Alcorn holds 4th annual Ethics Week
Alcorn State, Miss (February 22, 2013) – On February 18-22, 2013, Alcorn State University participated in the annual Ethics Week. Organized by the School of Business, Ethics Week is an event designed to raise ethical awareness, emphasize the importance of ethics, and serve as a platform for the University to demonstrate how committed it is to ethical behavior.
“Ethics Week is a state-wide event that has been celebrated every February since 2010 in conjunction with other Mississippi’s public and private colleges and universities,” stated Dr. Vivek Bhargava, interim dean, School of Business. “Alcorn was one of the original participating institutions, and we are proud to continue to promote such a worthwhile weekly event. The School would like to acknowledge the hard work that the Ethics Week Committee and the students have put in to make this event a success.”
Dr. Pj Forest, chair for the Ethics Week Committee, who also teaches business ethics at Alcorn, said, “Students are very involved in the process and determine the content and direction of the week’s activities.”
The theme for the Week was “ASU: The Ethical Organization”. To emphasize Alcorn’s anti-hazing and anti-bullying stance, students distributed flyers and displayed posters informing about hazing and bullying, explaining the penalties for such activities, encouraging reporting of violations, and presenting mottos like ‘Braves Don’t Bully’. An important part of the event was a campaign to sign an anti-hazing/anti-bullying pledge. Concluding the week, a survey of students’ knowledge on hazing, bullying, and ASU policies was conducted. The results will be analyzed and presented by the School of Business.
“Taking Dr. Forrest’s class and assisting in organizing Ethics Week, allowed us to learn more about hazing and bulling that occurs at colleges and universities, and ways to encourage students to fight against it,” said business students Cedrick Wilson and James Lurks.
The pinnacle of the week’s events was a presentation by Senator Kelvin E. Butler held on February 20, in the Ray Johnson Assembly Center. Senator Butler was elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 2003 representing District 38 – Adams, Amite, Pike, Walthall and Wilkinson counties. He is chairman of the Labor Committee and vice chairman of Enrolled Bills. Senator Butler also serves on the Business and Financial Institutions, Entergy, Finance, Judiciary Division A, Local and Private, Municipalities, PEER, State Library, and Tourism committees.
In his speech, Senator Butler noted the Week’s theme supports the character, commitment and vision Alcorn State University has embraced.
“The focus on ethics is a timely topic of great importance to everyone from students to my colleagues at the Capitol,” stated Senator Butler. He continued with definitions of the word “ethics” followed by listing the ingredients of success, including a proper educational and spiritual foundation, developing character, and having ethics and integrity. Addressing students, Senator Butler emphasized that “being incorruptible is a quality we all need to master if we want to live quality lives and maintain our dignity while making our own contributions to society.” ?
He closed his speech encouraging those who witness bullying to do everything in their power to stop it. “Bullies affect people at all ages and they have caused an unimaginable grief in some people’s lives. We passed a law in a previous session that will require school districts to look for bullying, to confront bullies and to either stop them from bullying others or get them out of school. Mississippi will not stand for bullying on any level!”
