Joseph is a lawyer in a large corporate law firm and, above all, values maintaining personal loyalty. Many years ago, Joseph was offered the job of representing a bank in an upcoming acquisition deal. Joseph was told that if he wanted to represent the bank, he would have to keep his involvement a secret from the other members of his firm: one of his colleagues was representing one of the bank’s major competitors. Joseph accepted the offer; however, as part of this, he was required to establish a “wall” between himself and several of his colleagues that would block them from even talking with him. Joseph felt as though he needed to tell the main partner who was being “walled off” what was going on, so he told her as much of the truth as he felt able to do. However, when news of the deal Joseph was representing broke, the partner he had “walled off” was furious, and felt personally betrayed and hurt. To this day, Joseph feels that he should have acted differently.
“Good” Censorship?
Daniel Schorr was a veteran reporter and news commentator who worked as a senior news analyst for National Public Radio (NPR). As Schorr was traveling “somewhere in the eastern corner of Poland, near the Soviet border,” during his work for CBS in the 1950s, he came upon a group of people who told him that they “were going to Israel.” Schorr was intrigued, and he interviewed them on camera. When he returned to Warsaw, Schorr told the Israeli Minister in Warsaw about the group of people he had met on their way to Israel. The Israeli Minister explained to Schorr that an agreement had been worked out with the Soviet government that would allow people to be “repatriated” to Poland from the Soviet Union, at which point they would make their way to Israel in secret, because the Soviet Union was at that point not allowing any emigration to Israel. Schorr had interviewed these people on camera, and he felt some pressure to adhere to the standard journalistic principle of uncensored reporting. However, this conflicted with his most basic humanitarian instincts: if he aired the film, these people would no longer be able to leave the Soviet Union for Israel.
Money Troubles
Felicia is the twenty-eight-year-old founder of a national nonprofit organization that works with schools, families, and volunteers to help create safe schools and communities. Some years ago, Felicia needed to raise money quickly. She talked with a potential funder about doing a challenge grant: if Felicia could raise $20,000 from other sources, this funder would give her an additional $20,000 Felicia and her coworkers at the nonprofit sent in a proposal, and then raised $20,000 from other sources under the premise of the challenge grant. Then the funder who had offered the challenge grant called to say that she had “changed her mind.” Felicia was faced with an ethical decision: should she tell the other funders the challenge grant had been reneged on, or should she keep quiet and keep the money?
Does Excellence Always Equal Success?
Carol Marin is a highly respected investigative reporter for a CBS affiliate in Chicago and a contributor to “60 Minutes II,” the national weekly television news magazine. In 1997, during the time that Marin worked for NBC-owned Channel 5, the channel hired Jerry Springer to do a series of commentaries for Marin’s nightly news show. Marin objected to the management’s decision to hire Springer, the nationally syndicated host of a salacious talk show, because she felt that his approach violated essential journalistic standards. After some soul-searching, Marin resigned. In the aftermath of the Springer incident, the goodwill that Marin had gained among the Chicago public opened up an opportunity for her to serve as the anchor for a major local station’s 10 p.m. news show. Under her direction, the show produced a string of probing, in-depth stories, the equal of which have rarely been seen on local news. Unfortunately, Marin’s seriousness of purpose and admirable public-mindedness did not translate into market success, and the station canceled the show at the end of its eighth month.
Food for Thought
David is the CEO of an international fast food restaurant chain. David struggles with the decision of whether he should sell food that contains genetically modified material and organisms (GMOs). He wants to ease customers’ concerns about GMO products in their food, but he also believes there is no harm in GMOs and that it is important to be supportive of research being done in this area. “As a business,” David says, “we have no ethical obligation to lead a fight for some social issue that’s beyond our competence... We’re not scientists and we’re not environmentalists... We’re business people.”
The Hardy Hedgehog
Eliza is an occupational therapist at a hospital as well as at a state-run mental health facility. As a medical practitioner, she feels responsible to patients’ physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Eliza has been able to bridge her interest in nature, animals, and art with her medical knowledge and skills, and in the state mental health facility, she brings plants and animals to the patients. Eliza believes that when considering the human spirit, we should give “equal weight” to the body and mind. Connecting these beliefs with her formal training has become her personal and professional mission. She works with young students, many of whom are mentally unstable and some of whom are suicidal, and she brings the natural world and animals to these children in order to work on issues of safety, trust, and caring. One of Eliza’s patients, a young boy with a history of violence who also struggled with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), gained a sense of motivation and purpose through his encounter with a hedgehog that Eliza had brought into the center. The experience with the hedgehog turned out to be a major turning point for him.
