The Gm Bailout
Case Studies in Ethics
Ethics Case Study 1
The Center for Alcohol Education, Inc., is a small, struggling nonprofit agency that targets the prevention of alcohol use among teenagers. Funding has never been adequate to support its projects, and its executive director has been considering some layoffs to stay afloat. Recently, the Bettleheim Brewing Company has let it be known that it will be providing grant dollars for responsible alcohol use. Bettleheim’s public relations director was recently quoted in the newspaper as saying that current prevention efforts are one-sided and distort the facts about responsible alcohol use.
1. Should the Center for Alcohol Education, In., apply for one of these grants? 2. What implications would the acceptance of a grant from Bettelheim Brewing Company have on the Center? 3. Which sections of the Code of Ethics guides the Center in their decision?
Ethics Case Study 2
For the past tens years, the Institute on Drug Abuse Prevention has been supporting the DON’T DO IT curriculum by providing technical assistance, free materials and training to teachers willing to use it with their students. The Institute has been very successful; over 500,000 students are exposed to the curriculum annually. Recently, however, two separate universities completed large- scale studies on the DON’T DO IT curriculum and found that it did not change student drug-use behavior; in fact, students drug use increased after the curriculum was implemented. The executive director has determined that it would take at least two years to locate and begin supporting a new curriculum. If she stops facilitating training, she’s worried about the reaction of the institute’s funders, who require that at least 200 teachers be trained annually. The director’s advisors are telling her to disregard the study and continue supporting DON’T DO IT; after all, if so many teachers are using it, doesn’t that mean that it’s a good program?
1. Should
Ethics Case Study 1
The Center for Alcohol Education, Inc., is a small, struggling nonprofit agency that targets the prevention of alcohol use among teenagers. Funding has never been adequate to support its projects, and its executive director has been considering some layoffs to stay afloat. Recently, the Bettleheim Brewing Company has let it be known that it will be providing grant dollars for responsible alcohol use. Bettleheim’s public relations director was recently quoted in the newspaper as saying that current prevention efforts are one-sided and distort the facts about responsible alcohol use.
1. Should the Center for Alcohol Education, In., apply for one of these grants? 2. What implications would the acceptance of a grant from Bettelheim Brewing Company have on the Center? 3. Which sections of the Code of Ethics guides the Center in their decision?
Ethics Case Study 2
For the past tens years, the Institute on Drug Abuse Prevention has been supporting the DON’T DO IT curriculum by providing technical assistance, free materials and training to teachers willing to use it with their students. The Institute has been very successful; over 500,000 students are exposed to the curriculum annually. Recently, however, two separate universities completed large- scale studies on the DON’T DO IT curriculum and found that it did not change student drug-use behavior; in fact, students drug use increased after the curriculum was implemented. The executive director has determined that it would take at least two years to locate and begin supporting a new curriculum. If she stops facilitating training, she’s worried about the reaction of the institute’s funders, who require that at least 200 teachers be trained annually. The director’s advisors are telling her to disregard the study and continue supporting DON’T DO IT; after all, if so many teachers are using it, doesn’t that mean that it’s a good program?
1. Should