Academic and Professional
Integrity: New Snake Oil in
Old Bottles?
Dr. Gordon A. Crews, President
Southern Criminal Justice Association
Atlantic Beach, FL
September 2005
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Snake Oil, Snake Oil Peddlers, and
Traveling Medicine Shows
Original “Chinese Snake Oil”
Dissemination Across U.S.
“Snake Oil” and Ingredients
“Snake Oil Peddlers” and Traveling “Doctors”
“Medicine Shows”
“Accomplices”
Consumers
Results
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New Wine in Old Bottles (Luke 5:37-39)
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And no one puts new wine into old
wineskins. The new wine would burst
the old skins, spilling the wine and
ruining the skins. 38 But new wine
must be put into new bottles; and both
are preserved. 39 No man also having
drunk old wine straightway desireth
new: for he saith, The old is better.
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• Should not hide new wine in old bottles to make it appear better….
• Should not hide disintegral practices in established structures to make
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them appear integritous …
New Snake Oil in Old Bottles?
New Snake Oil
– Renewed (Hypocritical?)
Affirmations of Academic
and Professional Integrity
in Higher Education
REALITY: How often
does integrity truly
guide our actions and
decisions?
Old Bottles
– Standard Hiring
Practices
– Standard
Evaluation
Procedures
– Standard
Expectations
Among Colleagues
– Service to
Discipline
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Snake Oil and Old Bottles
• Hyped as panacea
• Full of s**t (inactive
ingredients)
• High profit margin
• Packaging crucial
• Cutthroat competition
• Misperception/fraud
• Placebo effect
• Banked on naiveté of
consumers
• Perceived
trustworthiness
• Perceived
quality
• Integrity
fragile
• Status quo
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Snake
Oil
and
Old
Bottles
Academic and Professional Integrity
• Hyped as panacea
• Full of s**t (inactive
ingredients)
• High profit margin
• Packaging crucial
• Cutthroat competition
• Misperception/fraud
• Placebo effect
• Banked on naiveté of
consumers
• Perceived
trustworthiness
• Perceived
quality
• Integrity
fragile
• Status quo
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1. What is the new “Snake
Oil”
2. What are the “Old
Bottles”?
3. Who are the new "Snake
Oil Peddlers"?
4. What are the new
"Traveling Medicine
Shows"?
5. Who are the new
"Accomplices"?
6. Who are the new
“consumers"?
Points to Consider
“RENEWED” Focus on
Academic and Professional
Integrity?
Higher Education
Administrators & Universities
Recruitment Efforts vs.
Conferences & Training
Professional Organizations and
Successful Alumni
Students, Parents, Faculty, &
Public
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What is Integrity?
• "Integrity" is defined as:
– "adherence to moral and ethical principles;
honesty."
• The key to integrity is consistency--not only setting high
personal standards for oneself (honesty, responsibility,
respect for others, fairness) but also living up to those
standards each day.
• One who has integrity is bound by and follows moral and
ethical standards even when making life's hard choices,
choices which may be clouded by stress, pressure to
succeed, or temptation.
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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY vs.
PROFESSIONAL INTEGRITY
• ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
–What We Do To Students And The
Public
• PROFESSIONAL INTEGRITY
–What We Do To Each Other
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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
(What we do to students)
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Getting an Education vs. Getting a Degree
For The Students vs. For Ourselves
Teaching Content vs. Teaching our Views/Philosophy
Demanding vs. Popularity
Thinking vs. Memorization
Preparing Graduate Students vs. Making “Mini-Me’s”
Mentoring vs. Exploitation
Picking an Interest vs. Picking a Side
Cooperative vs. Competitive Environments
Sharing of Knowledge vs. Publishing not to Perish
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Faculty Expectations and Criteria
for Performance
•TEACHING
•RESEARCH
•SERVICE
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1. TEACHING
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Professional Integrity:
TEACHING
• II. As teachers, professors encourage the free pursuit of learning
in their students. They hold before them the best scholarly and
ethical standards of their discipline. Professors demonstrate
respect for students as individuals and adhere to their proper
roles as intellectual guides and counselors. Professors make
every reasonable effort to foster honest academic conduct and to
ensure that their evaluations of students reflect each student's true
merit. They respect the confidential nature of the relationship
between professor and student. They avoid any exploitation,
harassment, or discriminatory treatment of students. They
acknowledge significant academic or scholarly assistance from
them. They protect their academic freedom. (AAUP, Statement on
Professional Ethics, 1996)
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Professional Integrity:
TEACHING
• “Academic Gypsies” vs.
