The Hanover College EEP Project in Winter, 1996

What it was.

In 1989 Hanover College was invited to participate in the first round of the project called "Ethics and the Educated Person." Sponsored by the Poynter Center at Indiana University and funded by the Lilly Endowment, EEP was designed to stimulate and support the study of ethics and the development of moral values in the colleges and universities of Indiana.

A team of three faculty members (Flume, Karns, Rosenthal) participated in a week-long ethics workshop in the summer of 1989 and then developed a successful proposal for an ethics project at Hanover. The project was conducted during 1990-92.

The project, called "An Integrated Approach to Ethical Issues in a Liberal Arts Community," had several major features.

1. It built on a distinctive feature of Hanover's curriculum, the fact that all students are required to take a course in philosophy as freshmen and a course in theological studies before the junior year. The idea was to develop a common text for all freshman philosophy classes and to utilize it as background for the study of biblical/Christian ethics. The text, "Talking About Ethics," was written by a philosopher and a theologian in summer 1991 and used in the following years in most freshman philosophy courses.

2. The whole faculty was to have copies of the text, with opportunities to explore at least parts of it with the philosophy and theology faculty. Thus, there would be at least some shared basis for ethical discourse among the professional staff. All staff were encouraged to deal with ethical issues in courses where doing so was appropriate, and to draw on the students' prior study of ethics. Philosophers and theologians would be available as consultants, and the text would be revised in the light of continuing usage. In August 1991 the whole faculty and staff devoted a full day of workshops and other activities focusing on the text, using materials about ethical relativism as a case in point.

3. The project sponsored three two-day ethics forums, which brought ethicists and other outside authorities to campus for a mix of public lectures, classroom sessions, workshops, and opportunities for dialogue with staff during receptions and dinners. The forums were on biomedical ethics (David Smith), ethics in journalism (David Boeyink), and ethics in college sports. A fourth forum, on business ethics, was canceled due to problems in organization.

4. An intensive three day retreat for 15 faculty/staff was held at Spring Mill State Park in August, 1991. Participants proposed some project or issue related to their area of responsibility, and these were the focus of individual workshops and other sessions. This event included people from maintenance, administration, and the faculty.

5. A variety of "spin off" or other related activities came from the project, including the following:

  1. creation of a course in business ethics, offered by the business staff,
  2. development of ethical guidelines for animal research that faculty and students do;
  3. three visiting scholars focusing on ethical issues:
  4. P. Farber on evolutionary ethics
  5. J. B. Callicott on environmental ethics
  6. L. Thomas, contemporary ethical theory
6. Several co-curricular and/or campus community developments were directly prompted by the ethics project:

  1. consideration of developing an honor code for students;
  2. basic rethinking of student life policies with a focus on developing moral character, resulting in adoption of new guidelines, called "'Participation' and 'Responsibility:' New Directions;"
  3. Focus on moral issues regarding such things as alcohol use, date-rape, and other student concerns;
  4. A series of Town Meetings on issues of broad concern, such as housing and alcohol policies.
Where it is.

Officially, the project closed as an externally funded venture in 1992. It had a lively presence on campus during its two-year span, and has left some enduring effects, though almost none of these have been 'institutionalized' in the way originally hoped for. There is still no clear connection between the GDRs in philosophy and theological studies as these deal with ethics. The faculty in general has no special knowledge of how all students are introduced to ethics in those two disciplines, so there can be no organized curricular reliance on that introduction. There are no ongoing forums in which faculty can discuss the treatment of ethical matters throughout the curriculum or elsewhere.

It is unclear how far, if at all, student life policy has been informed by the new approach discussed several years ago. The prolonged efforts to seriously reconsider alcohol policies apparently interrupted that more general process, and undercut some of its stress on the role of students in shaping policy and making it work. A number of initiatives have been taken, by staff and students, to engage students in service activities and heighten their sense of social responsibility.

Among the main factors which kept the project from continuing to build on its substantial contributions are these:

Administration.

  1. Almost at the start the College got a new Academic Dean, so the original leadership was lost.
  2. The Team overseeing the project was just an ad hoc committee, whose members continued all their other professional obligations, including other committee work.
  3. The life of the project was not continued by the administration.
Staffing.

  1. New curricular initiatives were taken involving the philosophy and theological studies staff in major work separate from the ethics project.
  2. Major changes occurred in the staff of both key departments: philosophy added 50% new people, theological studies added 75%.
Where next?

Under the guidance of yet another new Dean, we are taking a fresh look at the legacy of the ethics project. We are not yet to the stage of having an 'action plan,' but several major lines of possibility are actively under consideration.

1. Revive the spirit of the project in the context of new discussions about how to link philosophy and theological studies in the GDR program.

It may not be necessary or best to have a core text, but we are seriously considering having come common questions, ideas and methods in ethical inquiry in all freshman philosophy courses. The departments can explore this on their own, perhaps inviting general faculty input on what would be helpful in other parts of the curriculum. Then the departments can work to stimulate and enrich ethical inquiry elsewhere in the curriculum. The departments provide a logical ongoing base for maintaining a serious program in 'ethics across the curriculum,' without any additional administrative or organizational complications.

2. Revive the new approach to student life policy.

This should be done by the Rules Formulation Committee and the Student Affairs staff, initially. Look at the proposal to redefine and rename RFC. Moral development and the study of ethics are quite separate matters, but in our setting they can and should be closely related. This is something central to our educational mission, and something that Hanover College could do exceptionally well.

Some reasons for optimism.

Hanover College is currently doing major work in the area of long-range planning, which includes an effort to restate its basic mission. This effort includes a renewed focus on moral development and its links with the total educational experience. Issues of student life, housing, and curriculum can all be linked to ethical considerations.

The new Academic Dean supports reviving the spirit and general directions of the project.

The philosophy and theological studies departments have just disengaged from another major program of multi-disciplinary studies and want to build stronger ties between each other's courses. Ethics is a natural link.

Drafted by Dr. Robert J. Rosenthal
Chair/Professor of Philosophy
Hanover College

23 February 1996

EEP home page

Last updated: 10 June 1996
URL: http://www.indiana.edu/~poynter/eep/iub.html
Comments: pimple@indiana.edu
Copyright 1996, The Trustees of Indiana University