The Baruch College Faculty Handbook

Last updated on 3/11/19

Ethics Week 2019

(March 18-23)

 An annual event at Baruch College since 2004, Ethics Week evolved naturally from curricula in our three Schools that include emphases on ethical reasoning and/or decision-making. Generously supported by the Charles Dreifus Ethics-Across-the-Curriculum Initiative, our 16^th-Annual Ethics Week includes several components:

• A pre-Ethics Week event;
• Classroom discussion of ethics-related issues associated with the subject of the course;
• Speakers invited to address classes;
• Workshops and public events with members of the Baruch community and outside speakers;
• Announcement of the student and faculty winners of the Abraham J. Briloff Prizes in Ethics for 2018.

Pre-Ethics Week Event

Wednesday, March 13

9:55-11:35am, NVC 14-266

Sarah Schulman: Why Gentrification Happens: A Conversation with Sarah Schulman

Sarah Schulman is an American novelist, playwright, nonfiction writer, screenwriter and AIDS historian. She is a Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at College of Staten Island (CSI), a Fellow at the New York Institute for the Humanities, and a recipient of the Bill Whitehead Award. Professor Schulman will have a conversation with Professor Ian Ross Singleton’s ENG 2100 (Writing I) “Ho(o)dology” class. They will discuss the topic of gentrification and why it happens in New York City, asking how students can approach this topic in their writing.

Ethics Week Events

 Tuesday, March 19

 10:00am-1:00pm, NVC 2-140

Harvey Seifter: Faculty Workshop on The Art of Science Learning

The Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship invites you to participate in a unique, hands-on workshop designed to demonstrate how skills, processes, and experiences grounded in the arts (e.g., rapid prototyping, empathic listening iterative techniques grounded in ensemble rehearsal processes) can foster learning in non-artistic disciplines and domains. Used by more than 400 of America’s Fortune 500 companies, “arts-based learning” has emerged as a widely used approach to enhance creativity and accelerate innovation. The “Rehearsing Ideas” workshop is based on research funded by the NSF and is offered by the founder/director of The Art of Science Learning, Harvey Seifter, who developed the world’s first arts-based STEM innovation curriculum and has created a network of innovation incubators across the country. The process of innovation explored in the workshop is collaborative and non-hierarchical, involves a strong emphasis on empathy, and seeks to engage the perspectives of multiple community stakeholders. The focus is on community innovation around some of the most important civic challenges we face. RSVP: to marlene.leekang@baruch.cuny.edu. Space is limited.

12:00-2:15pm, NVC 14-220

Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate Integrity presents: Humans, Algorithms and Ethics?The use of learning algorithms has grown dramatically in recent years and businesses have been quick to realize the monetization potential of big data analysis and automation.  Algorithms are used in crucial decision-making points, such as to sway hiring and admission decisions, set insurance premium rates, and even inform judicial rulings.  In a data-driven world, a lot can go wrong: Algorithmic decision-making could result in errors, bias, manipulation, and the risk of perpetuating social injustices.  This brave new world also means changes in human behavior and adjustments of currently entrenched social norms.  Comprised of leading scholars in the field of law and technology, this panel, which includes Yafit Lev-Aretz (Baruch), Nizan Geslevich Packin (Baruch) and Ari Ezra Waldman (New York Law School), is dedicated to unpacking the reciprocal influence of humans and algorithms and the importance of ethics in this ongoing relationship. To attend please complete the online registration form.

 12:15-2:15pm, 135 E. 22^nd Street, Room 301

Ethan Taubes: The Ethics of Asylum Adjudication: Then and Now

Ethan Taubes is a retired asylum officer with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and a former supervisor at the Asylum Corps. Several pressing ethical questions are involved in the asylum process, such as: What happens when applicants have no documentary evidence of the persecution they face? How should asylum adjudicators respond when they have a concern about the credibility of the applicant’s narrative? Mr. Taubes will share with students his experiences grappling with these questions, and his insights will help inform students who will be working in the class to build a public facing multi-media website of resources for asylum seekers entering the United States. The main audience will be Professor Sarah Bishop’s IDC 3001H (The Peopling of New York) class, but this event is open to all. Lunch will be served.

 12:30 to 1:45, NVC 14-250

Evan Harvey: Sustainable Investing: Is it Sustainable?

Evan Harvey manages all corporate sustainability (environmental, social, and governance strategy), philanthropic, and volunteering efforts for Nasdaq. This includes internal management of systems and disclosures as well as external engagement with public companies, institutional investors, advocacy groups and other stock exchanges. He currently sits on the U.S. Network Board of the United Nations Global Compact, and previously served as the first chairman of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) Sustainability Working Group and as Advisory Board Member for the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). His work has been published in Forbes and the Sustainable Accounting Review, and he is a regular contributor to Capital Finance International. Mr. Harvey has worked at Nasdaq since 2004 and holds a B.A. and a M.A. from the University of Texas. Sandwiches and soda will be served at this Mitsui Lunch Time Forum.

4.10-5:25pm, NVC 7-215

Gregary Racz: The Ethics of Translation

Professor Gregary J. Racz is a scholar and translator of Peninsular and Latin American literature. He is an Associate Professor of Foreign Languages and Literature at Long Island University and teaches Spanish translation in the Rutgers Translation Certification Program.

His translations of Calderón de la Barca’s Life Is a Dream and Lope de Vega’s Fuenteovejuna appeared this year in the Norton Anthology of Drama. Most recently, selections of his work were published in The Oxford Book of Latin American Poetry(Oxford UP). Professor Racz is also a book review editor for Translation Review, and the former President of the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA). He will speak about the ethics of translation in today’s globalized world with Professor Adrian Izquierdo’s ENG 3950 class on “History of Translation from Antiquity until Today.”

Thursday, March 21

 12:30-2:00pm, NVC 8-190 (Feit Seminar Room)

Writing Center Workshop: Understanding Plagiarism and Citation

In this workshop, students learn what plagiarism is, why and how it happens, and how to reference others’ work with accuracy, clarity, and confidence.

Ethics Week is generously supported by the

Charles Dreifus

Ethics-Across-the-Curriculum Initiative.

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Some background information about

Ethics Week at Baruch College

Ethics Week was the idea of Prof. Roslyn Bernstein (English), who suggested at the concluding session of the Spring 2003 Seminar, “Ethics Across and Beyond the Curriculum,” that the college set aside one week during which members of the faculty would be encouraged to discuss ethical issues specific to their subjects/disciplines in their classrooms, and departments or programs would invite outside speakers for public presentations.

Ethics Week is organized by Associate Provost Dennis Slavin (646-660-6504).

See webpages from Ethics Week 2004, Ethics Week 2005, Ethics Week 2006, Ethics Week 2007, Ethics Week 2008, Ethics Week 2009, Ethics Week 2010 Ethics Week 2011 Ethics Week 2012, Ethics Week 2013, Ethics Week 2014, Ethics Week 2015, Ethics Week 2016 and Ethics Week 2018. See videos of some of the events of Ethics Week 2006.