genetic testing has little value, GAO report says"; BBC News, 3 August 2010, "'DIY genetics tests' guidelines published."
Many people in sub-Saharan Africa are unaware of micro-finance lending in their communities, and most continue to look to family members for loans to start new enterprises, according to two new studies by the Gallup Organization. The fast-growing practice of microfinance refers to a variety of retail lending strategies for low-income borrowers, particularly women, in the developing world. Related resources: Data on microfinance worldwide: Microfinance Information Exchange. Gallup survey summaries: "Few Sub-Saharan Africans Aware of Local Microfinance Options"; "Sub-Saharan Africans Bank on Family for Business Loans"
Fear of retaliation is the major factor preventing U.S. employees from reporting ethical concerns to management, reports the Ethics Resource Center, a non-profit organization that conducts national studies of employees across industries. Such fear is also a driver of unethical conduct, and dampens retention, morale and performance. Retaliation may be increasing as a slower economy brings pressures to compromise ethical standards or cut corners: 15 percent of U.S. employees reported experiencing retaliation by management or coworkers in 2009, compared to 12 percent in 2007. Related resource: Ethics Resource Center, Retaliation: The Cost to Your Company and Its Employees.
Video is now online from the conference, "Civilizing the Economy: A New Way of Understanding Business?" sponsored by Princeton University's Faith & Work Initiative in response to Pope Benedict XVI's recent social encyclical on economic life, Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth), responding to the global economic crisis precipitated by failures in the financial sector.
Jim Leach, chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, will speak Thursday, July 29, at Samford's Brock Recital Hall. The program is the Alabama stop on Leach's national tour to promote civility in politics and public discourse.
"Today's public angst relates in no small measure to a concern of many Americans . . . that they are not being listened to," he said recently. "There is a growing sense that elected officials and even unelected judges have lost sight of the public interest, of who is accountable to whom in American governance." Formerly a 30-year member of the United States Congress from Iowa, Leach is a Republican who was appointed by President Barack Obama to chair the NEH.
The July 29 event will begin with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by a 7 p.m. presentation and discussion on "Civility in a Fractured Society." There is no charge to attend, but reservations are required and will be accepted on a first-come basis. Click here to make an online reservation.
Trust in government and other institutions in the United States continues to decline, as a Pew Research Center survey finds "an unhappy public, bitter partisan-based backlash, and epic discontent with Congress and elected officials." Forty-three percent of Republicans say the federal government presents a major threat to their personal freedom, as do 50 percent of independents who lean Republican. This contrasts with just 18 percent of Democrats, 21 percent of Democrat-leaning independents. Meanwhile, the level of public discontent is similar with other major institutions. Just 25 percent say the federal government has a positive effect on the country, but the ratings are just as low for large corporations (25 percent positive) and banks and other financial institutions (22 percent positive).
The American Bar Association has begun a "thorough" three-year review of its Model Rules of Professional Conduct in response to rapid "advances in technology and global legal practice developments." The ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 is holding hearings and soliciting input from lawyers and other interested parties. The initiative was prompted in part by the growing numbers of lawyers and clients seeking to navigate the complex international legal environment. The Model Rules on Professional Conduct, adopted in 1983, serve as the model for ethics rules in most states.
A new voluntary ethics code addressing the interaction of professional medical societies and for-profit companies was announced recently by the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS). "Members and patients count on Societies to be authoritative, independent voices in the world of science and medicine," the group said. "Public confidence in our objectivity is critical to carrying out our mission." CMSS comprises 32 medical societies and more than 650,000 physicians. The code advises societies to develop educational programs, advocacy positions, and research grants independently of private companies, and stresses that professionals in leadership positions (e.g., presidents, CEOs and editors-in-chief of society journals) should avoid direct financial relationships with relevant companies.
President Obama has asked for a comprehensive study of the ethics of synthetic life after the J. Craig Venter Institute announced its creation of the first synthetic self-replicating life form. The review is the first assignment for a new Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, created to "identify and examine specific bioethical, legal and social issues related to the potential impacts of advances...in science and technology." The commission is chaired by Amy Gutman, president of the University of Pennsylvania and a leading expert in ethics and public policy. Some ethicists and theologians see the creation of this new cell as a dangerous attempt to play God with unforeseen consequences, while others stress the potential benefits of new medical treatments, new fuel sources and other breakthroughs. Related resources: Wall Street Journal article by Craig Venter and Daniel Gibson, "How We Created the First Synthetic Cell"; BBC Interview with Ethicists; Washington Post profile of Amy Gutman.
