Moral supports

From athletes who use steroids, to food manufacturers who attach misleading labels to their products, to issues of embryonic stem cell research and in vitro fertilization, the matter of ethics extends far beyond abstract philosophical discussions.

At UD, a growing initiative is under way, co-directed by Department of Philosophy chairperson Frederick Adams and David Weir, director of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute (DBI). The Delaware Interdisciplinary Ethics Program is administered by a board of representatives from each of the University’s seven colleges and from Delaware State University, Delaware Technical and Community College and Christiana Care Health System.

“Our ethics program really does span all seven colleges, and we’re also reaching out to the community,” Adams says. “I don’t know of any other university that has such a diverse and truly interdisciplinary program.”

And, he says, “We owe it all to some very wise people in the Class of 1955.”

The initiative began a decade ago, when the class was planning its 40th reunion and decided to donate a gift for a program that would promote discussion and instruction in ethics. When Adams came to the University in 1997, he says, he learned that the philosophy department was responsible for managing the endowment.

The donors specified that the money was not to be used solely for departmental purposes but was to create ethics programs that would encompass all areas of study. While a conventional type of endowment might have been used to support a philosophy professor in producing a book, for example, that was not what the Class of ’55 had in mind, Adams says.

“The ethics program at UD is designed to be a resource, a place where people from throughout the University and the community can come to find an expert speaker or to collaborate on research,” he says. “That’s what we set out to do, and that’s the way it has developed.”

The program began with a focus on the life sciences, reflecting the interest and involvement of Weir and DBI. In 2003, Mark Greene, a postdoctoral fellow at the Phoebe R. Berman Bioethics Institute at Johns Hopkins University, joined the philosophy department faculty to teach bioethics courses. Weir says such agencies as the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, which have awarded grants to DBI, have long emphasized the importance of bioethics.

“My interest is in the scientific side of the issue of ethics and public policy,” Weir says. “The pace of science is moving so quickly that it’s passing our ability to understand what’s going on. There are some huge issues that society is going to have to address, and the University has a responsibility to help educate people about both the science and the ethics involved.”

Adams, Weir and Provost Dan Rich held a series of meetings with interested faculty members and learned that many departments offered instruction in ethics. Some had courses dedicated to the subject, while others included ethics as part of other courses, but it was clear that the topic was important across the campus, Adams says. As a result of that broad interest, he says, UD’s Ethics and Public Policy program has expanded beyond the life sciences to encompass almost every subject taught at the University.

The program now includes several components. One is a “Great Debates” series, with a debate on a topic of social concern held every semester. Students are invited to attend and write essays on the debate topic, and a total of $1,200 in prize money is awarded for the best three entries.

The program also is awarding instructional-enrichment grants to faculty members who submit proposals for new ways to incorporate ethics into their teaching. In the Department of Health, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences, for example, Prof. Matt Robinson recently was awarded almost $20,000 to enhance instruction in ethics in the sport management field. Robinson says he plans to bring a prominent speaker to campus to discuss ethics in sports with students in their classes and also to give a public lecture.

“It is essential that students consider the ethical ramifications of decisions they will make both professionally and personally,” Robinson says. “The sport world has so much to offer, but unfortunately, it is often painted in a negative light, based on the unethical behavior of leaders and participants.”

Another recent grant has been awarded to Profs. Kali Kniel and Cathy Davies in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences, who plan to bring a leader in the field of ethics to campus for a seminar each semester. Possible topics will include genetically modified food, regulation of dietary supplements and risk analysis of foods.

“We will link what is being taught in the diverse classes so that students can develop an ethical maturity over their four-year program,” Kniel and Davies say. “During this time, we hope that students will gain the necessary skills for successful argument development, reasoning and critical thinking.”

The next step in the ethics program will focus on outreach beyond the UD campus. Adams notes that process already has begun with the help of a recent $6 million National Science Foundation life-sciences grant to a partnership of Delaware educational institutions, led by DBI. UD’s ethics program, he says, “was a significant factor in our receiving this important, major grant,” to which the state added $3 million.

All these initiatives are gratifying to those alumni who endowed the program, according to Ruth Draper, AS ’55. As one of the original proponents of the class gift, she has attended many of the programs it has supported.

“I’m absolutely thrilled,” Draper says. “In today’s world, I think it’s more important than ever because ethical issues come up everywhere. I feel like we were on the cutting edge when we came up with this idea 10 years ago.” 

—Ann Manser, AS ’73, CHEP ’73