What Is a Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Library Doing in North Dakota?; The New York Times, October 27, 2023

 Jennifer Schuessler,  The New York Times, October 27, 2023; What Is a Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Library Doing in North Dakota?

"The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, set to open on July 4, 2026, will pay tribute to the 26th president’s “relentless, resilient spirit” and environmental vision. Perched dramatically on a butte, it aims to be “a people’s presidential library,” rooted not in books and archives — there are none — but immersive exhibits that challenge visitors to get, as Roosevelt famously put it, “in the arena.”...

More than a century after his death, Roosevelt remains one of the most popular presidents, celebrated as a man of action, a muscular nationalist, an environmental visionary, a trustbuster or all of the above. He’s a favorite of Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley, Tom Brady and LeBron James. Historians consistently rank him among the top five.

But Roosevelt also saw life as a struggle between the weak and the strong, with whites at the top of the evolutionary heap. Which raises another, thornier question: How do you build an honest 21st-century museum about a figure whose 19th-century attitudes about race, empire and, especially, Native Americans still trail him like a cloud of dust?...

Scott Davis, a former executive director of the North Dakota Indian Affairs Commission, said he immediately texted Governor Burgum when he saw the news. “I was really upset,” he recalled in an interview last month in Medora. After a long conversation, Davis said, the governor raised the possibility of adding a “platform” for Native voices at the library...

A two-page spread in the library’s “Story Guide” lists “sensitive issues,” including Roosevelt’s support for eugenics, his militarism and his often “coarse and fearful” views of Native Americans.

“I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians,” he said in 1886, “but I believe nine out of every 10 are, and I shouldn’t like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth.”"...

Roosevelt’s conservation policies, the guide acknowledges, “came at a great cost to Native Americans,” who lost access to homes, hunting grounds and spiritual sites.

Still, the historian Douglas Brinkley, a board member and the author of “The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America,” called Roosevelt “a sustainable hero” — imperfect, but possessing virtues and accomplishments that can be built on.

“We’d be a much lesser nation without the efforts of his presidency,” Brinkley said.

Kermit Roosevelt, a great-great-grandson of the president and a board member who teaches constitutional law at the University of Pennsylvania, said it was important to address his ancestor’s ugly attitudes toward Native Americans, as well his broader “atmospheric Social Darwinism.”"

Georgia Tech Introduces Code of Ethics; Georgia Tech, April 11, 2022

Georgia Tech; Georgia Tech Introduces Code of Ethics

The Code of Ethics is a living document that is a tool to help employees navigate ethical decisions they may face.

"Georgia Tech’s Office of Ethics and Compliance is excited to introduce a Code of Ethics, a resource to support employees as they navigate decision making at Georgia Tech. The Code of Ethics is aligned with the Institute’s nine strategic values and a culture of ethics.

When developing the Code of Ethics, the Office of Ethics and Compliance assembled a working group of faculty and staff stakeholders to share their subject matter expertise and review content. They worked to make the document easy to understand, eliminating legalese whenever possible. The code also includes visuals, such as flowcharts and other graphics, to make it visually appealing and reader friendly.

“The Code of Ethics is not a rule book or a policy. It is a living document that is a tool to help employees navigate ethical decisions they may face,” said Sally Robertson, senior counsel in the Office of Ethics and Compliance. “And while it can't tell you what to do in every situation, it can provide a great starting point.”

Current employees are invited to attend the Code of Ethics Employee Celebration to be held Wednesday, April 13, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tech Green. Attendees who download or obtain a hard copy of the Code of Ethics will receive a food truck voucher (limited to the first 100 attendees), a free t-shirt, or a free King of Pops popsicle (first come, first served as supplies last)." 