Anesthesiologists assisting with executions by lethal injection will lose their certification under a new policy of the American Board of Anesthesiologists. Board certification is required to work at most hospitals. A statement said "it is the ABA’s Professional Standing Policy that diplomates should use their clinical skills and judgment for promoting an individual's health and welfare. To do otherwise would undermine a basic ethical foundation of medicine which is – first do no harm." The American Medical Association has long opposed capital punishment, but the new ABA policy carries unprecedented sanctions.
The Mann Center offers a variety of programs for community and professional organizatoins on topics in ethics and leadership. In recent weeks the center has provided presentations or workshops for groups including National Funding Association, Leadership Birmingham, Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce, University of Mississippi, and Alabama Environmental Health Association, among many others.
To learn more about scheduling a program for your orgnanization, contact Ms. Azalea Hulbert, program assistant, at amwhitco@samford.edu.
A special event Friday, April 9, will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of the classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Beginning at 4:30 p.m. at Birmingham's historic Sixteenth Street Baptist Church,an expert panel will discuss the book's role in awakening America's conscience to racial injustice. Activities will continue at Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (across the street from the church) with a reception from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. and an exhibit featuring works of art inspired by the novel.
The event, which is free and open to the public, is cosponsored by the Mann Center, Cumberland School of Law and Alabama Humanities Foundation, with support from Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Panelists include John Carroll (moderator), dean of the Cumberland School of Law; Delores Boyd, former federal magistrate and coauthor of the book Jim Crow and Me: Stories from My Life as a Civil Rights Lawyer; Jonathan Bass, chair of Samford's History Department and expert of the civil rights movement; and Susan Swagler, literary critic for Birmingham Magazine and other publications. Click here for an event flier in PDF format.
"Focus on Ability" is the topic of a 10 a.m. presentation Tuesday, March 30, by Carolyn Cartwright, a corporate executive recognized as an innovator in developing career opportunities for people with disabilities. Her leadership at SunTrust Banks, an Atlanta-based institution with $172 billion in assets, has attracted new talent for the bank's 1,700 locations. The presentation in Reid Chapel will discuss what a university may learn from corporate efforts to ensure the full participation of people with disabilities. Later in the day she will meet with university leaders and students to explore these issues in more depth.
Her visit is cosponsored by the Mann Center and Samford Counseling Services & Disability Support Services as part of Disability Awareness Week and the Brock School of Business Executives-in-Resience Week. The lecture, which is open to the public, is one of the Mann Center's A. Gerow Hodges Lectures in Ethics and Leadership. Convo credit is available to students. Click here for an event flier in PDF format.
2010 HEAL Conference: Are Codes of Ethics Enough? The annual conference of Samford's Health Ethics and Law (HEAL) Institute will be held Friday, April 9, with principal speakers including DeWitt C. Baldwin, Jr., M.D.; Joseph Fink III, B.S.Pharm., J.D.; and Joy Penticuff, RN, Ph.D. Dr. Baldwin is scholar-in-residence at the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education [ACGME] and professor emeritus of psychiatry and the behavioral sciences at University of Nevada School of Medicine. Dr. Fink holds professorships in pharmacy, public health, and clinical leadership and management at University of Kentucky. Dr. Penticuff is professor and director of nursing program development at Concordia University and professor emerita at the University of Texas at Austin. Click here to download a brochure with details and registration information in PDF format.
The Missing Girls of China and India: What Can Be Done? Mann Center Director John Knapp interviews Cumberland School of Law Professor David Smolin, organizer of a recent conference examining the large-scale elimination of females from the populations of China and India. In one of the largest but least noticed violations of human rights today, China in just one generation has eliminated approximately ten percent of its females at birth, India perhaps as many as five percent, leading to a loss of tens of millions of women and girls. Click here for a conference brochure in PDF format.
March 10 - Wes Cantrell will speak at Samford University at 1:00 p.m. in Brock Forum (Dwight Beeson Hall) on the topic, "Character or Currency? Measuring Success in Business Leadership." Mr. Cantrell retired as chairman and CEO of Lanier Worldwide after leading the company through a successful merger with copier manufacturer Ricoh. A board member at Ann Taylor Stores and Wells Real Estate Funds, he has written two books: High-Performance Ethics: 10 Timeless Principles for Next-Generation Leadership and, most recently, From The Shop Floor to The Top Floor: Releasing The CEO Within. "Greed offers one of the great - and often fatal - illusions of life," he writes. "It offers satisfaction if we'll only remain unsatisfied, a dull-witted bargain that [ethical] leaders vet and reject." A book signing will follow his presentation. Click here for an event flier in PDF format.
