What Is Right? – Day-long C.W. Post Conference Explores Ethical Dilemmas

October 8, 2004 - Al Jazeera’s coverage of the war in Iraq, modern-day slavery, the morality of outsourcing and ethical dilemmas in the classroom – these topics and many more will be tackled in “What Is Right?”, a day-long program of films, lectures and panel discussions at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University on Friday, Nov. 5, 2004. The events, which run from 9 a.m. to 7:15 p.m., are free and open to the public.

The program, sponsored by the Honors Program and Merit Fellowship at C.W. Post, will include more than two dozen presentations. Among them are screenings of the documentaries “Control Room,” which examines news coverage of the Iraq war, and “Anonymously Yours,” a harrowing look at the sex slave trade in southeast Asia.

Other presentations include “Globalization/Outsourcing,” a poster presentation that asks, “are we really doing the right thing for the world?”; “Ethical Dilemmas in the Classroom,” an interactive talk about everyday choices from kindergarten through college; “Reality TV: Some Ethical Questions” about those ubiquitous real-life shows; and “What is Wrong – An Interactive, Mixed-Media Poetry Experience” that promises to “favor wrong over right” in challenging the norms of grammar, syntax, diction and composition in poetry.

C.W. Post faculty members will lead many of the lectures and presentations.

“I believe it is important for us to focus student attention on broader issues than the subjects we teach in class,” said Dr. Joan Digby, director of the Honors Program and Merit Fellowship. “Scheduling the conference at the end of election week also gives us a chance to reflect on election results, whatever they might be.”

Other “What Is Right?” presentations include:

• “Ethics in Information Technology: Right and Wrong for IT”
• “Good Artists Borrow – Great Artists Steal!”
• “How Right Turns Wrong: Why Global Standards Hide the World’s Inequities”
• “Investigating Human Rights”
• “Is There Justice in War?”
• “Mass Media, Children and Responsibility”
• “Media Terrorism”
• “Preserving Children’s Right to Play: A Multi-Media Presentation”
• “Preventive Warriors” (documentary)
• “Private Acts, Public Consequences: Ensuring Personal Freedoms While Protecting the Public’s Health”
• “Right or Wrong: White Privilege – What is It? What are the Responsibilities of Those Who Hold It?”
• “Teacher Rights and Responsibilities”
• “The Ethical Use of Animals in Research: The Emergence of Neuroscience”
• “Ethics in Literature”
• “Victims of Circumstance” (one-act play)
• “What is Right? The Role of Morality in the Various Components of the Criminal Justice System”
• “What is Right and Wrong in Campaign Advertising?”
• “What is Write: Purchasing Papers, Plagiarism and Post Policy”

For more information, contact the Honors Program and Merit Fellowship at 516-299-2840.