Ethics Case Studies for Registrars

Transcription

1 Ethics Case Studies for Registrars American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers Boston Friday, March 2, 2007 Session ID: 041 8:30 9:45 Room 308

2 Presenters Kathie Beaty Registrar, Bradley University Alan Sims Registrar, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia Facilitator: Deborah Tamte-Horan Registrar, Muhlenberg College

3 Do you struggle to find a balance between enforcing policy and providing quality service? -- one policy and another? -- you and your supervisor? -- your personal philosophy and your institution s s culture?

4 How do other institutions manage these every day challenges? We ll need your participation.

5 Recent Higher Education Crises Hurricane Katrina and September 11 terrorist attacks alerted university leaders and governing boards to the danger of both natural and manmade disasters. Crises can damage the reputation and prestige of an institution for instance -- Sports team related scandals Alcohol related deaths Widespread grade tampering Alteration of files and student records Computer hacking Ethical breaches by top administrators, faculty and students Fraudulent use of tutors by student athletes Theft of body parts from university medical schools and so on. How Prepared are America s s Colleges and Universities for Major Crises? Mitroff,, Diamond and Alpaslan, Change, Jan/Feb 2006.

6 What is Ethics? Is it determining right from wrong? the same as moral values? the principles of conduct? ideal human character?

7 Ethics The basic principles of right action. Funk and Wagnalls The discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with morality and obligation. Webster s s Dictionary A set of moral principles or values. The principles of conduct governing an individual or group. The American Heritage Dictionary

8 Legislative Change in Illinois Mandatory Ethics Training under the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act (PA ) All employees of a state public university or community college in are required to complete ethics training on an annual basis. ( %20U %20of%20I%20Employees pdf)

9 What About You? How good is your understanding of workplace ethics? Do you practice good workplace ethics? Do you do your job in a way that would earn respect from your employer? If every one of your actions and attitudes could be seen on videotape and played back in front of your employer, would you be pleased or embarrassed? Would your supervisor be proud or disappointed? Or worse yet, would you be fired for some unethical act?

10 Some things to think about while solving the cases Analyze the consequences. Who will be helped by what you do? Who will be harmed? What kinds of benefits and harms will there be? Analyze the actions. Consider all the options from different perspectives. How do the actions measure up against moral principles like honesty, fairness, equality, respecting dignity of others, people s rights? Is there a conflict between the rights of different people involved? ved? Which option is least problematic? Make a decision.

11 Case # 1 Your transcripts have a great deal of student information, including ALL names during attendance, high school graduation year, and birth year. You have a graduate who is insisting that you produce a transcript that removes all names but her maiden name (which is not her current one), remove the year of her high school graduation, and birth year. She is concerned about the possibility of age and/or marital status discrimination with a prospective employer. Her transcript is paper, not electronic, so this is no small task k for you. Each semester on the record shows her name at the time of enrollment. Ethically and practically, what would you/do you do with such a request?

12 Case # 2 The registrar has discovered that a student who worked in his office fice fixed many of his grades and those of several of his friends. Further complicating things is the fact that the registrar s s student worker has graduated with honors. Some of the students whose grades he changed have also graduated while others have not. Typically, a judicial committee would handle such misconduct cases. But since the responsible student is no longer at your institution, it isn t t clear who should handle the incident and what should be done. The guilty student s s family has a history of donating to the college. In today s litigious environment the incident may bring negative media and legal attention to your institution. What would you do about the degrees and the honors designations?

13 Case # 3 A international student who attended three semesters at your institution in the 80's is requesting a transcript to use as documentation to obtain citizenship. In the e heading of his transcript his name is spelled one way, oon. Yet, on the body of his transcript for each semester, his name is spelled un. un. He claims the correct spelling of his name is un, un, and that his birth date is His birth date is listed on the transcript as XX/XX/66. You can tell that 1966 on the top of his transcript was altered by hand. He is claiming that that was a mistake made by staff in the 80 s. He wants you to change the spelling of his name and his birth year. You ask him to verify the spelling of his name and his DOB by faxing you that page from his passport. He states that he cannot do that but offers no explanation. He also states that his passport does not include his date of birth. You ask for a copy of his birth certificate. He faxes that to you but you can tell that the year of birth was altered by hand to read His name in the passport is un. un. The very thing he is claiming now - and is also in the body of his transcript. You check with a current student from the same country who finds it odd that the birth certificate seems to have been altered. He suggests that in the 60 s s a hand written birth certificate may have been common, but more likely the entire certificate would have h been hand written or typed but not a combination of the two. You both find it odd that he couldn't or wouldn't fax his passport and his claim that it didn't show a date of birth. A lack of a birth date on a passport - even from a developing country in the 1980's seems nearly impossible. You realize that your transcript leaves room for doubt. You have e no way of determining if a college official in the 80's altered the records or the reasons behind it. i You have only the opinion of one of your students who happens to be 10 years younger. What do you do?

14 Case # 4 One school within the university continues to allow students to sit in class without being registered. In a few extreme cases, students have surfaced with registration forms and payment for these courses years after the semester ended. It seems to be a financial situation that keeps these students from registering at the proper time. What would you do? Is it legal to deny the credits?