March 30 - "Focus on Ability" is the topic of a 10 a.m. presentation by Carolyn Cartwright, a corporate executive recognized as an innovator in developing career opportunities for people with disabilities at SunTrust Banks, an Atlanta-based company with $172 billion in assets and nearly 1,700 branches. Under her leadership, the firm has attracted new talent for all areas of its business. Her presentation in Reid Chapel will discuss what a university may learn from corporate efforts to ensure the full participation of people with disabilities. She will meet with student leaders in the afternoon to explore these issues in more depth. Her visit is cosponsored by Samford Counseling Services & Disability Support Services. Click here for an event flier in PDF format.
Both events are part of the Mann Center's continuing series, the A. Gerow Hodges Lectures in Ethics and Leadership. There is no charge and the public is welcome. Convo credit is available to students.
The Millennial generation of 18- to 29-year-olds is more diverse, optimistic and socially liberal than older generations, according to Pew Research Center's new report, Millennials: A Portrait of Generation Next. Millennials are fast becoming the best-educated generation in American history. Meanwhile, one-fourth of them are unaffiliated with any religion, a far higher percentage than older adults when they were 18 to 29 -- yet they are no less likely to pray than were their predecessors at this stage of life. Regarding family life, just 21 percent of Millennials are married, half the share of their parents' generation at the same ages. Significantly, 34 percent are themsleves parents, and the study estimates that more than a third of Millennial women who gave birth in 2006 were unmarried. Perhaps more encouraging are indications of a high level of respect for their elders, including the finding that more than 60 percent say families "have a responsibility to have an elderly parent come live with them if that parent wants to." Fewer than 40 percent of adults ages 60 and older believe this.
Employer responses to the current economic downturn may lead to increased employee misconduct on the job, concludes a new report from Ethics Resource Center in Washington, D.C. Adjusted work schedules, furloughs, layoffs, reductions in compensation and/or benefits, and plant closures are among factors that may contribute to behavior damaging to organizations. "Thoughtful leaders carefully weigh how various options will affect workers," write the researchers. "It is inevitable that such actions will result in an erosion of positive employee perceptions, but careful planning and communication can help mitigate the damage," such as "acting out" against the employer. Perhaps more important, but not emphasized in this report, is the tendency for employees to make ethical compromises or cut corners when under pressure to meet unrealistic performance goals due to reductions in staff support and resources. Another result of recent belt-tightening is increased competition among job seekers, leading to increases in resume fraud.
April 9 - 2010 HEAL Conference: Are Codes of Ethics Enough? The annual conference of Samford's Health Ethics and Law (HEAL) Institute will be held Friday, April 9, with principal speakers including DeWitt C. Baldwin, Jr., M.D.; Joseph Fink III, B.S.Pharm., J.D.; and Joy Penticuff, RN, Ph.D. Dr. Baldwin is scholar-in-residence at the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education [ACGME] and professor emeritus of psychiatry and the behavioral sciences at University of Nevada School of Medicine. Dr. Fink holds professorships in pharmacy, public health, and clinical leadershp and management at University of Kentucky. Dr. Penticuff is professor and director of nursing program development at Concordia University and professor emerita at the University of Texas at Austin. Click here to download a brochure with details and registration information in PDF format.
Two February programs at Samford University will explore critical ethical issues in international contexts. Both are free and open to the public, with convo credit available to students.
Feb. 2 - 4 - Immigration: Perspectives in Theology, Public Policy and Ethics.
Bible scholar and immigration specialist Dr. M. Daniel Carroll will give a series of lectures and participate in other programs at Samford's Beeson Divinity School. He is a professor at Denver Seminary in Colorado and a specialist in international social action and theology. His topics over two days will include: “Ground Rules for a Constructive National Conversation on Immigration”; "Where to Begin the Immigration Conversation”; “Immigration Legislation”; and “Immigration: What Would Jesus Do?”
A panel discussion on Wednesday, Feb. 3, at 3 p.m. will be co-sponsored by Beeson and the Mann Center, with center director John C. Knapp serving as moderator. Panelists will include Carroll, Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama executive director Isabel Rubio, and Beeson Divinity professor Osvaldo Padilla. The program will be in Hodges Chapel. For more information on any of the presentations, call 205-726-2731 or click here for the news release.
