Transparent Ethics

The notion of "Social Justice" has received significant momentum at liberal arts institutions like ours. The idea that students can and should be taught values always creates significant debate. I take a minimalist point of view, and would prefer to inspire the students to aspire to the highest, not necessarily preach any particular form of values. Human beings are human beings everywhere. As the Nobel winner Mr. Yunus says, the natural state of human beings is to do good.

Unfortunately the natural state is often disturbed, sometimes to a tragic extreme. One instance of this is the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan by United States military personnel (NYT). Some of the pictures have come out, and Obama had indicated that other pictures would be released. NYT reported that "President Obama said Wednesday that he would fight to prevent the release of photographs documenting abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan by United States military personnel, reversing his position on the issue after commanders warned that the images could set off a deadly backlash against American troops."
"“The publication of these photos would not add any additional benefit to our understanding of what was carried out in the past by a small number of individuals,” Mr. Obama told reporters on the South Lawn. “In fact, the most direct consequence of releasing them, I believe, would be to further inflame anti-American opinion and to put our troops in greater danger.”
The ethical thing to do would be to release the pictures sooner rather than later, get it out, and let the world know that we don't hide things however troubling they might be. Attributing everything to a "small number of individuals" and sweeping the events under the rug is exactly the kind of behavior that lowers us.

While Obama set this example, NYT had another article titled "A Promise to Be Ethical in an Era of Immorality" which leads off as follows:
"When a new crop of future business leaders graduates from the Harvard Business School next week, many of them will be taking a new oath that says, in effect, greed is not good.

Nearly 20 percent of the graduating class have signed “The M.B.A. Oath,” a voluntary student-led pledge that the goal of a business manager is to “serve the greater good.” It promises that Harvard M.B.A.’s will act responsibly, ethically and refrain from advancing their “own narrow ambitions” at the expense of others.

What happened to making money?

That, of course, is still at the heart of the Harvard curriculum. But at Harvard and other top business schools, there has been an explosion of interest in ethics courses and in student activities — clubs, lectures, conferences — about personal and corporate responsibility and on how to view business as more than a money-making enterprise, but part of a large social community.

“We want to stand up and recite something out loud with our class,” said Teal Carlock, who is graduating from Harvard and has accepted a job at Genentech. “Fingers are now pointed at M.B.A.’s and we, as a class, have a real opportunity to come together and set a standard as business leaders.”

At Columbia Business School, all students must pledge to an honor code: “As a lifelong member of the Columbia Business School community, I adhere to the principles of truth, integrity, and respect. I will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.” The code has been in place for about three years and came about after discussions between students and faculty...."
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It is under difficult circumstances that one's mettle is tested. Let us hope that these MBAs live up to their oaths a few years from now.