We speak of the "Principles of Professional Conduct" (PPC) that most educational institutions present to employees (and sometimes students) regardless of their station in life or their position within the educational community. In the case of Ball State University in Ohio, the opening paragraph of its "Principles for Professional Conduct for Career Services & Employment Professionals" points out why the career services and employment professionals are obliged to follow the PPC.
The point made by Ball State's PPC is that employees are in a "partnership effort" with the "common goal of achieving the best match between the individual student" and the institution. Others involved include all faculty, staff, community members, students and prospective students as well. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) actually developed the PPC for universities and colleges, with an eye towards helping students with career planning, placement, and recruitment." The NACE puts forward the following precepts:
One: maintaining "an open and free selection of employment opportunities" in a setting that is "conducive to objective thought"; also, personal objectives of students must be taken into account along with "all relevant facts."
Two: the institution's staff must provide a "recruitment process that is fair and equitable" to candidates and the companies and organizations that may be in a position to hire graduates. And three: the school must support "...informed and responsible decision-making by candidates."
The list of ethical principles that career service professionals must follow to stay in good standing with NACE - and this is where essentialism comes in - have not changed and should be taught and followed with strict adherence to ethics and professional decorum. The NACE values are similar throughout many of not most the U.S. In educational institutions, and that includes the fact that career service professionals may not impose "personal values or biases." For example, a business major is thinking about going to work for Halliburton; the advisor, who has been opposed...
military involvement in Iraq for several years, advises the student that Dick Cheney (VP) was the CEO of Halliburton and has authorized billions in no-bid contracts to Halliburton.
Another example of an old-school approach to essentialism in the university setting would be if a professor, who is politically conservative, advises his social studies class that no matter what their opinion of George W. Bush or the Iraq war, "America always supports the president of the United States." He goes on, "That's how I was taught, and that's how my parents were taught, and by golly, that's what I'm sharing with you today - support our troops and our president."
Morally, what is the right way for a university to conduct business with its students? The university must be a place for the free flow of opinions and information, and that goes for the classroom as well as the counseling services provided by career services professionals. There should be no social or romantic fraternizing between school professors or employee and students, in any form at any time. When these things occur, it brings the reputation of the school down to a level that is beneath the dignity of the American university system, per se, not just beneath the dignity of one department in one college or university.
Works Cited
Ball State University. (2008). Principles for Professional conduct for Career Service & Employment Professionals. Retrieved Feb. 22, 2008, at http://www.naceweb.org/principles/principl.html.(Fuss, Diana. 2006). Essentialism. Emory University. Retrieved Feb. 22, 2008, at http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Essentialism.html.
Holma, Katariina. (2007). Essentialism Regarding Human Nature in the Defense of Gender
Equality. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 41(1), 44-55.
Merriman-Webster. (2008). Essentialism. Retrieved Feb. 23, 2008, at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/essentialism.
Virginia Military Institute. (2007). Subjectivism in Ethics. Retrieved Feb. 22, 2008, at http://academic.vmi.edu/psy_dr/subjectivism.htm.
