Ethics Newsline®

BOSTON
In the wake of cheating scandals and ethical failings in society, colleges and universities are ratcheting up efforts to prepare students for ethical excellence, according to a report from the Aug. 23 edition of the Christian Science Monitor.

Monitor staff writer Stacy Teicher Khadaroo reports that various institutions are incorporating service projects and ethics education into their academic requirements.

She quotes Caryn McTighe Musil, an official of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU), as saying that civic, ethical, and moral development “should be no longer optional” for college students. “We argue you cannot function in the world without this heightened sensibility.”

Khadaroo reports that more than 100 schools applied for 23 slots in an AACU consortium aimed at ethical and social responsibility. “Each receives a $25,000 matching grant from the John Templeton Foundation,” she writes. “Some of their plans include expanding academic honor codes to become social-values codes as well; hosting dialogues to explore community issues or philosophical questions; and having students host civics- or ethics-based workshops and contests.”