Character Counts

Character does count…at least for now.

Just a few short years ago, the majority consensus of the nation seemed to be that it was acceptable for our leaders to be of low moral character. For instance, Bill Clinton utilized the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House as a means of rewarding large contributors to the Democratic Party. Hillary Clinton, a novice commodities trader, turned a small investment into a $100,000 profit in a short period of time. We looked the other way at the Clinton scandals, and dismissed them as being immaterial. Character didn’t count. Behavior outside of the public eye was supposed to remain private.

At the time, there was no end to the rise in the stock market. We were hovering at full employment, corporate profits were rising and consumer confidence was strong. How much have times changed? After the Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, and various other scandals rocked our financial markets there is a clamor for the return for ethics in business and government.

The local universities have responded. A recent article in the Indianapolis Star, “Ethics is back in curricula” explored the increase in ethics courses offered by Indiana universities, including Indiana University, and Ball State. Other universities, like Butler, and the University of Notre Dame that offered ethics classes, are increasing their focus on teaching ethics. Why did it take a series of major scandals before the universities saw the light?

I find it curious that the author didn’t bother to contact Dean Armstrong at the Falls School of Business here at Anderson University. He would have learned that Anderson University has long regarded ethics as a vital part of both the undergraduate and MBA curriculum. In fact, as spelled out in the mission statement for the Falls School of Business, it is the mission of the school “to create an environment that will enable and encourage our graduates to be: …[e]thically sensitive.” Ethics cannot be...