September 2010 Archives

Class of 2010
English, with minors in Health Policy and Administration, and Women's Studies
Penn State University Park
Nominated by Jennifer Wagner-Lawlor and Courtney Waters

As photos from the party started to circulate and voices of concern grew increasingly audible, Stephen Lucas knew that he should be the one to stand up and assume responsibility for the situation. It wasn't his fault that a white student had attended the Rainbow Roundtable Halloween party in blackface. He hadn't even been aware of the situation as it was happening. Still, his responsibility stemmed from the fact that, as President of the Rainbow Roundtable, he had dedicated himself to a leadership role in the often-marginalized LBGTQA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer, and Allied) community. Seen from the perspective of Stephen's commitment to advocating for under-represented groups, the student's choice of costume was not simply in bad taste; it invoked the ugly specter of a period in our history when whites commonly used blackface as one of a host of tools for dehumanizing and marginalizing black communities. Although it was clearly not the intention of the student to do this, the incident served to remind Stephen that LGBTQA communities need to be just as reflective as any other about the role that white privilege and historically racist attitudes might play in shaping their practices.

Human Development and Family Studies, and Women's Studies
Penn State University Park
Nominated by Mindy Boffemmyer and Jill Wood

You might be prone to think that there is nothing particularly controversial about knitting... and you would probably be right.  Maybe that is one of the reasons that knitting can serve Sarah O'Donald and the other members of Knitivism as such an effective tool for engaging people in discussions about issues that clearly are controversial.  By helping to found Knitivism and organizing 'knit-ins' as a peaceful form of protest against social injustice, Sarah does more than simply remind us of the historically significant tradition of grass-roots activism on college campuses in the United States.  She invites us to take up this tradition in ways that are both creative and responsive to the particular set of ethical challenges by which she and her peers will come to be remembered and defined in the minds of future generations.
 

Class of 2011
Human Development and Family Studies
Penn State Shenango
Nominated by Heidi Friedrich

It would be nice to believe that most people have no idea of the kind of pain and suffering that Peggy Styles endured after the loss of her daughter, Chloe. Nobody deserves to go through something like that. No lessons learned from the experience can even begin to make up for what is lost. As Peggy discovered when she eventually resumed her commitment to reaching out to others, however, all too many of us have suffered similar losses and have endured comparable hardships. These losses and hardships tend to cut in two ways. We become severed not only from an individual loved-one, but also from the broader community whose physical, emotional, and spiritual support we so desperately need. In talking about her own experience, Peggy noticed that this prompted others, who may have otherwise remained silent, to do the same. This convinced her that there was an urgent need to stand up and assume a leadership role in organizing her community's resources to help those of its members who needed help the most.

Last spring Penn State students Lindsay Stork and Stacy Zanca submitted a short film to the Rock Ethics Institutes' first annual Ethics Film/Video Competition. Provocatively entitled 'Under the Influence', the film employed striking visual technique in encouraging viewers to consider the potentially disastrous consequences of actions that many of us engage in every day, and to which seemingly few of us give much real thought.  Sadly, charges recently brought against a Houtzdale man both remind us that the issue addressed in the film is a very real one and force us to consider the harm that our otherwise seemingly innocent actions may cause to others as well as to ourselves.

Take a look at Lindsay and Stacy's film.  What ethical questions do you think it raises and why?  What, if anything, are the specifically ethical differences between the scenario presented there and the events leading to the felony homicide charges brought against the Houtzdale man?  What about between this real-life case and the similar case in Gwinnett County, GA, where the charges were reduced to a misdemeanor?

How many of you have texted while driving?
 
If you have without causing harm to yourself or others, does that mean there is an ethically important difference between you and the people charged in these cases?

 

According to a recent New York Times story, BP has agreed to "set aside $20 billion over the next four years to pay damage claims and government penalties stemming from the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig."  They have also agreed to contribute $100 million to support rig workers who have lost their jobs because of the deepwater drilling moratorium along with $500 million to study the impact of the spill.  But BP executives have indicated that the ability to support these funds may be compromised if BP, who is the largest producer of oil and gas in the gulf, was barred from drilling in the Gulf. 

BP executives are worried about a drilling overhaul bill, which includes an amendment that would preclude permits to drill on the Outer Continental Shelf for any company that has had more than 10 fatalities on its offshore or onshore facilities or if it had been received fines of $10 million or more under the Clean Air or Clean Water Acts within a seven-year period.  Under those provisions, BP would be denied permits, resulting in loss of about a quarter of BPs total profits, which are estimated to be $20 to $28 billion annually.

Is it ethical for a BP to try to influence legislation in this way?  Are there any ethical limits to the manner in which corporations can try to influence legislation? What do you think?