15 Case # 5 According to state law persons who have been convicted of a sex crime must reveal the conviction to their employer by the tenth day of employment. On the tenth day of his employment in your office one of your student workers confesses to you, the Registrar, that he is a convicted sex offender. What do you do?

16 Case # 6 In October a faculty member tries to turn in grades for four students who completed her independent study course during the previous SummerS term. Two students have grades of Incomplete on file. Your records reveal that the other two students were never registered for the course. What do you do? Do you work with the department chair to create an Independent Study course for Fall term for the two who were not registered? What if the payment/compensation to the faculty member for the summer term differs from the regular academic year compensation?

17 Case # 7 You just read in the Chronicle about another serious IT security breach at a major college. You are at a small college, with very limited IT resources. You are worried because you have never seen an IT disaster recovery plan; you are vague about what would happen to your student records. You know of local issues that concern you -- users often share passwords, any staff person can get a user ID to the student system, there is no message on the log in screen advising users about FERPA restrictions, etc. What do YOU do?

18 Case # 8 A graduate student requests a medical leave for Spring term which h ends on May 14. You receive the medical leave form on May 9 signed by the Retention Coordinator but documentation from the student and the signature of the student and the university physician are missing. You do not process the withdrawal and he earns F s F s in all of his classes. In October you still do not have the documentation but an administrator urgently requests that you change all of the F s F s to W s W s based on the family doctor s s signature on the medical leave request. Usually the university physician reviews and approves medical leaves. Two years later the student wants to return to school but his advisor, the dean of the graduate school, and two former professors doubt that he can handle the courses and question whether the F s F s should have been changed to W s. If he is readmitted they agree that he should not take a full load. l What do you do? Kathie Beaty, Bradley University

19 Ethical Leadership Requires setting standards, Communicating the standards, Teaching employees to perform to the standards, Enforcing the standards, and Adhering to the standards personally Dr. John C. Knapp, President of the Southern Institute for Business and Professional Ethics

20 Top 10 Causes for Employees Unethical Conduct Failure of the organization s s leadership in establishing ethical standards and culture Personal greed Weakness of personal character Desire to advance career Pressure to meet unrealistic performance or financial goals

21 Top 10 Causes for Employees Unethical Conduct (continued) Inadequate training and communication Indifference or low morale Pressure to meet deadlines/schedules Not understanding the company s s ethics policies Not agreeing with the company s s ethics policies Dr. John C. Knapp

22 Three Questions for You How well defined are the ethical standards that guide your business conduct? What steps do you take to apply these standards in practice? Does your management s s conduct match its talk? Dr. John C. Knapp

23 Ethics Ethics must be seen to be believed. Jacques Barzun, American historian, and provost at Columbia University

24 Ethics Ethics is a code of values which guide our choices and actions and determine the purpose and course of our lives. Ayn Rand, Russian-American novelist and philosopher ( ) 1982)

25 What is Your Role? Be actively involved in being responsible for the accuracy and integrity of academic records Provide an institutional example; be a role model in ethical dilemmas Train staff Be reflective; stay on your toes and be aware Review the alternatives for resolving issues; consider opposing views Consider alternatives in relationship to academic principles as well as other values Check against your own intuitive judgment Manage your office well; be a leader

26 Professional Practices and Ethical Standards: AACRAO Members shall: Believe in and be loyal to the philosophy and goals of the profession and the institutions we serve. Understand and respect the civil and human rights and responsibilities of all individuals while supporting and protecting the principles of due process and confidentiality. Adhere to the principles of nondiscrimination and equality without regard to race, color, creed, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion or national origin.

27 Professional Practices and Ethical Standards (continued) Represent an institutional or association perspective without vested interests or personal bias. Initiate policies that support the goals of our profession. Assert ourselves when policies or practices are proposed that seem to be contrary to the philosophy and goals of our professions and institutions.

28 Professional Practices and Ethical Standards (Continued) Participate in and contribute to professional activities and their development to ensure effective and efficient management of resources, data and personnel. Communicate an accurate interpretation of our institution s admissions criteria, educational costs, financial aid availability and major offerings to assist prospective students and parents in making an informed decision. Assist in improving educational standards an methods of evaluation at the institutional, state, and federal level so that grading is meaningful in reflecting the academic achievement of students.

29 Professional Practices and Ethical Standards (continued) Understand and appreciate the dynamics of interpersonal relationships when dealing with students, parents, faculty, administration, associates and the public. Develop and implement effective management systems that will ensure integrity, confidentiality, security of institutional records and provide an accurate interpretation of such information. Dedicate ourselves to the ideals and principles that will enable students to develop their talents and interests to become responsible citizens and contributors to the improvement of society.

30 Professional Practices and Ethical Standards (continued) Practice honesty and integrity in our professions and in our lives. From the AACRAO Member Guide ( ) 2004) page 7.

31 Summary As professionals, we must find the balance between policy and service. AACRAO Professional Practices and Ethical Standards states that we should assert ourselves when policies or practices are proposed that seem to be contrary to the philosophy and goals of our professions and our institutions. We, as professionals, need to support the philosophy and goals of the institutions we serve with honesty and integrity.

32 Presenters Kathie Beaty, Registrar Bradley University 1501 W Bradley Ave Peoria, IL / kbeaty@bradley.edu Alan Sims, Registrar University of the Sciences in Philadelphia 600 South 43rd Street Philadelphia, PA a.sims@usip.edu