Prison Fellowship Founder Charles Colson to Receive Mann Medal in Ethics and Leadership

Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship and longtime advocate of penal system reform, will be honored on July 18 with the Mann Medal in Ethics and Leadership, Samford University's recognition of significant contributions to a more just and ethical society.
 
Mr. Colson was special counsel to President Richard Nixon for four years before serving seven months in federal prison on Watergate-related obstruction of justice charges.  His incarceration at Alabama's Maxwell Prison changed his life and inspired him to found Prison Fellowship, a ministry that now includes services for convicts, victims of crime, and justice officers. His work on behalf of prisoners has now expanded to 200 countries, he is the author of several books,and his daily radio feature, BreakPoint, airs on 1,000 stations.

The luncheon honoring Mr. Colson will be at Birmingham's Harbert Center.  There is no charge for this event and reservations will be taken on a first-come basis.  Click here for details and online registration.

The Mann Medal was designed by world-renowned artist Malcolm Grear, whose work includes athletes' medals for the Olympic Games.

News and Views

Sleep deprivation can make you less ethical, so says a study in a forthcoming issue of Academy of Management Journal.  Scholars at the University of North Carolina and the University of Arizona conducted research with nurses and college students and concluded that lack of sleep contributed to unethical behavior including rudeness and attempts to take more money than they had earned.  They theorize that sleep deprivation impairs brain functioning in the prefrontal cortex, an area crucial to decision making, emotional control and other behavioral functions.  The implications may be especially relevant to leaders whose schedules, travel patterns and international communications keep them from getting adequate sleep.  Related resource: Financial Times article.

Are human subjects adequately protected in federally funded research projects?  The Obama administration's Commission on for the Study of Bioethical Issues met last week to discuss this question, with some experts arguing that Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) are more concerned with regulatory compliance than ethics.  Too often missing from the review process, they said, is meaningful discourse about important issues, such as obtaining truly informed consent.  IRB approval is required at universities, private laboratories and other institutions where research involves human subjects.  Related resource: Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.

In another indication of the decline of marriage as a foundational institution of American society, a new study by the Pew Research Center finds that the 18- to 29-year-old Millennial generation values parenthood far more than marriage.  More than half of Millennials believe "being a good parent 'one of the most important things' in life," but only 30 percent say the same about having a successful marriage.  These attitudes are reflected in the fact that "young adults today are slower to marry than were their counterparts in older generations. Just 22 percent of Millennials are currently married. . . but when Gen Xers were the same age that Millennials are now, some three-in-ten of them were married, as were more than four-in-ten Baby Boomers and more than half of the members of the Silent Generation (ages 65 and older)."  Related resource: Pew Research Center study.

The American Economic Association has appointed an Ad Hoc Committee on Ethical Standards for Economists, prompted largely by concerns about the relationships of influential academic economists to powerful financial firms.  Such ties may constitute serious conflicts of interest that compromise economists' ability to render objective advice and opinions.  Members of the AEA have long opposed attempts to establish ethical standards of practice, arguing that economics is concerned strictly with empirical, objective inquiry involving no value judgments.  Others point out that because AEA members are not licensed, the organization would have no means of enforcing a code of ethics if one were adopted.  Related resource: article in Chronicle of Higher Education.

An Ironic Legacy of Egypt's Mubarak Regime: Improvements in Social, Legal Status of Women

John C. Knapp, professor and director of the Frances Marlin Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership, was invited to Cairo in 2009 by former Egyptian First Lady Suzanne Mubarak to participate in a series of discussions about social justice for women.  He gave a keynote presentation on the moral foundations of democracy to a gathering of 700 women representing local communities across Egypt, and was the only male speaker on an international panel moderated by Ms. Mubarak.  Recently he gave a talk reflecting on this facet of the Mubarak legacy in the aftermath of the popular uprising that ousted the regime from power.  Here is an excerpt:

Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule of Egypt was at once a stabilizing influence in a volatile region and an authoritarian, often repressive, regime at home.  Mubarak and some members of his family are now under arrest, accused of financial corruption and bloodty attacks on protesters,

Thus it may now seem ironic that former First Lady Suzanne Mubarak founded and led a movement that elevated the status of Egyptian women in recent years.  The National Council for Women, which she formed in 2006, promoted economic, social, political and legal empowerment of women through small business development and job-training programs; a national ombudsman's office for women's concerns; women's health-care services; literacy programs for adult women; a Women's Legal Rights Project; and increased numbers of women in the judiciary, the parliament, and the president's cabinet.

The most populous country in the Middle East, Egypt is home to nearly 80 million people, 90 percent of whom are Muslims. With 20 percent of the country living below the poverty line, women and children bear a disproportionate economic burden, especially in rural areas.

Why would the autocratic Mubarak government expand rights and freedoms for women?  One reason is simply pragmatic: Empowering women strengthened Egypt's secular society and blunted the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist conservatives whose interpretations of Qur'anic law helped perpetuate female subjugation.  Seeing hard-line Islamist groups as a constant threat to his government, Mubarak used every means to keep them in check.

Suzanne Mubarak's organization enlisted Muslim scholars with more progressive views to write alternative interpretations of the Qur'an on topics ranging from polygamy to gender equality to economic rights.  Her council was recognized by the World Bank as a best-practice model for the Middle East and North Africa, and collaborated with the United Nations (UNDP, UNIFEM, UNICEF), the Ford Foundation, IBM, the European Union, and the governments of the United States, Sweden, Finland, Spain, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

To be sure, some critics argue that Ms. Mubarak's efforts did not go far enough.  But the ultimate measure of her work may be the extent to which Egyptian women claim equal status under the emerging government.