A Clothes Call
Li is a journalist in her forties who works for a New York newspaper. She chiefly covers immigration issues. Recently, Li wrote a story on “people smuggling,” and interviewed a man who had been smuggled into the United States. He eventually landed a contract with a clothing company, and opened a factory in New York City. When Li visited the factory for the interview, it quickly became clear that, for all intents and purposes, this man was actually working in a sweatshop. The footage from the interview was sure to embarrass the clothing company, and Li was afraid it could be enough to lose this man his contract. Li’s producer ended up using the footage, and, sure enough, the clothing company called to complain.
Looking Good
Ray is a middle-aged history teacher at a new pilot school. Ray believes that kids need to enjoy themselves to learn. At the same time, he is a firm believer in holding students accountable: he expects them to be on time, to complete their work, and to not settle for a mediocre grade. As an individual teacher, holding students accountable is a real challenge. The school is a pilot school, and so it “might not be around in two or three years.” In order to help the school “succeed” and make it “look good,” many teachers at Ray’s school teach “down” to students and also inflate grades so that it appears that the students are thriving academically. Although Ray is part of a tight-knit community at the school, he often feels isolated when confronted with the issue of grading.
Typecast?
Chris is a thirty-two-year-old Black actor whose specialty is Shakespeare. Chris attended a conservatory, and during his last year there, he was cast in the role of Dull in a production of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost because, the head of the school told him, “he had no vision of an African American [playing] any role in the play but a character named Dull.” (The character of Dull is a “bumbling police officer,” who, in this particular production, was to be dressed in a fat suit.) Though the head of the school’s behavior was unacceptable, Chris worried about confronting him, not knowing who he could report him to and that doing so would just end up with him blacklisted from future work on the stage. Even though performing the role of “Dull” was an incredibly painful experience for him, Chris stuck with the role, hoping it would be worthwhile for his career. He made a few important connections as a result of the production, which eventually led to his being able to work with a prominent Shakespearean actor at the Globe Theatre in London.
A Stereotypical Problem
Meg is a twenty-five-year-old Asian-American actress, who chose acting in part because she felt that Asian- Americans were underrepresented, and stereotyped, in theater. Several years ago, Meg landed a leading role in a play, and took the role despite the fact that it depended on a superficial stereotype of Asian women. She agreed to do the play in part because she knew that the director was well-known and well-connected in the theater world. She felt that if she gained influence through working with this director, she would then be in a better position to undermine racial stereotypes. Meg felt condemned by the Asian-American community for her decision to take the role, but she viewed it as a compromise that would allow her to take a more principled stand in the future.
Excellence at Risk
Katie is a young woman who has been teaching ninth grade English at a large high school for the past six years. Katie goes out of her way to communicate with parents about students’ work in her classroom. Unfortunately, Katie’s interest in staying in contact with parents created a very difficult situation in her second year of teaching. She received two death threats in the mail and ultimately found out it was a student whose parents she had contacted because the student had been missing a great number of classes. As a result of Katie’s phone calls, the student’s parents took disciplinary action, and the student seemed to have responded by sending her teacher threatening messages. Although Katie did not feel a great deal of support from the school administration, she decided to press charges, because she thought that the student would be more likely to learn from the experience as a result.
A Life Worth Living
Dr. Bernard Lown is a cardiology professor and practicing cardiologist in his seventies who lives and works in the Boston area. Years ago, Lown had a patient who was an artist, a painter, who Lown felt needed an operation. The operation was extremely successful, and Lown considered the case resolved. However, when his patient came in for a follow-up appointment, it turned out that, as a result of his surgery, this man had lost the use of his right hand. He could no longer paint, and now “life wasn’t worth living.” Years later, Lown remembered the painter when he met with another patient who had been told by her other doctors that she needed a risky heart operation Lown asked her what she wanted to do with the rest of her life; she was a professor, and she quickly responded that she wanted to summarize her life’s work. He encouraged her to pursue her writing in the time she had left, and to avoid the operation. She lived six more years, and completed her writing in that time.
