Ethics of employment

By Chris O'Connell

Last week, University of Alabama (UA) football coach Mike Price was fired for what university president Robert Witt described as failing to live his "personal and professional life in a manner consistent with university policies." Price reportedly spent hundreds of dollars at a topless bar in Florida last month.

The story reached press and a UA evaluation ensued. Within a week, Price was dismissed as head coach. This case, along with several others, such as the release of Iowa State basketball coach Larry Eustachy, bring discussions of professional ethics to the forefront at colleges across the country.

On campus, the controversies have sparked debate amongst coaches, professors and students.

When considering the public and private duty of Santa Clara faculty and staff, men's basketball coach Dick Davey said, "We have an obligation to represent and respect the university and its students in a positive way."

Davey also stressed that coaches and professors must realize they are under scrutiny from the public eye. Associate Athletic Director Richard Kilwien added, "Once you make the commitment to be head coach, you become a public figure, period. You are scrutinized, right or wrong."

According to Appendix D of the Santa Clara Faculty Handbook, "Professors measure the urgency of these obligations in the light of their responsibilities to their subjects, to their students, to their profession, and to their institution. When they speak or act as private persons, they avoid creating the impression of speaking or acting for their college or university."

This statement on professional conduct is shared by hundreds of United States universities, including the University of Alabama. Kilwien explained that coaches often sign contracts in addition to the university policy regarding professional ethics because they are more commonly held in the public sphere.

What does the Faculty Handbook imply for Santa Clara professors and students? English Department chair-elect Phyllis Brown took a stab at these issues, finding them more complicated than they appear.

"[There is a] tension between freedom and integrity," said Brown. "We have to have freedom - intellectual freedom - and be allowed to live our lives, but respect and be responsible to our students."

Brown recognized the importance of private life as well as academic responsibilities, but wondered if modeling integrity is more important than unconditional freedom.

Junior English major Holly Brown said, "I don't think you can make a blanket statement. Each case requires individual attention." Brown found Santa Clara's situation tricky, arguing that the university must supply regulatory policy, but must also implement those codes on a case-by-case basis because those determining what unbecoming nature is can jeopardize a career.

Junior communication major Morgan Keuler had a different take on the matter. Keuler said that faculty and coaches are indeed representatives when they are on campus or when they are officially associated with the university, but outside of that, they should be allowed the same liberties as any citizen.

"There is a distinct private and public realm, but there is a fine line between the two," Keuler said. "The question that needs to be asked is, do people's actions in the private realm affect what they do in their role on campus?"

There are several views on both the university's responsibility and the responsibility of the faculty and staff at Santa Clara, including those regarding the need for and adherence to, at least in public, the code of professional ethics adopted by the university and awareness from professors and coaches about the nature of these codes.

Although difficult issues may arise concerning the exact execution of university policies in the judgment of private lives, there seems to be an agreement that such a policy is important and essential. Ultimately, if an incident provoking investigation of private and public life occurs, the university's president and board of trustees weigh the issues of personal ethics.

Such a scandal may never rock Santa Clara, according to Kilwien. "Our coaches understand that every time they walk into the community, they know them as the head basketball coach or soccer coach, not just a name and a face," he said.