Ethics and
Professionalism in the Entomological
Society of America
By E. H. GLASS
New York State Agric. Exp. Stn., Geneva, NY
Although I speak to you as a spokesman for ESA, its
president, my views are of course influenced by my years
of experience as a professional entomologist. As an economic entomologist who has been involved in research
for a pesticide manufacturer for five years, and at a state
experiment station for 30 (with the last ten years devoted
mostly to administration), I found the topic assigned to
me to be new, strange and difficult. During these 35
years, I cannot recall ever having tried to bribe someone,
or to be bribed. Nor can I recall anypne in this country
ever trying to or expecting me to act in what I would
consider an unethical or unprofessional manner.
As I look back and as my experience has been broadened by travel, and by national and international committee assignments, I have come to realize that perhaps
I have been lucky and that all the world is not always so
ethical and professional. There are out there in the
world some real ethical and professional problems that
we as entomologists have or may have to face. And so,
even though I am not entirely comfortable with this
topic, I am pleased that you young entomologists have
presented us with this challenge and opportunity.
My part of this discussion relates to ethics and professionalism in ESA excluding that part of our society, the
American Registry of Professional Entomologists (ARPE),
that will be covered by its president, Dr. Fowden MaxwelL
Ethics are moral principles, quality or practice. To me
it connotes responsibility for obligations, conduct and
authority, and, I believe, should include a responsibility
to establish and preserve freedom, in this discussion, scientific freedom. I am taking the liberty of expanding the
purview of my discussion to include scientific freedom.
Article III deals with membership and lists three classes
- active, honorary, and student. Requirements for ESA
Active MembershiP are: "All persons engaged in work in
entomology or allied field and other persons having suitable training or interest [italics mine] in entomology may
become Active Members by vote of the Governing Board
after a regularly executed application, endorsed by two
Active Members and accompanied by the required fee,
has been filed with the Executive Director." Requirements for Student Membership are a little more rigorous
(one has to be enrolled in a recognized educational institution) but. if that should be a problem, a few more dollars plus interest in entomology would permit active
membership. The constitution also does not speak to
professionalism in terms of termination of membership
except as follows: "The right to terminate the membership of any member for due cause is reserved by the Society." Presumably, lack of professionalism could be
cited against a member, but anything less than a jailable
offense would seem to be insufficient grounds. The next
sentence, "Members shall not use the name of the Society
for financial advantage," does provide one defined
basis. But does that mean that I should not cite ESA
membership or my position as President of ESA in support of my application for a job or consulting work?
Again, our founding fathers were either silent or quite
ambiguous on the subject of professionalism. I suspect
that this topic did not appear to them to be a concern of
ESA or may not even have occurred to them.
The ESA constitution and bylaws are the guidelines
for its goals, operations and activities. Therefore, I plan
to examine these instruments in detail to learn what they
have to say about responsibilities, scientific freedom and
professionalism. Additionally, I shall review briefly some
past ESA activities and activities of ESA affiliates that relate to the subject.
In ESA's Constitution and Bylaws
Professionalism.- The first place to look in these documents is in the "Object," Article II, Section 1. It is so
short I quote it in full: " It shall be the purpose of this
Society to promote the science of entomology in all its
subdisciplines, to assure cooperation in all measures
tending to that end, and to publish periodicals and other
publications which are appropriate to the Society's interest." I find nothing in this statement that relates to
professionalism directly or even obliquely except perhaps by excessive mental gymnastics. It speaks only to
the promotion of the science of entomology and activities
which may help to reach that objective. I conclude, therefore, that our founding fathers were not concerned with
professionalism as a goal of our Society.
240
The Constitution says nothing further about professionalism until Article IX, Section 1. The first sentence
reads: "The American Registry of Professional Entomologists, a non-profit association of Society members, is
chartered by the Society for the purpose of providing
certification of professional status, strengthening entomology among the professions, and improving entomologists' public relations." Obviously, the Registry is the
professional instrument of our Society. Because Dr.
Maxwell will be considering ARPE, I shall have little further to say about it, except that you new members may
find it hard to believe the opposition to the founding of
ARPE and its continued existence as part of our Society.
I believe these attitudes will change. Our sister society,
the American Phytopathology Society, has just voted by
mail ballot to establish its own professional registry.
There is no further reference to professionalism in
our Constitution, so let us turn to the Bylaws. The first
reference to professionalism here is in Article V on
Standing Committees, Section II - Standing Committee
on Professionalism, Training, Standards, and Status
(PTSS). It is charged to give guidance relating to professional training, standards, and status for entomologists.
In my opinion it has been one of our most active and
productive committees. It spawned, fought for, and has
nurtured our fledgling Registry. Now that ARPE is well
on its way, perhaps it is time to change or enlarge the
scope of the PTSS Committee.
Vol. 25, no. 3
1979
ESA
241
BULLETIN
To summarize, the only substantive concerns for
professionalism in ESA's Constitution and Bylaws are
found in one standing committee and its recent protege,
ARPE, established in 1970.
