Should MPA granting degree programs have a code of ethics for their students? Do MPA programs have a code? I placed this latter question on the NASPAA listserv and received a deafening silence. However, I did get a positive response from the director of the Wisconsin Certified Public Manager Program, Susan Paddock. She sent along a 5-point code referred to as a “Statement of Professional Responsibility.” One of the five points states that “I will become familiar with and adhere to the standards of ethical conduct established by each of the professional societies to which I am admitted as a member.”
A web search located an MPA Code at a new university. What follows is part of that code. Would your school consider adopting this code? Why or why not?
General Principles
Students have the opportunity to foster the profession of public administration. To do so, individual behavior must be ethical as a way of life. This includes conduct in personal and academic affairs. In pursuing this objective the student shall:
1. Maintain good academic standing and abide by procedures, rules, and
regulations as described in the MPA Student Handbook and the XXX
catalog;
2. Respect the guidelines prescribed by each professor in the preparation of
academic assignments and other course requirements;
3. Be objective, understanding, and honest in academic performance and
relationships;
4. Strive toward academic excellence, improvement of professional skills, and
expansion of professional knowledge;
5. Neither engage in, assist in, nor condone cheating, plagiarism or other such
activities;
6. Respect and protect the rights, privileges, and beliefs of others.
ASPA member Karl Thoennes III (Karl.Thoennes@UJS.STATE.SD.US), Administrator 2nd Judicial Circuit, South Dakota, writes in response to the April moment “Moral Management: Fact or Fantasy?” that he encountered a similar situation in a court he managed a few years ago. Karl says, “I love the sheriff's delicate use of the phrase ‘develop an association with…’ In answer to your question, I think we can manage morals on some behaviors -- outside employment at the strip club, internet porn -- but I do think trying to manage adultery at the office is a fantasy. Incidentally, I hear those two employees in my previous job have since divorced their respective spouses and are pursuing other associations."