Ethics and the Penn State Sexual Abuse Scandal

Introduction: Personal Background and Ethical Observation

Before resuming my educational endeavors at university, I was fortunate enough to experience life and many of its challenges as a business person and employee. During my tenure in those roles, I observed a number of events I considered unethical, and a number of actions taken by individuals that I found both reprehensible and repulsive. I was often amazed at the capacity of people to justify their behavior when it was quite evident that such actions would not be considered ethical under any circumstances, regardless of the justification.

Rather than writing about my own personal experiences regarding ethics, I would like to examine the recent sexual abuse case at Penn State University. It is an instructive case when it comes to ethics, and it affects a large number of people — not only within the local Penn State community, but across the United States as well. This is a case that perfectly illustrates a culture that has gone too far: one that allowed a predator to thrive in an environment of potential victims without anyone taking action to stop him.

Ethics in Professional Settings

Ethics has always been a concern, whether individuals work in education, business, or the medical field. One early study found that many young managers reported being asked — sometimes implicitly — to do things they personally believed were unethical, and sometimes illegal (Badzek, Mitchell, Marra, & Bower, 1998). Often, these young managers feel pressure to take actions not necessarily aligned with their own values, fearing that their jobs could be in jeopardy. At other times, they may succumb to the allure of getting ahead by helping someone accomplish a task, even when that task is not an ethical one.

According to one expert, individuals facing an ethical dilemma often must choose between two or more alternatives, neither of which is pleasant (Chaloner, 2007). In the Penn State case, those with knowledge of what the perpetrator was doing were faced with a choice: go to the police, or remain silent and live with the knowledge that they had done nothing to stop the abuse. One expert states that contacting law enforcement is the first action administrators should take when they suspect a district employee of sexually abusing a student (Dessoff, 2010, p. 51).

The Penn State Case as an Ethical Failure

Even though many people had to have known about the abuse being perpetrated, no one had the courage to stand up and speak out. Certainly, there were individuals with the power and authority to stop these actions, and by allowing them to continue, they perpetuated a culture of fear for every young boy who was abused.

The American Nurses Association has developed a code for nurse educators stating that teachers should contribute to the evolving body of knowledge and safeguard students and patients from incompetent, illegal, or unethical practices by others (Rosenkoetter & Milstead, 2010). Surely, this same standard should apply to coaches and teachers at other educational institutions as well. The obligation to protect those in one's care from harm is not unique to the nursing profession — it is a universal ethical duty.

References

Badzek, L. A., Mitchell, K., Marra, S. E., & Bower, M. M. (1998). Administrative ethics and confidentiality/privacy issues. ANA Periodicals, 3(3).

Chaloner, C. (2007). An introduction to ethics in nursing. Nursing Standard, 21(32), 42–46.

Dessoff, A. (2010). Battling sexual abuse. District Administration, 46(3), 50–56.

Rosenkoetter, M. M., & Milstead, J. A. (2010). A code of ethics for nurse educators: Revised. Nursing Ethics, 17(1), 137–139.