Finding the Thread
Sheila is a twenty-seven-year-old working actress. Sheila has been involved with the theater since she was eight, and she says she would never consider leaving the profession. Acting has helped her work through depression and through some other major challenges. She even had what she described as a “spiritual experience” during a summer spent with the Willamstown Theater Festival. Sheila explains that she had had recurring dreams throughout her whole life “with these very particular sort of mountains in them.” As she performed the lead in Princess Turandot that summer in Williamstown, she looked out over the Berkshire Mountains and realized that they were the mountains she had been seeing in her dreams. Sheila explained that it felt like she “had lost the thread and found it again.”
Interest in Religion
Adam is a 30-year-old man residing in the United Kingdom with his wife and young child while completing his postgraduate work in psychology. Adam is Muslim and is committed to his religion. At times, life in the United Kingdom clashes with his religious beliefs. Adam describes a time when he tried to lease a car, only to find out that the built in interest he was required to pay by the bank was at odds with his belief that “riba” is impermissible. Adam describes having to decide between the benefits of having an amenity such as a car at his and his family’s disposal and his loyalty to his religious beliefs.
Getting a Story, or Crossing a Line?
Rosa is a young journalist. One typical workday, a few months into her position, Rosa was instructed by Jeremy to go and “stake out” the home of a family whose child had, a few hours beforehand, been injured in a collision with an automobile while riding a bicycle. Rosa faced a dilemma. On the one hand, she felt that, as a reporter, it was sometimes her job to report tough or tragic stories, and that she needed to uphold expectations as a journalist for The Daily by trying to get all the information she could. On the other hand, she felt that she would be “crossing a line” to try to get a family statement immediately after they had been notified of the child’s death, likely their “worst nightmare.”
All The World’s A Stage
Gwen is a senior at a performing arts high school, where she studies drama. As a senior, she faces a difficult decision. Gwen is eighteen, which means she’s old enough to work, but she has also been accepted to the drama program at one of her top-choice schools. Should she enroll in college and continue to learn the art of theater? Or should she start acting professionally, learn from real-life experiences, and draw on the many connections she currently has? To complicate matters even more, Gwen’s parents are not in a financial position to cover all of the expenses of her education, and she has not been offered a scholarship anywhere. If she chooses to continue her education, it will clearly involve a great deal of expense.
Drama with Bullies
Nick is a high school senior who is deeply committed to acting. Nick explains that drama is not the cool thing to do at his high school, and students who do drama are one of a few groups who are regular targets for bullying. Nick faced a particularly difficult situation when he and a friend were cast in a musical production. Nick was looking forward to improving his singing and dancing skills. However, some of the other students, who had frequently bullied the drama club members in the past, came to the rehearsal and started recording it without Nick’s consent. Nick was unsure whether or how to confront the bullies, who were making him uncomfortable.
Honest to Goodness
Karen is a young newspaper reporter. As an entry-level journalist, her primary source of competition comes from summer interns who are recruited from undergraduate journalism programs. Karen believes that competition is “good for the soul,” and some of her best work has been produced in response to the competitive atmosphere and her reluctance to be outdone by the interns. However, this competitiveness has a downside: Karen believes that “the cardinal rule of journalism is truth-telling,” yet her desire to provide readers with important information has at times led her to use dishonest means to get stories. For instance, she has misrepresented herself in order to get interviews. She says that “there are times for dishonest tactics” if these tactics are in the service of telling the truth in a story.
Silence Isn’t Always Golden
Emma is graduating from high school this year, and has just sent in her acceptance letter to attend college. She is an aspiring scientist, and she is extremely dedicated to her work; however, she also feels very committed to her friendships. The sense of responsibility that she feels toward her friends was tested during her senior year when her friends got into serious trouble for hacking into the high school computer system. Emma knew what her friends were doing, and she never said or did anything about it because she didn’t want to “rat” on them. As a scientist, Emma also feels strongly that withholding information can have disastrous effects, and she feels that it “violates the entire reason for doing research.” Emma seems to have different standards for her personal life and “professional” work.
Marketing Me (*Sensitive)
Heather is twenty-two and a senior theater student. In her senior year as an undergraduate, she is struggling with messages she gets from teachers about how she should try to market herself in what she is “best at.” Heather says that she doesn’t want to be “pigeonholed,” or not win a particular role because she does not look a certain way. She struggles with issues of body image and questions whether she is “pretty enough” to be successful. Although she does not rule out the option of plastic surgery, she struggles with the idea that a change in physical appearance can make someone more or less appealing and more or less qualified for a role. She would like decisions to be based on skill and talent.