Fairness Approach Essay

The best solution to this dilemma is for Professor Austin to report Cindy to the Dean, so that her fate will be left in the hands of the administration and not the teacher. In doing this, it allows him to become objective to the situation. This solution is supported by the Fairness Approach because Professor Austin is able to follow all elements of the approach -- no favoritism, treating everyone the same, and acknowledging the distribution of benefits and burdens. He would not have to make the decision that would present the most challenge for him, which is having to choose between the integrity of the school, or his team. Professor Austin is both teacher and coach, this dilemma difficult because he has two different roles to fulfill. He

On-one-hand, Professor Austin wants Cindy to be eligible to play in the Championship, so that the team has a better chance of winning. But on-the-other-hand, Professor Austin wants to treat every student the same and Cindy is a student first and an athlete second. Because the ethical dilemma occurred in the academic realm, the role as professor must trump the role as coach. So Professor Austin needs to make his decision based on the best solution for everyone involved academically. The individuals who benefit from Cindy’s cheating would be Cindy, Coach Austin, and Cindy’s teammates as far as having an opportunity to win the Championship game. Those who are burdened by Cindy’s cheating would be her classmates, Carly, other student-athletes, Professor Austin, and the school community. Cindy’s cheating is not fair to her other classmates who actually take the time to do the assignments and study for the tests. Carly is burdened by actually doing the work and having Cindy take credit. Also, other student-athletes are burdened by completing their work while also performing athletically without receiving special

If this solution is chosen, he will be sending the message to his students that academic dishonesty is acceptable by not punishing Cindy for cheating. According to the justice test, Professor Austin would not be considering the seven reasons for inequality if he does nothing to punish Cindy for her actions. As stated by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, the seven reasons for inequality are “effort, accomplishment, contribution, need, seniority, contract, and relationship or in-group status.” Effort, accomplishment and contribution are described as how hard some may have worked, or how much they have contributed more to achieve a goal. Need can be defined as “some may have a greater need to be served first or receive a larger share” (Hamilton, 2012). Seniority is the respect of order and sequence, but cannot be applied to this case because there is no presence of seniority. Contracts are an important facet to consider in this case and are defined as “the prior agreements to how distributions should be made” ( Hamilton, 2012). Lastly, relationship/ in-group status is the claim someone may have to a group that they feel a sense of loyalty