ALA Announces $7 Million in Grants to Support Accessibility; American Libraries, March 3, 2022

 American Libraries; ALA Announces $7 Million in Grants to Support Accessibility

"On March 3, the American Library Association announced that its Libraries Transforming Communities initiative will be distributing $7 million in grants to support accessibility efforts at small and rural libraries. The statement reads as follows:

The American Library Association (ALA) announced today that its Libraries Transforming Communities project will offer more than $7 million in grants to small and rural libraries to increase the accessibility of facilities, services, and programs to better serve people with disabilities.

“[The] Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities [grant] represents an important next step in ALA’s commitment to serving small and rural libraries as well as emphasizing the essential connection between accessibility and our work in spreading the values of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI),” said ALA President Patricia “Patty” M. Wong. “Made possible by a generous grant, this project will also allow ALA to strengthen our staff by providing accessibility training and other professional development around EDI issues. We are also grateful for the opportunity to bring on ALA’s first accessibility officer to oversee our work on this important core value.”"

Emerging technologies pose ethical quandaries. Where does IT leadership fit in?; CIO Dive, February 22, 2021

Katie Malone, CIO Dive; Emerging technologies pose ethical quandaries. Where does IT leadership fit in?

""More organizations are seeing that trust is a measurement of profitability, of organizational health, of success," said Catherine Bannister, Tech Savvy and ethical tech leader at Deloitte. "This notion of ethics is becoming much more visible to stakeholders across the board and they are using that as a measure of trust, both internally and externally."

But there's no common definition for what ethical technology looks like and the conversation is ongoing. Instead, CIOs and other members of IT leadership are responsible for figuring out what tech ethics mean for their organizations in the near- and long-term. 

If an organization doesn't do its ethical due diligence, customers will catch on and trust will be diminished, according to Bannister."

A whole class of Georgia state troopers was fired after cheating on an exam; The Washington Post, January 30, 2020

Lateshia Beachum , The Washington Post; A whole class of Georgia state troopers was fired after cheating on an exam

 

"An entire class of Georgia state troopers was compelled to hand over their badges after investigators found that they had cheated on an academy radar test, officials say.

 

Thirty members of the 106th Georgia State Patrol trooper class were removed from the force after an investigation found all of them had cheated on an exam that tests cadets on how to operate speed-detection technology."

Ethics and Guidelines at Vox.com; Vox, December 7, 2018

Vox Staff, Vox; Ethics and Guidelines at Vox.com

"As a part of Vox Media, Vox.com adheres to the Vox Media Editorial Ethics & Guidelines and to the following:

Vox has evolved and will continue to evolve as it builds a portfolio of modern editorial networks and partners across multiple mediums driving the future of journalism and entertainment. However, our commitment to the core values of integrity and passion will never change.

We believe in working with talented people, the judgment of our staff, and the transcendent importance of serving the interests of our audiences. Through the Vox Media editorial guidelines we aim to give our teams clear guidance about what to avoid and the public knowledge of what to expect. Simultaneously, we recognize the impossibility of reducing the complexity of real life to a simple checklist or rulebook and encourage conversation and dialogue with colleagues and supervisors about concrete situations as superior to trying to craft an ethics policy that would address every conceivable dilemma.

As the needs of our newsrooms and audiences change, our guidelines will adapt in kind to ensure that Vox Media’s work is always deserving of our audiences’ trust."

6 Core Values and 5 Emotional Intelligence Skills Leading to Sound Ethical Decisions; IPWatchdog, July 6, 2017

Bernard Knight, IPWatchdog; 6 Core Values and 5 Emotional Intelligence Skills Leading to Sound Ethical Decisions

"Ethical conduct is required in all jobs and by all organizations.   It also applies to positions at all levels.   Anyone can disagree with a substantive business or legal decision, but make an ethical mistake and your company, firm or individual career could be in jeopardy.   I explain below some excellent tools to avoid ethical missteps...

This article discusses how you can use core values and emotional intelligence skills to avoid ethical mishaps.   These skills are easy to gain and can save you from an unintended ethical mishap.   For more on the importance of emotional intelligence, see my prior IPWatchdog article."

