During the past several months, questions of race, sex and equality have taken a prominent role on campus, and next semester, students will have more chances to tackle similar moral debates in the classroom.
Starting this fall, students can apply for the Ethics Certificate Program. Co-directors Peter Euben, professor of political science, and David Wong, professor of philosophy, will select 18 to 20 students to complete the eight-course curriculum.
The program--one of three new certificates approved in April--will begin in the spring and will focus on philosophical, practical and religious ethics and ethics in historical and cultural context.
"Our goal is to make ethics a cornerstone of the Duke experience," said Lauren Hunt, assistant director of communications and advancement for the Kenan Institute for Ethics. "The events of the past year have placed additional emphasis on the need for that."
Officials at the Kenan Institute said an increased ethical awareness stemming from the March emergence of rape allegations against members on the 2005-2006 men's lacrosse team will provide a good chance for students to study moral issues, in both their personal lives and the classroom.
"The whole lacrosse episode has been a sort of horrific opportunity," said Noah Pickus, interim director for the Kenan Institute. "The things that have gone on on campus that have put us in turmoil have not been happy, but they have raised and focused more attention on a range of issues about how we relate to each other."
Although he emphasized that there is a general ethical mindset on campus, Pickus added that many students interact under a "veneer of civility"-a phenomenon he said has developed in an increasingly diverse society during the past twenty years.
"The problem with the civility is that everyone knows what they're supposed to say," Pickus said. "The worst thing you could actually do is disagree with somebody publicly, and what we're trying to do is make that okay."
Euben, who will be teaching the certificate program's introductory course, called "Living an Ethical Life," said he will try to accomplish this goal by encouraging discussion and debate in the classroom.
"You've got to have a level of trust and development of respect-and even for people whose initial points of view you find repulsive," he said. "You really need to have people talk to each other and be able to risk what they believe."
Instead of preaching ethical values, Euben said he will turn aspects of students lives, ranging from drinking to religion, into central topics of in-class deliberation.
"You don't want to beat people over the head," Euben said, explaining that he wants the course to be focused on discussion instead of lecture.
He added that although a limited number of students will be offered spots in the new program, several public discussions and campus-wide forums will be offered throughout the year to encourage more students to contemplate issues of ethical importance.
"My sense is that people who need to think hardest about it are the people who are least likely to do so," Euben said.
Senior Jimmy Soni, a former chair of the Honor Council who also designed a Program II Ethics major, said ethics already play a significant role in the lives of students, but that the new program will supplement a traditional liberal arts education.
"Students are always having conversations about morals and about ethics," said Soni, a former Chronicle columnist. "We're always talking about race and God and sex. What this certificate does is challenge us to take those questions into the classroom."
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