Ethics or Responsibility.-After
a careful reading of
our guiding documents, I conclude that there is nothing
specifically about ethics and liule is implied. The one section dealing with membership implies that there may be
ethical reasons, i.e., "due cause," for termination, but
no guidelines are provided.
Scientific Freedom.-Our
constitution and bylaws do
not speak to this issue. Thus we can conclude that neither
our founding fathers nor members unto this day have
found scientific freedom to be subject of enough concern
to recognize it in our official documents.
In ESA's Activitie.l
Admiuedly I have not made a careful study of past
professional activities of our Society; however, I believe
them to be limited primarily to those of the Professional
Training, Standard, and Status Committee and ARPE.
Some of the work of our special Commiuee on Teaching
may be peripherally related but here the emphasis has
been on teaching per .Ie rather than on professionalism.
Ifwe use the broad definition of ethics, which includes
responsibility, I believe ESA fulfills its professional responsibilities in a number of ways. By sponsoring na·
tional and regional meetings it offers meeting and forum
opportunities on issues important to our government, to
science, to industry, to our nation, and to the world. ESA
publications also provide limited opportunities for discussion of issues, and there has been a recent trend to
expand opportunities for debate. In the international
area, ESA actively supports International Entomology
Congresses and the forthcoming IX International Congress of Crop Protection. We also have an International
Commiuee that is actively auempting to respond to needs
in the larger arena of entomology. ESA continues to respond to requests for reviews of grants, and for inputs
into issues such as boll weevil eradication and endangered species. Most often this is done by suggesting qualified scientists from our membership. Occasionally, special commiuees are formed, as in the case of the review
of the first boll weevil eradication experiment.
ESA helps to fulfill entomology's responsibility to the
larger areas of science through afftliation with the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the
American Institute of Biological Sciences, and to agriculture through affiliation with the Intersociety Consortium
for Plant Protection and the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST).
Perhaps you may think some of these activities are only
distantly related to my subject, but I submit that they are
responsibilities that we fulfill as a group through our national society. Individually, of course, our members do
much, much more, both directly and through activities
in a number of organizations.
ESA, to the best of my knowledge, has not been active
regarding scientific feedom except through our affiliation with AAAS. In 1976 this organization formed a
standing Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility. The two most pertinent charges to this commiuee
are: 1. Work with and encourage societies affiliated
with the AAAS to adopt policies and procedures designed to protect their members against
infringement upon scientific freedom and responsibility.
2. Rely upon the affiliated societies to take up and examine documented allegations of infringement of
principles of scientific freedom and responsibility
involving the reputation and professional standing
of their members.
In addition, the AAAS Constitution was amended
1977 by adding the italicized phrase as follows:
In
AMENDMENT TO AAAS CONSTITUTION
(Adopted by AAAS Council February 1977)
"The objectives of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science are to further the work of
scientists, to facilitate cooperation among them, To
fO.lter .Icientific freedom and respomibility, to improve the
effectiveness of science in the promotion of human
welfare, and to increase public understanding and appreciation of the importance and promise of the methods of science in human progress."
Thus the AAAS is making a significant effort to further
scientific freedom and responsibility within its own organizations and its affiliates.
ESA's Future Role in Ethic.l and Professionalism
From the discussions of the previous speakers, it appears that there are some constraints to scientific freedom in entomology. And perhaps you will agree with me
that scientists, including entomologists and particularly
those in industry and government, should be given more
freedom of speech than many now possess. We live in a
world so dominated and controlled by technology that
we cannot afford to wait until problems become apparent to the public. As scientists, we should be able to perceive dangers in evolving technologies prior to their
adoption, and prescribe suitable solutions before they
become an integral part of our economy and lives. Unless
there is scientific freedom, scientists cannot be successful
in this role. The scientific freedom that exists for scientists in universities must be extended to those involved in
the development and regulation of the technologies developed by science. We need the knowledge and discernment of these professionals.
Entomology is caught up in the midst of a larger reassessment of current technologies for food and fiber production. In crop protection, insecticides are of course at
the heart of this heated issue, but the debate is not limited to them, as those involved in eradication programs
are well aware. Almost every phase of modern agricultural production technology is criticized by some group.
The time has come, it seems to me, for ESA to become
formally involved in scientific freedom.
As we project the future of entomology and entomologists, there is little doubt that there will be a rapidly expanding number of us who will he professional consultants in much the same way that lawyers, engineers and
physicians are. I am sure Dr. Maxwell will speak about
this in terms of ARPE. But also in the future, I see a
greater and greater need for our Society to promote our
profession as well as our science. We need to do this in
relation to other professions - in industry, in government, in universities, in research institutes, and wherever
else entomologists work.
In cor.elusion, it is time we reexamined the "Object"
of ESA. Should it not promote ethics, responsibility, scientific freedom and professionalism as well as the science
of entomology? I think so.