Duquesne University is embracing the future: We will help reinvent the region while instilling core values in the next generation of leaders; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 14, 2018

Ken Gormley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Duquesne University is embracing the future: We will help reinvent the region while instilling core values in the next generation of leaders

"Ken Gormley is a former dean of the Duquesne University School of Law and has served as the university’s president since July 2016...

As the only Catholic, Spiritan university in the United States, we have a duty to address troublesome trends. Fewer students than ever enter college today with foundations in religious faith or possessing core values. Fewer students than ever have grown up in close-knit communities where respectful treatment of others is practiced and moral compasses are shaped.

Technology is amazing. Yet young people raised on smartphones, text messaging and Instagram often have stunted social skills and difficulty interacting with others. Shout-fests on cable TV and insensitive postings on social media have become the norm, in lieu of productive social discourse. If society is going to get a grip on today’s crisis of moral ambiguity, universities like Duquesne must play a larger and more creative role in shaping responsible, ethical leaders.

We also have a duty to help reinvent Western Pennsylvania...

Duquesne faces more daunting responsibilities than ever, and we’re prepared to shoulder them. We recently completed a five-year strategic plan that doubles down on Duquesne’s historic role in this region. Duquesne has a rich tradition of serving people of all faiths and backgrounds. We welcomed African-American students, Jewish students and women to our campus more than 100 years ago — long before most universities opened their doors to such diverse groups."

Former Trump University Workers Call the School a ‘Lie’ and a ‘Scheme’ in Testimony; New York Times, 5/31/16

Michael Barbaro and Steve Eder, New York Times; Former Trump University Workers Call the School a ‘Lie’ and a ‘Scheme’ in Testimony:

"One sales manager for Trump University, Ronald Schnackenberg, recounted how he was reprimanded for not pushing a financially struggling couple hard enough to sign up for a $35,000 real estate class, despite his conclusion that it would endanger their economic future. He watched with disgust, he said, as a fellow Trump University salesman persuaded the couple to purchase the class anyway...

“I believe that Trump University was a fraudulent scheme,” Mr. Schnackenberg wrote in his testimony, “and that it preyed upon the elderly and uneducated to separate them from their money.”...

The most striking documents were written testimony from former employees of Trump University who said they had become disenchanted with the university’s tactics and culture. Corrine Sommer, an event manager, recounted how colleagues encouraged students to open up as many credit cards as possible to pay for classes that many of them could not afford.

“It’s O.K., just max out your credit card,” Ms. Sommer recalled their saying.

Jason Nicholas, a sales executive at Trump University, recalled a deceptive pitch used to lure students — that Mr. Trump would be “actively involved” in their education. “This was not true,” Mr. Nicholas testified, saying Mr. Trump was hardly involved at all. Trump University, Mr. Nicholas concluded, was “a facade, a total lie.”"

Cheating’s Surprising Thrill; New York Times, 10/7/13

Jan Hoffman, New York Times; Cheating’s Surprising Thrill: "When was the last time you cheated? Not on the soul-scorching magnitude of, say, Bernie Madoff, Lance Armstrong or John Edwards. Just nudge-the-golf-ball cheating. Maybe you rounded up numbers on an expense report. Let your eyes wander during a high-stakes exam. Or copied a friend’s expensive software. And how did you feel afterward? You may recall nervousness, a twinge of guilt. But new research shows that as long as you didn’t think your cheating hurt anyone, you may have felt great. The discomfort you remember feeling then may actually be a response rewritten now by your inner moral authority, your “should” voice. Unethical behavior is increasingly studied by psychologists and management specialists. They want to understand what prompts people to abrogate core values, why cheating appears to be on the rise, and what interventions can be made. To find a powerful tool to turn people toward ethical decisions, many researchers have focused on the guilt that many adults feel after cheating. So some behavioral ethics researchers were startled by a study published recently in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology by researchers at the University of Washington, the London Business School, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. The title: “The Cheater’s High: The Unexpected Affective Benefits of Unethical Behavior.”"