Ethics in the Academy

At California State University, Fresno, Professor John C. O’Brien has been told that he must teach finance—which isn’t his field. He used to teach a course called Business Administration 101—Economics, Ethics, and Civilization. The powers that be at Fresno can’t get rid of Mr. O’Brien because he is a full professor, with tenure, popular among the students, and with more publications to his credit than had all his colleagues combined in his former department. All they could do to Mr. O’Brien was abolish his course in business ethics. By manipulation, they contrived to diminish enrollment in his classes from 170 to forty, over four years, and then in effect abolished the ethics course altogether. Business administration students still can take a substitute course in the department of philosophy. Apparently the authorities are confident that the department of philosophy won’t teach the kind of ethics taught by Professor O’Brien.

What curious, if popular, brand of ethics did he teach? Why, Christian ethics. We can’t have future American businessmen receiving any propaganda of that kind at a university, you know.

RK

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Russell Kirk

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At California State University, Fresno, Professor John C. O’Brien has been told that he must teach finance—which isn’t his field. He used to teach a course called Business Administration 101—Economics, Ethics, and Civilization. The powers that be at Fresno can’t get rid of Mr. O’Brien because he is a full professor, with tenure, popular among the students, and with more publications to his credit than had all his colleagues combined in his former department. All they could do to Mr. O’Brien was abolish his course in business ethics. By manipulation, they contrived to diminish enrollment in his classes from 170 to forty, over four years, and then in effect abolished the ethics course altogether. Business administration students still can take a substitute course in the department of philosophy. Apparently the authorities are confident that the department of philosophy won’t teach the kind of ethics taught by Professor O’Brien.

What curious, if popular, brand of ethics did he teach? Why, Christian ethics. We can’t have future American businessmen receiving any propaganda of that kind at a university, you know.