TV Crew On Campus for Report on Ethics and Education
September 28, 2004
September 28, 2004, Greencastle, Ind. - UMTV, the United Methodist Television News Service, is on the DePauw University campus today to shoot a report that examines the importance of teaching ethics to college students. A crew spent the morning interviewing David H. Smith, Robert and Carolyn Frederick Distinguished Visiting Professor of Ethics at DePauw University, and videotaping his 10 a.m. class, "Philosophy 206: Playing God." Later, UMTV interviewed the Reverend Larry Burton, DePauw University Chaplain. (photo shows Dr. Smith being interviewed)
[Download Audio: "Ethics and Education" - 279kb] "DePauw has a couple of people who are kind of on the cutting edge of ethics and have been in the national media discussing, really, the problem with training college students to be successful without giving them the moral background to make the right decisions," says Dennis Ferrier, UMTNS reporter and producer. He points to a lack of ethics as some of the scandals that have rocked the business world in recent years. "Examples might be E
nron, Martha Stewart, Adelphia, and even media decisions," he adds.
Ferrier says the story will examine the notion [Download Audio: "A Real Difference" - 188kb] "that knowledge is power, but along with that power and the ability to make money it has to be undergirded by a sense of what's right and what's wrong. And then you're making a difference in the world, not just making sure that you have nice stuff."
The story will be produced at Nashville, Tennessee-station WSMV-TV (the flagship of UMTV), then uploaded via a CNN satellite to local television stations around the world. Ferrier says viewers should begin seeing the piece in selected markets in the next two-to-three weeks. The report will also be available via UMTV's Web site, accessible here.
As he sat in Asbury Hall before interviewing Dr. Smith, Ferrier said, [Download Audio: "DePauw's Beauty" - 303kb] "This is the most beautiful classroom I've ever been in. I'm 44 years old, went to school, been to dozens of universities for interviews, and I walked into this classroom and I thought, 'Wow, what an 
atmosphere'... This is a place you imagine in your head when you think of higher education and learning and the setting you want to be in. And the campus is beautiful -- the little sliver of it we've seen -- it's a neat setting."
Read more about Professor Smith by clicking here. The description of his "Philosophy 206: Playing God" class states: "A selective survey of issues associated with research and new technologies for reproduction. Issues covered will include biomedical and social science research with human subjects, genetic and stem cell research, genetic testing, cloning, gene therapy and genetic enhancement. Readings will argue for differing perspectives on all these issues. Readings will include John Robertson's Children of Choice, Thomas Murray's The Worth of a Child, and Leon Kass' Toward a More Natural Science. Format will include some lecture, discussion, short papers, examinations and perhaps classroom debates.
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