“Squatters”
• Popularity with Students
(professional jealousy)
• Mentees vs. Groupies
• Seeking Truth vs. Personal Opinion
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2. RESEARCH
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Professional Integrity:
RESEARCH
• I. Professors, guided by a deep conviction of the worth
and dignity of the advancement of knowledge,
recognize the special responsibilities placed upon
them. Their primary responsibility to their subject is to
seek and to state the truth as they see it. To this end
professors devote their energies to developing and
improving their scholarly competence. They accept the
obligation to exercise critical self-discipline and
judgment in using, extending, and transmitting
knowledge. They practice intellectual honesty.
Although professors may follow subsidiary interests,
these interests must never seriously hamper or
compromise their freedom of inquiry.
(AAUP, Statement on Professional Ethics, 1996)
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Professional Integrity:
RESEARCH
• Maintaining Status Quo vs.
Advancing One’s Professional
Activities
• Publications and Co-authors
• Academic Freedom vs. Conflict
of Interest vs. Conflict of
Commitment
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3. SERVICE
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Professional Integrity:
SERVICE
• V. As members of their community, professors have
the rights and obligations of other citizens. Professors
measure the urgency of these obligations in the light of
their responsibilities to their subject, 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. As citizens engaged in a profession that
depends upon freedom for its health and integrity,
professors have a particular obligation to promote
conditions of free inquiry and to further public
understanding of academic freedom.
(AAUP, Statement on Professional Ethics, 1996)
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Professional Integrity:
SERVICE
• Service vs. Service to Self
• Doing Good vs. Looking Good
• Departmental Goals vs.
Personal Goals
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4.
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Professional Integrity:
“COLLEGIALITY”
• III. As colleagues, professors have obligations that
derive from common membership in the community of
scholars. Professors do not discriminate against or
harass colleagues. They respect and defend the free
inquiry of associates. In the exchange of criticism and
ideas professors show due respect for the opinions of
others. Professors acknowledge academic debt and
strive to be objective in their professional judgment of
colleagues. Professors accept their share of faculty
responsibilities for the governance of their institution.
(AAUP, Statement on Professional Ethics, 1996)
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On Collegiality as a Criterion for Faculty Evaluation
(AAUP, November 1999)
• Traditional evaluation of faculty for promotion,
renewal, tenure, and other purposes involves:
– Teaching, Scholarship, & Service
• Increasing tendency to “unofficially” add a fourth area
of evaluation:
– “Collegiality”
• Who does it?
– Governing Boards/Administrators/Department Chairs
– And, even FACULTY MEMBERS
• AAUP opinion:
– development is highly unfortunate
– should be discouraged
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Professional Integrity:
“COLLEGIALITY”
• Collegiality vs. Getting Too “Cozy”
• Professional Life vs. Personal Life
• Popularity With Outside Colleagues
(Professional Jealousy)
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Rocking The Boat vs. Fitting In
Marriage vs. Divorce vs. “Just An Affair”
Burning Bridges vs. “Kissing Asses”
Comfortable vs. Content vs. Satisfied
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Professional Integrity:
“COLLEGIALITY”
• JOB SEARCHES AND APPOINTMENTS
– Terror Of Changing Jobs or Seeking
Appointments
• References and Reference Checks
• “Playing The Game in the Arena”
• Finding The Best PERSON For the Job vs. Finding
the Best FRIEND For The Job
• Credential-based Attraction vs. Physical-based
Attraction
• Accomplishment vs. “Back-Scratching”
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DANGERS:
• Ensuring homogeneity?
• Threaten academic freedom
• May be confused with lack of "enthusiasm" or
"dedication”
• May stifle faculty debate and discussion
• Professional competence discounted in favor of
personality
• Obstructing others to carry out normal functions,
personal attacks, or to violate ethical standards
• Professional misconduct or malfeasance is another
matter!
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SOLUTION:
• Focus on developing clear definitions of
scholarship, teaching, and service, in
which the virtues of collegiality are
reflected
• Clarify distinctions between the personal
and the professional
• Absence of collegiality ought never to
constitute a basis for nonreappointment,
denial of tenure, or dismissal for cause
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Any
Questions
or
Comments?
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