Taken from the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the inscription above Angell Hall reads: “Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” Though this message is written on one of the University's most prominent buildings, students might not realize the importance of an education in ethics. The recently opened Center for Ethics in Public Life offers a variety of courses and programs to bring moral contemplation to the forefront of students’ minds. The center is initiating a much-needed dialogue on campus that students should realize is an opportunity to create a better campus and world.

The Center for Ethics in Public Life has its origins in a task force convened by President Mary Sue Coleman in 2004. Seeing an increasingly bleak state of ethical behavior in our country — from journalists’ shameful reporting leading up to the war in Iraq to sexual abuse by Catholic priests to increased plagiarism by students and professors — Coleman created a task force charged with finding ways for ethical issues to get more attention on campus. When the task force came back with its recommendations in June 2005, one of its key suggestions was to launch the Ethics in Public Life Initiative. And so the precursor to the Center for Ethics in Public Life was born.

The center, a more permanent outgrowth of the initiative, opened this summer. It hopes to add ethical considerations to more of our conversations, both inside and outside the classroom, and make sure the University is setting an example for moral behavior. What the center explicitly doesn’t want to do is indoctrinate students with the “right” answer. The idea is that students will take these considerations out into the world, instead of becoming the next Judith Miller, Kwame Kilpatrick or Ted Stevens.

Campus needs the center. While the University does a great job preparing students to succeed in their careers, it does less to provide them with a moral compass. Many students either think ethics is something for high-minded philosophers to worry about or it is just common sense. And that’s not surprising — because it’s taught that way.

Meanwhile, the underlying moral decline that led Coleman to convene a task force in 2004 has probably only gotten worse since. Look no further than the presidential election. While exaggeration and a little stretching of the truth used to be the norm in campaigns, this year, flat-out lies have been the standard. You know how Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin supposedly said “thanks, but no thanks” to the infamous Bridge to Nowhere? That’s not true. And that time Barack Obama supposedly voted in favor of comprehensive sexual education for kindergarteners? Not true either.

Closer to home, there are ethical questions that come up in our everyday lives. Is it moral to download a song, instead of buying the album? What constitutes cheating as opposed to “helping” your friend? Or in the College of Engineering, for example, is it OK not to proctor exams and trust students to not cheat?

Making good decisions on complicated moral issues is difficult, and too often it is deemed “somebody else’s problem” in political, professional, and even personal arenas. Students should take advantage of the lectures, programs and classes the center will be offering. More importantly, they should take from them the complex thinking they’ll need later in life.