The Order of Things: Ethical Foundations for Community College Leaders

Abstract

This article calls attention to the need for community college leaders to develop a deeper understanding of ethics in preparation for addressing ethical issues that arise in the administration of their institutions. It discusses briefly the nature of ethics and the ethical theories of some modern and postmodern authors. The article is concerned with how students in a doctoral program of study in community college leadership can incorporate ethics into their study of leadership, and it describes briefly the manner in which this is done at Mississippi State University.In America we take pride in the fact that our lives as citizens are governed by the rule of law. This foundation of legal jurisprudence sets forth principles by which policy makers can provide the ways and means of operating institutions such that decision making can be kept within legal boundaries. In situations that occur outside of legal jurisprudence and institutional policy, however, leaders may be challenged to draw upon their own inner strength of character to decide properly what is good or bad or right or wrong. It is then that their leadership ethics are discovered and become public.When the media tell us stories about anomalies of behavior among leaders in business, industry, health care, government, athletics, or education, are we not amazed at the ethical values displayed by such leaders when tempted by the prospect of financial gain, sexual favors, political

Ethical Decision‐Making Needs for Emerging Community College Leaders

“…Additional works have focused on the ethical foundations for community college leaders from the university leadership preparation program perspective. For example, Stumpf, Holt, Crittenden, and Davis () discuss how a doctoral program in community college leadership incorporates ethics into leadership training. This discussion heavily relies on preparing leaders with interdisciplinary scholarly ethical foundations to enable reflection and understanding of how decisions and conduct influence their college.…”