JULIS NAVARRO
Staff Writer
After three years, the Pepperdine faculty may have finally received a less controversial ethics policy in their faculty handbook.
An unexpected sexual relations policy appeared in the 2002-2003 Seaver College faculty handbook, and many faculty members were left upset about its content and wording. The policy that was included in the 2002-2003 handbook essentially stated that any faculty members whose lifestyle was not in accordance with Scripture would be subject to disciplinary action.
In addition, the procedure by which the new policy was added to the handbook was also an issue, because the faculty was informed of the policy only after it was printed.
Provost Darryl Tippens, head of the Ethics Committee formed to draft the new policy, wrote in an e-mail that the new ethics policy will be made available to the entire academic community for comment and review this fall.
“We expect all our faculty and staff to conduct themselves in a highly ethical manner and this includes the domain of sexual ethics,” Tippens said. “Our regents and our President have asked that we draft a broad ethics policy that would be appropriate to the whole University.”
Tippens said they have had faculty and staff participation throughout the entire process. Committees have been working on the assignment to produce a broader ethics policy for almost two years.
The final drafting committee includes Darryl Tippens, university provost; Professor Roger Alford, School of Law; Professor Jack McManus, Graduate School of Education and Psychology; Equal Opportunity director Edna Powell; Professor Regan Schaffer, Seaver College; and Professor Tim Perrin, Associate Provost and professor of Law.
“The second committee has produced a document that has been favorably reviewed by the University Faculty Committee,” Tippens said. “I can’t predict how the new ethics policy will be received, but I am quite hopeful.”
Perrin is excited and pleased about the new ethics policy, which he says is a university-wide policy that will apply to faculty, staff and students.
“It is a general ethics policy that is broad in scope, in terms of conduct,” Perrin said. “It is a policy that reflects the personality of the university, and I am very hopeful for its acceptance in the community.”
Powell said she shares the same sentiment. Because the committee was designed to include key people with various roles in the community, many opinions were represented.
“There were various opinions on certain parts, but I think we just came up with something we all could agree on,” Powell said.
09-07-2006