Ethics

Summary: In this reflection, I have attempted to describe a situation in which I had faced an ethical dilemma and have expressed my views about the same .I have also indicated the kind of impact the entire situation has created on me, and how it has influenced my decisions.

The call of duty precedes the call of your heart. A university stands for humanism, tolerance, for reason, for the adventure of idea and for the search of trust. Being built such strong principles, this was deeply integrated into our value system right from the beginning and we have taken its path too. Being an undergraduate student with an eye for entrepreneurship and technology, i have strong tied my beliefs to this thought system. To take a path less trodden, and to explore avenues less familiar to me, i took the path of starting my own little firm providing services in hosting and web services. That was at a period when the word 'startup' was alien to me, but i had already taken its path.

Those were my early years of under graduation.  On the verge of entering into my final year, i was selected as an assistant for college affairs and internal administration, at the college of Engineering at my university. That was a stage when i could be called an amateur and be brushed aside as a junior, but the strong foundations the university was built on, and a healthy value system it had, was an inspiring model for me.
Being a student and an intern, the situations that my assistantship gave me and the kind of people I met, imbibed in me things that could were paving the way for the professional i was eager to evolve into. The concept of assistantship and student affairs being handled by interns was evolving only then and was not actually much in place, but most of the decisions in day to day affairs had to be taken by us, making the job challenging and equally providing a very steady learning curve.  In addition to this, I had a penchant for security systems and cryptography. I had been working on a project, the potential of which was not exactly known to me. During my day to day interactions with the professors at my university, I was sighted by the head of Computer Sciences department, who was also the dean for Student Affairs. He arranged for me interactions, and made me understand the importance of the thing I was working on. I was very much excited as that could be a major break in my life, and he had promised to support me, given my dedication and abidance to his guidelines. I was called to meetings that were open only to the professors at the university and was made to actively interact with people in the discussions. I found these experiences invaluable, and instilled in a great sense of respect for my mentor.

Other than these, my mentor being the dean too, I had to report to him cases put forward by students from various colleges under the university’s umbrella.  I would like to express my feelings about one case that I had encountered and had been in a fix. There was a classmate at my Electrical Engineering class, who was very promising and was working on a project that could be pivotal to this future. Though the intellectual quotient in question was high, the moral and monetary support from the family was not enough to balance the talent that he possessed. As a part of the regular policies at the university, a student has to clear all the fee dues to qualify for appearing for an examination.  My classmate had some deep financial issues at home, and could not pay the semester fees on time, but was working hard on his project. He was summoned by the student affairs office, in this regard and was informed about not qualifying for the exams, in case the fee wasn’t paid on time. This was a very depressing time for him, and approached me for advice in this regard. He asked me to recommend to the dean, his case for an exception and extend the deadlines for him.

Having known for a couple of years, I empathized with him, and promised to help him any possible manner.  After a lot of thinking, I approached the dean with this case and explained him the plight of my classmate. Being a person in authority, he asked me to go according to the rules and revoke him the exam qualification. I requested him to consider this case and extend the due date, which was flatly refused.  Realizing my friend’s need to take the exams on time, and my strong will to help him out, I informed my dean that in case he could not make an extension, I would escalate the issue to the higher authorities and get an extension for him. My mentor was clearly enraged for my opposition and said in such a case, I would not be getting any further help from him in my research project.  Weighing the ups and downs of my decision, and the fact that a student’s entire career was at stake, I was in a dilemma. 

At that point of time, I realized that I could complete my project even without my mentor’s support, but with a higher level of hardship. All that could matter to me then was the future of a student who would be promising, and I could not afford to jeopardize his career. I made a special request to the university’s registrar and since he has special powers in such matters, he accepted my request on a condition that I assure he pays the dues within a month after the examinations. Upon conveying the decision to my dean and my classmate, I saw feelings of indifference from the dean and joy from my friend. Being a human with a set of values, what mattered to me was the joy of a person, rather than material benefits.

I remember my ensuing conversation of rejection which I had with my dean, with a sense of regret. I wish I could say I managed this dilemma well, but I realize that I failed to account for the fact that I could not substantiate the situation, by being diplomatic at both the ends. Societies in my opinion are more importantly social, educational and vocational unit than the rules put forward by workplaces, and when testing times arrive, the dilemma that these put us in is unexplainable. By not giving thought to the consequences of my actions, my project had to be completed in a tougher manner, but ultimately I achieved success and my classmate finished his course on time. Through this, I have learned a valuable lesson on integrating business rules and ethics, and have vowed to utilize this insight into all of the decisions I make.