Case 4.7 “Law School”
The key facts in the case include undergraduate students paying consultants to help them prepare for LSAT, hiring of tutors to coach them on LSAT, and the use of admission consultants who work for students in writing personal admission essays to join law school.
The consultants industry may not have long-term legal problem since the industry is legal as it offers advisory services to students on how to prepare for LSAT and write acceptable personal admission essays. However, the consultants industry faces ethical problems with the discovery by the admission officers that same essays are submitted under different names and to various institutions. While the consulting industry is attempting to help the undergraduate students write better essays, it is morally wrong for them to work for the students instead of preparing them to write these essays. The consultants’ job is to offer advice and coaching on essay preparation but not work for students. Further, it seems that they are not ethical since they use same essays for different students and institutions. The consultants lack originality.
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It follows that the consultants are just serving their own interests but not students’ interests as demonstrated by the submission of same essays to different undergraduate institutions by different students. Imperatively, the ethical views presented in the case are normative ethics, particularly utilitarianism where both the consultants and students want to get admissions into undergraduate law institutions using underhand means. The consultants face the ethical dilemma of losing potential students who work them to work on their behalf, yet the consultants need them to earn. Therefore, the consultants must work for the student, which is unethical, or stand to lose their earnings and services becoming irrelevant.
My proposed long-term solution to the consulting industry’s problems is that they stick to the original advisory services and preparation of students but not working for them. The solution will serve the interest of both students and the consultants. The ethical view presented is virtue ethics grounded in philosophical ethics since people ought to do what is right.
Case 4.35
The key facts in the case include the guilty plea entered by Tim Donaghy, an NBA referee, to two federal felony charges because of the conspiracy to engage in wire fraud. The referee was also charged for transmitting betting information through interstate commerce. Donaghy earned $ 5,000 for correct picks during his tenure as an NBA referee.
My understanding of the referee’s ethical and legal problems is that the referee engaged in both unethical and illegal activities. The legal aspect of the problem is conspiracy in betting and gambling. In fact, the referee fixed matches where he officiated and earned from the equivalent of insider trading activities on Wall Street. The ethical issues in the case include an addiction to gambling and not acting in the right way as a referee is expected to be neutral and not influence any side during a match in the NBA.
Imperatively, Donaghy was only serving his individualistic interests at the expense of competitive sporting activities. Further, he also served the sectarian interests of the teams that he helped fix matches. The ethical views represented are utilitarianism since the referee served sectarian interests and not for all people.
The proposed long-term solution to the problems faced by NBA is that referees should be ethical and carry out their duties with favors and conspiracy to serve personal interests. NBA should develop a strict code of ethics and conduct framework to guide the referees and outline consequences of ignoring the set rules. These solutions will serve the interests of all stakeholders in the NBA. The ethical view represented is deontology ethics where the referee should consider if his actions were right or wrong based on the code of conduct in the NBA. The referee should consider the consequences of their actions and do the right thing by following proper rules of behavior so that they promote fairness and equality.
