Sample 2

Program Title
Critical Perspectives of Ethical Leadership

Program Abstract
While it is important for student affairs professionals to represent the “moral conscience of the campus” (Winston, Creamer, & Miller, 1999), other viewpoints of that role must be considered as well. The participants will contrast perspectives of ethical leadership in a variety of institutions — research universities, religiously affiliated colleges, and community colleges — and in a variety of roles, as presidents, faculty, or state administrators.

Description of the Presentation
Mark Twain said, “My only obligation at any time is to do that which I believe is right” and his advice rouses a general sense of duty among student affairs administrators. However, ethics is more specific and deliberate than a moral obligation. It includes those deliberate acts and policies that uphold human dignity and promote the welfare of all concerned.

Many of us believe that ethical leadership is the primary call of the student affairs profession, and that we serve as the moral conscience of our campuses (Winston, Creamer, & Miller, 1999). However, other groups lay claim to that role: faculty, other administrators, and outside governing bodies. They approach ethics — and therefore, ethical leadership — differently than we do. To illustrate, the professional statement of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education places a high ethical priority on faculty competence in teaching and subject knowledge, because professors protect the freedom of ideas on campus and in the broader society. We would agree that faculty competence is important, but we might approach the subject from the perspective of student learning instead of academic freedom.

Institutional priorities can vary as well. Charles Chambers (1981) notes the ethical contract between higher education and society to teach and study the truth, and to serve society as a charitable agency. While this contract is generally applicable, responsibility falls on individual institutions to regulate themselves in the public interest (El-Khawas, 1981). This point is confirmed in the ACPA Statement of Ethical Principles and Standards, which states: “institutions of higher education provide the context for student affairs practice, institutional mission, policies, organizational structure, and culture, combined with individual judgment and professional standards define and delimit the nature and extent of practice” (p. 13). Thus it is important that every student affairs leader understands the ethical priorities of his or her particular type of institution, as well as the general ones of higher education.

The program offers commentary about differences in role and institutional perspectives of ethical leadership. The presenters are former NASPA presidents, people who are deeply committed to ethical leadership in our profession. Their current roles and responsibilities have moved them away from direct, institutional supervision of student affairs practices and into other positions of authority: one is a college president, another, vice chancellor of a state board of higher education, and the third, a professor and academic administrator. Each will provide information about ethical leadership in different institutions and among different populations. Each presenter will relate the perspectives to ways in which student affairs administrators can be more ethical leaders on campus — not as the sole moral conscience — but as moral collaborators for the betterment of students, institutions, and society.

Learning Outcomes
Participants will:

• Gain new knowledge about ethical leadership in higher education;
• Increase their knowledge of the general role of student affairs administrators as ethical leaders;
• Understand differences and similarities in perspectives of ethical leadership among faculty, other administrators, and external groups;
• Understand differences and similarities in perspectives of ethical leadership among different types of institutions, and
• Understand ways that they can become moral collaborators for the ethical development of students, campuses, and society.

Relationship to Theme
The theme of the conference, “Leadership at the Crossroads: Creating a Shared Vision for the New Century,” is reflected in the program in the following ways:

• The program examines perspectives of Leadership and provides participants with new understanding of ways to become better leaders.
• The Crossroads is a metaphor for multiple possibilities. Ethical leadership is principled; it helps individuals choose the right direction to take when confronted with administrative challenges.
• A Shared Vision must accept differences in viewpoints about the purposes of higher education in order to craft a collaborative perspective of its future. The program presenters will bring some of those differences to light while helping participants have a better, mutual vision of their possibilities as ethical leaders.

Involvement
Time limitations prevent extensive audience participation, but each presenter will provide a case study for participants to react to, and time will be made available for questions and answers at the end of the session.