Feb. 26 - The Missing Girls of China and India: What Can Be Done?
One of the greatest, but barely-noticed, violations of human rights today is the large-scale elimination of females from the populations of China and India. Over the last generation China has eliminated approximately ten percent of females at birth, India perhaps as many as five percent, leading to a loss of tens of millions of females. Sex-selective abortion is widely practiced in both nations, and other causes include sex-selective infanticide, abandonment, and discrimination in allocation of food and medical care.
The Missing Girls of China and India: What Can Be Done? will feature several of the leading experts on these extreme forms of discrimination against females: Susan Greenhalgh, Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine; Valerie M. Hudson, Professor of Political Science at Brigham Young University; Sunil K. Khanna, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Oregon State University; Feng Wang, Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine; David M. Smolin, Professor of Constitutional Law, Cumberland Law School. The conference is open to the public and co-sponsored by Cumberland Law School's Center for Biotechnology, Law and Ethics; Cumberland Law Review; Cumberland Women in Law; Cumberland Christian Legal Society; and the Mann Center. For more information call 205-726-2418 or click here for a more detailed program summary.
Wes Cantrell will speak at Samford University on March 10 at 1:00 p.m. in the Brock Forum of Dwight Beeson Hall. Mr. Cantrell is the retired chairman and CEO of Lanier Worldwide, which he led through a successful merger with copier manufacturer Ricoh, and a member of the boards of Ann Taylor Stores and Wells Real Estate Funds. His books are High-Performance Ethics: 10 Timeless Principles for Next-Generation Leadership and the just-published From The Shop Floor to The Top Floor: Releasing The CEO Within. "Greed offers one of the great - and often fatal - illusions of life," he writes. "It offers satisfaction if we'll only remain unsatisfied, a dull-witted bargain that [ethical] leaders vet and reject." He presentation, which is free and open to the public, is part of the Mann Center's continuing series, the A. Gerow Hodges Lectures in Ethics and Leadership. Convo credit is available to students.
Nurses once again are the professionals Americans trust most. Eighty-three percent of Americans say nurses have either very high or high ethical standards, positioning them at the top of Gallup's annual ranking of various professions. They have retained the No. 1 spot in the poll for the last decade. Rounding out the top five are pharmacists, medical doctors, police officers and engineers. The bottom five - or least trusted - are members of Congress, car salespeople, United States Senators, stockbrokers and HMO managers. The December 2009 survey marked the first time the honesty and ethical standards of members of Congress were ranked as "low" or "very low" by a majority (55 percent) of Americans.
Only 28 percent of global companies – and less than half of those with market capitalizations of more than $10 billion – have labor and human rights policies covering their global supply chains, according to an analysis of 2,500 companies by Harvard Law School's Pensions Project and ASSET4. “Benchmarking Corporate Policies on Labor and Human Rights in Global Supply Chains,” finds that even "fewer have follow up procedures; only 15 percent have issued a detailed LHR code of conduct for their suppliers." About 43 percent of companies based in Europe have labor and human rights policies for suppliers, compared to only 23 percent of US companies and 20 percent of Asian firms. The industries most likely to have such policies are those that have experienced negative publicity about abuses by suppliers.
Incidents of health-care fraud are increasing with the downturn in the economy, according to a survey of ethics and compliance professionals by the Health Care Compliance Association. One quarter of respondents reported an increase in the last year in the number of incidents of actual or attempted fraud. By comparison, 13 percent had seen fewer such incidents. The study asked about five types of fraud: illegal kickbacks and Stark (self-referral) violations; services not provided as claimed; services not medically necessary; hospital stays not supported by medical necessity; and reimbursement claims for durable medical equipment.
The Frances Marlin Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership promotes personal integrity and professional responsibility, supporting excellence in teaching, scholarship and service at Samford University. The center is a resource and catalyst for addressing the complex ethical challenges facing today's global society.
Link of The Month
The Markkula Center for Applied Ethicsat Santa Clara University is an interdisciplinary program focusing primarily on business ethics, bioethics, local government ethics, Internet ethics, campus ethics, and character education in K-12 schools. It provides useful resources for students, educators and professionals.
Consilium
"Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart."
- Mahatma Gandhi
Latest Reviews of Knapp Book on Faith and Business Ethics
How The Church Fails Businesspeople (And What Can Be Done About It), a new book by Mann Center Director John C. Knapp, examines the challenge of relating faith to the ethical realities of work life.
