Order Number |
678796754743 |
Type of Project |
ESSAY |
Writer Level |
PHD VERIFIED |
Format |
APA |
Academic Sources |
10 |
Page Count |
3-12 PAGES |
Chapter 5 Case Study
The following case study provides you with an ethical dilemma which will allow leaders to use the ethical tools provided in this chapter (e.g., codes of ethics, ethical paradigms, ethical decision-making models), to analyze and find a resolution to the case. Pay particular attention to analyzing the case study from multiple ethical paradigms (e.g., ethic of justice, critique, care, profession).
Mark G. Edelstein, President Lakes Region Community College Laconia, New Hampshire
The Problem Student
Background-
McClain Community College (MCC) is a large suburban institution with a long-standing reputation for academic quality and high transfer rates. Because of its reputation, it draws a diverse student body from throughout the region. In fact, many students drive by other colleges to attend MCC.
The college offers its 25,000 students a broad array of technical and liberal arts programs and is especially known for its outstanding programs in science and math. The proximity of a major urban center and a large, prestigious research university has enabled the college to attract a particularly talented and well-qualified faculty.
The college employs almost 300 full-time faculty and hundreds of additional part-timers. Faculty members have a tradition of strong leadership and extensive involvement in college decision making. However, this involvement has not led to a particularly “collegial” environment.
Many faculty members are suspicious of college administrators and believe that the role of administration should be extremely limited. The large faculty senate and the faculty union work very closely together to maintain the faculty’s sense of empowerment. A new president was appointed to MCC five years ago and a new academic vice president four years ago.
Both have attempted to move the college, which has become very traditional in its outlook, into a more innovative mode. The introduction of new technologies, the expansion of distance education, and the development of a more flexible and varied course schedule have all raised concerns among the faculty.
Talk about the need for change in higher education has threatened some of the faculty and made them feel that their current efforts are not sufficiently appreciated. Statement of the Problem You are the college president and have recently been informed by your academic vice president of a case in which a member of the math department has inappropriately changed the final grade she awarded to a student in the previous semester.
The faculty member, Dr. Simms, is the former chair of the math department and a very highly regarded teacher. Her reason for changing the student’s grade from a “C” to an “A” is that she felt harassed and intimidated by the student and believed that the only way she could get him to stop contacting her was to accede to his demands for a better grade.
The academic vice president reviewed the student’s quiz and test scores for the semester, and it was clear that he had not earned a grade higher than a “C.” The student, David, is a young man in his early twenties, who has come to the attention of the vice president for student services on several occasions.
While some faculty members have been able to work quite well with David, others, particularly women, have complained about his odd intensity and erratic behavior. This is the second course that David has taken with Dr. Simms. Dr. Simms has spoken on a number of occasions with the vice president for student services about her discomfort with this student.
David has monopolized her office hours, written, emailed, and called her frequently both in her office and at her home. While he has not physically threatened nor sexually harassed her, Dr. Simms has complained about his obsessiveness and other behaviors she considers “paranoid.”
The vice president has called David into her office twice and warned him about inappropriate contacts with Dr. Simms. After each discussion, his behavior improves for a time but eventually reverts. The vice president believes that David has “psychological problems,” but that he has broken no rules or regulations and can no more be excluded from a particular class than could a person with a physical disability.
She believes that a large, open-access institution such as MCC will always have a certain number of people with psychological or behavioral problems and that the college needs to be as tolerant as possible. Dr. Simms, on the other hand, feels that the college has not fulfilled its responsibility to protect her from what she perceives as a threat.
The president of the Faculty Senate and the president of the Faculty Union have both dropped by your office to discuss the issue of the grade change, which has become public knowledge. They advise you that any type of disciplinary action against a respected senior faculty member would be received quite badly.
The current math chair informs you that a letter is being drafted by the department in unanimous support of Dr. Simms. The academic vice president is sympathetic to Dr. Simms, but feels that he must reverse her grade change and that the college must take some formal action to point out that the change of grade was a lapse of professional ethics.
He believes that the academic integrity of the institution requires that some action be taken.