HistoryHistory
In Fall 2004 President Mary Sue Coleman convened a task force of faculty, staff and students to examine ways in which the University might “explore the synergies of education and scholarship on the issue of ethics in public life, contributing to and is some cases structuring broader public discourse on these issues.”
In her charge to the task force, President Coleman noted the rising public concern about the unethical behavior and institutional failures that have been front-page news in recent years. She asked the task force to assess current efforts at the U-M and to make recommendations concerning ways to increase attention to issues of ethics in public life in the teaching, research, and public service activities of the University.
The task force spent a year discussing the charge with a broad array of members of the University and the wider community and also looked at how other universities engage these issues. During the course of their work, the task force identified many programs and activities already in place that address these issues and the strong foundations on which new efforts can be built. It also identified some significant needs, particularly in the areas of undergraduate education, research on ethics in public life, and public discourse and outreach.
Their deliberations led the task force to recommende that the U-M embrace the challenge of restoring the consideration of ethics in public life to a central place on the University’s educational and research agendas.
The Ethics in Public Life Initiative was launched by President Mary Sue Coleman in Fall 2005 in response to the recommendations from the task force. For the last three years the President’s Initiative on Ethics in Public Life has sponsored a wide variety of public forums on ethical issues and provided funding in support of nearly fifty programs, workshops and faculty research projects.