'It happens more times than I care to recount,' she said, citing cases of universities retaliating by firing individuals. Whistle-blowers often face adverse consequences, said Franke. It borders on unethical to string junior faculty along, then deny them the tenure they've been expecting, she said. Consistent feedback before junior faculty come up for tenure is one way to avoid such problems. One particularly sticky issue is denial of tenure, which Franke said often comes down to junior faculty claiming in court that senior faculty are simply jealous of their greater productivity. 'This is not something to take on good faith because there are people without good faith out there in the world.'

Franke cited a long list of academics falsely claiming such credentials as doctorates, Rhodes scholarships and Navy SEAL status. With pressures to publish or perish, Franke said, 'people are greedy for publications and the prestige that goes along with spectacular research results' and may be tempted to fake results. But greed also takes the form of research fraud. Academia sees plenty of financial greed, whether it's conflict of interest in research or outright embezzlement. 'Nonetheless,' said Franke, 'this deadly sin is still very much with us.' Most universities now have policies forbidding romantic relationships between faculty and students, either altogether or when there's a supervisory relationship. Psychologists are well-placed to become resources for addressing this issue, she said, inviting participants to initiate frank discussions in their institutions. While alcohol and substance abuse issues among students receive much attention, less attention is paid to such problems among faculty, said Franke. 'And attributing sources is something students don't quite get so very often.' Faculty must think about how to define plagiarism, model ethical values for students and respond to violations of those values. 'In this Internet culture, cut and paste is so easy,' said Franke.

Ethics is about resisting temptation and then understanding why you're doing so, higher education law expert Ann Franke, JD, of Wise Results, LLC, told participants at APA's 2013 Education Leadership Conference.įranke provided an overview of common ethical issues within academia, using the seven deadly sins as a framework:

Deadly 7 sins