Committee C: Ethics recommendations from 2004 Congress

Committee charge

Committee C is charged with reviewing the progress of the three high priority recommendations, and identifying any other high-priority actions wrt the Recommendations that should be pushed forward. The committee should develop a plan to implement the highest priority items. The committee will prepare a document summarizing the committee’s accomplishments, recommendations and decisions to date to share with the rest of the Council. The document should include a timeline for accomplishing the committee’s goals for the rest of the academic year. All members of the Council are invited to consider serving on Committee C.

Committee members

Hall Cheri, Chair (Zone 12) cdouglas@mail.snu.edu

DeGraffenreid William, Vice-Chair (Zone 18) degraff@csus.edu

Bahr David (Zone 11) dbahr@bemidjistate.edu

Sell Alexander (Zone 5) sellco2000@yahoo.com

Sawyer Lee (Zone 10) sawyer@latech.edu

Greve Edward (Zone 3) edward.greve@gmail.com

Some Background Information

C. Ethics---Discussions among the SPS 2004 Congress Ethics Recommendations Committee and the SPS Executive Committee resulted in three emerging (# 2, 4 and 7 below) as highest priority. Subsequent committees of the SPS Council have implemented some of these recommendations which are:

1) Sigma Pi Sigma/SPS should issue a resolution stating that ethics education be integrated into the physics program. (70 yes, 15 no)

2) Sigma Pi Sigma/SPS should create/disseminate a set of ethics resources including curricula, case studies, speaker lists. (77 yes, 7 no)

3) Sigma Pi Sigma/SPS should expand its efforts to involve alumni and industry in its initiatives to promote career diversity. (47yes, 34 no)

4) Sigma Pi Sigma/SPS should assign a committee to investigate existing professional society and publisher statements and guidelines regarding ethics, with an eye to endorsing these or modifying them for our use. (68 yes, 14 no)

5) Sigma Pi Sigma/SPS publications should have ethics-based guidelines, including those that recognize students’ roles in publications. (72 yes, 7 no)

6) As an honor society, Sigma Pi Sigma/SPS should have a disciplinary procedure for those who violate the standards of the society. (60 yes, 20 no)

7) Sigma Pi Sigma/SPS should issue a statement on the importance of achieving diversity in physics. (67 yes, 11 no)

8) Sigma Pi Sigma/SPS should expand its general portfolio of programs and resources to include those targeted at groups under-represented in physics. (73 yes, 8 no)

9) Sigma Pi Sigma/SPS should issue a statement recommending that the tenure and post-tenure review process consider more strongly the tenure candidate’s impact on student development. (50 yes, 25 no)

10) Sigma Pi Sigma/SPS should issue a request to chapters that chapters educate and inform students about the tenure process that physics faculty undergo. (57 yes, 22 no)

Proposed Amendments to Ethics Resouce Page

Here are some ideas toward making ethics speakers more accessible to those who may not be comfortable directly contacting experts off our list. Perhaps it would help to add a link in the section under “Speaker’s List” on the ethics resources page. A link for a general request could either lead to an email address or to a form and would be placed just above the existing links to specific speakers. The paragraph above these links could be changed to read something like this:

“The individuals listed below have had experience in moderating case studies and can be contacted for assistance. They can help in planning a session, giving hints to moderators, or even moderating case studies themselves (well suited for departmental seminars or SPS Zone Meetings). Click on the link below to request a speaker to come to your school or click on one of these expert’s names to contact them directly via email.”

Here is an example of what our form could look like:

links and references

Initiative #2 - Committee Action 9/29/06

- Form to submit recommendations

- Form to contact or become speaker

- Gather documents (case studies, syllabi) concerning ethics for the website

- Print official statement in Radiations, SPS Observer, and Physics Today if possible

Initiative #4 - Committee Action 9/29/06

- Discuss what other professional societies do concerning ethical violations

- Discuss possibilities concerning consequences (i.e. there is no current method of removing a member)

- Discuss possibility of amending the constitution if agreement is reached

- Proposal to be prepared for next year’s Council Meeting

10/5/06-- This is a review of disciplinary procedures used by other honor societies:

CommitteeC_DisciplineReview.pdf

Initiative #5 - Committee Action 9/29/06

- Look for statement concerning publication ethics within APS (or other professional society)

Drafts

Draft 1

Draft 2