LEADERSHIP AND ISSUES © Dr. Brad Strait 2002 THE CASE OF THE UNWELCOME ADMIRAL Y
ID: 3443871 • Letter: L
Question
LEADERSHIP AND ISSUES © Dr. Brad Strait 2002 THE CASE OF THE UNWELCOME ADMIRAL You are a Member of the Board of a Bradtown University, a successful, private liberal arts college in Boston. Your Board has been called together to solve a major public relations crisis. Vice Admiral Davy Jones, the Commander of Pacific Fleet for the United States Navy, has been invited by the campus ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corp – Student) unit to come and speak on U.S. Foreign Policy. Jones has agreed to come and give an hour speech, with another hour of question and answer time to follow. The ROTC group, who are all students at Bradtown, have reserved the University’s Auditorium and scheduled advertisements in the student newspaper to invite the student body to this free event. Here’s the problem. The leaders of student newspaper, The Bradtown Journal, a University funded but student led organization, are upset that Admiral Jones is coming. He is a notorious “hawk,” who has supported an increased presence of the US military around the world. He is a controversial figure; Jones has publicly supported taking over Cuba from Castro’s government. He has also supported the personal right of citizens to carry concealed handguns with them wherever they go. The Journal leadership has refused to run any ads for the evening, and have run editorials against Admiral Jones and the ROTC group. For example, today’s headline article was entitled, “Navy Wants War and Hate, Balanced Students Respond.” As well, the Student Union has received great pressure to cancel the ROTC group’s rental of the Auditorium. They are currently reviewing their contract with the ROTC group. The head of the History department, Dr. Marcie Lib, has also announced that she will cancel class so that she and her students (should they choose to come with her) can picket any presence of the Admiral on campus. Gun rights activists have also stated an intention to march in support of the Admiral’s visit. Anti-nuclear protesters have begun making special glow-in-the-dark signs. Green Peace is rumored to be bringing a 90-foot long, inflatable baby seal and red-die-filled squirt guns. The phones are ringing off the hook with press people wanting to know the position of the University on Admiral Jones. The Bradtown University President (who owns a seal fur coat and a has a heart condition) has called the Board into an emergency session to discuss this issue. The event is only ten days away. He is sweating and his left arm is numb, but it could be the stress or the scotch at lunch. Your job is to evaluate the ethical issues and come to decision on Vice Admiral Jones’ visit and speech. As well, you must decide a position for the student newspaper and the Student Union. Please use the “Six Steps to a Wise Decision” in your discussion, and be ready to share your choices with the class. Permission for use granted to Colorado Christian University by Dr. Brad Strait. Six Steps to a Wise Decision Dr. Brad Strait / Using Leadership, Ethics, and Wisdom in Decision-Making (1) CLARIFY -- What is the problem? What are the issues (values, ethics, landmines) present here? Are there other factors we must consider? (2) CLASSIFY --Who are the shareholders who are impacted by the decision? How will they be affected? (3) CONSIDER—Evaluate: What are the options available to us? What are the ethical pros and cons of each? What are the relational pros and cons? What are other pros and cons?
Explanation / Answer
Ethical decision are the ones that can never truly be black or white, but have gray connotations attached to them.
This might be an oversimplification, but ethics are usually with respect to decision that either considered wrong or right, although these lines, and the areas within can be hard to demarcate and the lines can often turn blurry owing to the component of perspective.
The problem in the above case are the clear contentious values and beliefs of the Admiral who has been invited for a talk at the respective university. The issues are clear, the Admiral is a propagator of gun possession, usurping and also of sanctioning US army presence all over the world.
The shareholders in the above predicament would naturally be the the students of the university and the Americans in totality as the admirals ideals, which could be propagated during the speech, could impact sundry people and their ideals pertaining to the issues mentioned afore. Th facile gun sanctioning in the US is and has been one of the predominant factors of futile loss of life, and has increased the rate of deaths by a clear margin. Of course, the talk has a potential of being harmful for many and an ethical concern for the same.
Both options available would invite equal amount of vitriol as either of the side won't be satisfied with the other decision. But, what could be done is, the admiral could be invited, and a cap could be put on the audience - that is, on the amount of people who can attend the given talk, which would achieve the affect of curbing the influence of sundry people, and would also satiate the wanting of the other masses, and would stop from insulting the eminent personality who would be visiting. The dean of the University, is worried in the above context mainly for refusing, and the imminent backlash from that.
This compromise would experience harsh criticism as well, but it would eventually be acquiesced by the majority as a necessary evil.
These would align by the six steps of wise decision.
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