COLUMN: Integrity needed in every college
The college of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences is the largest college on campus. There are more than 10 departments in the college and more than 4,000 students who contribute to the university’s success and long-term growth.
As the HASS senator for the Associated Students of Utah State University, it gives me great pleasure to talk a little bit about what we are doing with HASS Week and the college in general from a student perspective. There are many activities that give a general feel for many of the departments and majors in the college, though not all. We have a speaker Wednesday that will discus Islam and the West, at 3 p.m. in Room 205 of the Eccles Conference Center. There will be elections for the USU College Republicans at 7 p.m. on the Third Floor of the TSC, and a movie, Shattered Glass, co-sponsored by Integrity Matters Week, just to name a few.
The College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences is the largest and most diverse college here at Utah State, and it is often very difficult to bring the whole college together, or to address issues that are relevant to everyone. However, I would like to talk about what I believe is important not only to all of us in the college, but to all of the university. Of all of the lessons that I have learned here at USU, many have been taught informally – in and outside of the classroom. One of the most important is the need for absolute personal integrity and moral courage.
Personal integrity is each person’s responsibility to ensure that their conduct falls into line with their personal moral code. The importance of integrity cannot be overstated. As one of the most important values in society, it is odd how the general erosion of personal integrity has not caused the general outrage that one would suspect. With everyone from presidents lying about sexual liaisons lying to grand juries, and CEO’s going to jail en masse, it is critical to stand up now for this important value.
Moral courage is standing up for what you believe. Oftentimes as students, when we become aware of issues that we feel strongly about, we desire to speak out. However, there are very real costs to speaking out.
For example, a student who chose to speak out on campus about issues he felt were important came to me this week because he was accused of “spreading hate” on campus. When pressed, the student was not able to convincingly convict the student of anything other than espousing a view different from that of the student who spoke out. How cowardly. Labeling students like this is a blatant and cheap attempt to silence them, and should never be tolerated. We must encourage students to speak their minds, not just shut them down with name-calling. Students who are willing to stand up to such charges show great moral courage.
I believe that the promotion of these values is a critical part of the university education that we pay for. I applaud the university’s efforts to promote these values through grievance processes, honor codes, and policies protecting and promoting constitutional freedom of speech. I encourage students to maintain personal integrity, and to always have the courage to stand up for what they believe in.
Gabe White is a senior majoring in political science. Comments can be sent to gkw@cc.usu.edu.