A Profile of the Ethical Professor

Abstract

Two studies examined college students' perceptions of professors' ethical responsibilities. Stu dents agreed that professors must demonstrate respect for students, teach objectively, and grade honestly, and they should not tolerate cheating or plagiarism. Results indicate that students expect professors to act with professionalism, to employ a vast base of content knowledge, and to show concern for student welfare. Many view professors as exemplars of scholarship and professional behavior. Professors must be cognizant of student expectations and should reflect on their behav ior both in and out of the classroom. Ethics education has been recognized as an essential component of the lib eral arts curriculum because it encour ages the development of critical thinking and fosters the values and standards that guide responsible (APA 1992, 2002; AACU Baum et al. 1993; Fisher and Kuther 1997; Hobbs 1948; McGovern 1993). Proponents of the ethics across the curriculum movement recommend that ethics permeate all undergraduate courses to illustrate that it pervades all aspects of life (Ashmore and Starr 1991; Navarre 1994). Despite the Tara L. Kuther is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Western Connecticut State University, in Danbury. increasing attention to integrating ethics across the undergraduate curriculum, recent reports of the prevalence of cheat ing and plagiarism have led faculty to question the integrity of their students (Kleiner and Lord 1999; Sohn 2001). For example, it has been estimated that more than 80 percent of college students have cheated or plagiarized material at least once (Pullen et al. 2000). Why is acade mic dishonesty rampant? Some scholars point to faculty's failure to serve as exemplars of decent moral behavior (Callahan 1982, 336), yet the scant data on this topic indicate that fac ulty rarely engage in unethical actions (Tabachnick, Keith-Spiegel, and Pope 1991). What are the ethical responsibili ties of faculty? The American Association of University Professors (1987) has out lined a statement of professional ethics, but the statement is not binding and often is not acknowledged (Birch, Elliott, and Trankel 1999). Ethics in academia rarely is broached in the literature. The few dis cussions of academic ethics to date tend to focus on sexual harassment, the rights of participants, teaching values to stu dents, and scientific misconduct (Keith Spiegel, Tabachnick, and Allen 1993). The ethical obligations and ambiguities in teaching largely have been ignored (Kuther 2002; in press). Understanding how college students view their profes sors' actions may help delineate the pro fessional role of teaching professors. In a landmark study, Keith-Spiegel, Tabachnick, and Allen (1993) surveyed nearly five hundred Midwest and West Coast college students about the ethical nature of more than one hundred behav iors in which faculty might engage. Eighty percent or more of the students agreed that unethical behaviors on the part of faculty include dishonest grading practices (e.g., using a grading procedure that does not measure what students have learned, allowing how much a student is liked to influence grading, or giving every student an A regardless of the quality of work). Unprofessional interac tions with students (e.g., insulting or ridi culing a student or flirting with students), unprofessional classroom practices (e.g., teaching while under the influence of