Ethicist William May to speak at Kelly Center
By Lara Hendrickson
Staff Reporter

William F. May, renowned lecturer and ethicist, is presenting speeches and answering questions today regarding ethics in the post Sept. 11 and professional world, Larry Adams, assistant provost of Academic Affairs said Wednesday.

May will first speak to students and faculty at 3:30 p.m. in the Dee J. Kelly Alumni and Visitors Center about the similarities in ethics between various professional groups. He said professionals often do not see themselves as appreciated or important, leading to unethical behaviors.

“(Professionals) tend to obscure for themselves their obligations to the common good,” May said. “The lecture will explore professionals today as they struggle with a double identity, both as a means to a livelihood but also as a common calling to public service.”

May’s second lecture, a public address at 7 p.m. in the Kelly Center, will focus on anxieties over the role of the United States as the “world’s policeman,” May said.

“The lecture will reflect on the moral shift in national self-perception that playing that role would entail,” May said. “Students will need to think carefully about the kind of identity they believe leadership should aspire to and (what) citizenship (should) entail.”

Both lectures will be followed by question and answer sessions where students and faculty are encouraged to bring up issues, May said.

Adams said he invited May to speak after several faculty members who had previously heard him recommended his lectures. He said this is an opportunity for students and faculty to hear from and question a distinguished ethicist.

“In our ongoing emphasis of trying to bring various lecturers, we invited Dr. May,” Adams said. “Given his experiences, I would hope he shares his insight on ethics, specifically in looking at the role it plays in the larger society.”

Journalism professor Maggie Thomas said she has seen May speak before, and that all students and faculty should listen to what he has to say.

“It will be interesting to see how (May) relates his views to the current world situation,” Thomas said. “His speech should be timely and thought provoking.”

Thomas also said students and faculty should take advantage of May’s background and stay after the lectures to ask pertinent questions.

“He will provide a perspective about what is going on in relation to ethics,” Thomas said. “He is quite a deep thinker.”

Junior finance major Brandon Haverty said he is interested in hearing what May has to say about ethics in the professional world.

“Especially after Enron, white collar crimes are in the media more and more,” Haverty said. “Ethics is currently a huge topic of discussion in the business world.”

May is a professor of ethics at Southern Methodist University, president of the Society of Christian Ethics and a member of President Bush’s Council on Bioethics. He is also the author of several books, and in 2001 he published a study of ethics in eight professions, entitled “The Beleaguered Rulers: The Public Obligation of the Professional,” he said.

Lara Hendrickson