Ill Gotten Gains
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EDITORIAL
Ill Gotten Gains McIntyre R. Louthan
Published online: 17 May 2011 Ó ASM International 2011
The after dinner discussion turned to apartment rentals and finding the most suitable furniture for college students. Moving from a dorm room into a non-furnished apartment requires considerable furniture finding plus a search for pots, pans and ‘‘silverware.’’ Dave and Linda Rice’s only son, Josh, a materials engineering major at Virginia Tech, is moving to an apartment for the 2011–2012 academic year after two years of dorm life. Dave, Linda, my wife Fran, Josh, a friend of Josh’s and I were focused on minimizing the cost of the transition when Josh’s friend suggested that Josh had already paid for silverware from Tech’s dining halls. The meal plan includes a fee for lost and broken items and many students consider the payment of that fee an entitlement to several settings of silverware and, if necessary, a few plates and cups. Linda was horrified with the suggestion and immediately instructed Josh that he was not entitled to anything except meals and that removal of any housewares would be ill gotten gains. She further stated that such gains were stealing in God’s eyes and were subject to punishment in the Rice household, if not under the law. Fran was equally horrified especially because the University basically expected the students to steal and therefore charged, in advance, for the privilege. We all questioned a system that anticipated dishonesty and established a pathway for students to obtain ‘‘ill gotten gains.’’ Fran and I had only recently participated in the U.S. Coast Guard Academy’s Annual Ethics Forum where we heard a multitude of excellent speakers. Fran heard more talks than I because I spoke several times during the day. One talk that shocked Fran was a discussion by Ms. Alice Eldridge, Vice President, Ethics & Business Conduct, M. R. Louthan (&) Box 623, Radford, VA 24142, USA e-mail: [email protected]
Lockheed Martin Corporation. Ms. Eldridge manages the corporation’s ethics program and is involved in awareness and compliance training, outreach activities, issues management and performance tracking and was speaking primarily to small groups of Academy Cadets. She shared a corporate experience that involved several promising young employees who had been selected for fast track promotions. The fast track included academic training that required the satisfactory completion of five ‘‘college level’’ courses. Approximately half of these employees were subsequently fired because they cheated their way to ‘‘satisfactory’’ course completion. Exit interviews of those fired revealed that the individuals believed that ‘‘everyone cheats on academic courses’’ and that none of the selected employees would ever cheat on corporate endeavors. Their ethical fiber had become distorted and compartmentalized. Since hearing this I’ve talked to several students and professors and found that cheating is more than common on our university campuses. Ill gotten gains go beyond housewares and include homework,
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