McCombs School of Business
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Videos Concepts Unwrapped View All 36 short illustrated videos explain behavioral ethics concepts and basic ethics principles. Concepts Unwrapped: Sports Edition View All 10 short videos introduce athletes to behavioral ethics concepts. Ethics Defined (Glossary) View All 64 animated videos - 2 to 3 minutes each - define key ethics terms and concepts. Ethics in Focus View All One-of-a-kind videos highlight the ethical aspects of current and historical subjects. Giving Voice To Values View All Eight short videos present the 7 principles of values-driven leadership from Gentile's Giving Voice to Values. In It To Win View All A documentary and six short videos reveal the behavioral ethics biases in super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff's story. Scandals Illustrated View All 30 videos - one minute each - introduce newsworthy scandals with ethical insights and case studies. Video Series
Case Studies UT Star Icon
Case Studies
More than 70 cases pair ethics concepts with real world situations. From journalism, performing arts, and scientific research to sports, law, and business, these case studies explore current and historic ethical dilemmas, their motivating biases, and their consequences. Each case includes discussion questions, related videos, and a bibliography.
A Million Little Pieces
James Frey’s popular memoir stirred controversy and media attention after it was revealed to contain numerous exaggerations and fabrications.
Abramoff: Lobbying Congress
Super-lobbyist Abramoff was caught in a scheme to lobby against his own clients. Was a corrupt individual or a corrupt system – or both – to blame?
Apple Suppliers & Labor Practices
Is tech company Apple, Inc. ethically obligated to oversee the questionable working conditions of other companies further down their supply chain?
Approaching the Presidency: Roosevelt & Taft
Some presidents view their responsibilities in strictly legal terms, others according to duty. Roosevelt and Taft took two extreme approaches.
Appropriating “Hope”
Fairey’s portrait of Barack Obama raised debate over the extent to which an artist can use and modify another’s artistic work, yet still call it one’s own.
Arctic Offshore Drilling
Competing groups frame the debate over oil drilling off Alaska’s coast in varying ways depending on their environmental and economic interests.
Banning Burkas: Freedom or Discrimination?
The French law banning women from wearing burkas in public sparked debate about discrimination and freedom of religion.
Birthing Vaccine Skepticism
Wakefield published an article riddled with inaccuracies and conflicts of interest that created significant vaccine hesitancy regarding the MMR vaccine.
Blurred Lines of Copyright
Marvin Gaye’s Estate won a lawsuit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for the hit song “Blurred Lines,” which had a similar feel to one of his songs.
Bullfighting: Art or Not?
Bullfighting has been a prominent cultural and artistic event for centuries, but in recent decades it has faced increasing criticism for animal rights’ abuse.
Buying Green: Consumer Behavior
Do purchasing green products, such as organic foods and electric cars, give consumers the moral license to indulge in unethical behavior?
Cadavers in Car Safety Research
Engineers at Heidelberg University insist that the use of human cadavers in car safety research is ethical because their research can save lives.
Cardinals’ Computer Hacking
St. Louis Cardinals scouting director Chris Correa hacked into the Houston Astros’ webmail system, leading to legal repercussions and a lifetime ban from MLB.
Cheating: Atlanta’s School Scandal
Teachers and administrators at Parks Middle School adjust struggling students’ test scores in an effort to save their school from closure.
Cheating: Sign-Stealing in MLB
The Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scheme rocked the baseball world, leading to a game-changing MLB investigation and fallout.
Cheating: UNC’s Academic Fraud
UNC’s academic fraud scandal uncovered an 18-year scheme of unchecked coursework and fraudulent classes that enabled student-athletes to play sports.
Cheney v. U.S. District Court
A controversial case focuses on Justice Scalia’s personal friendship with Vice President Cheney and the possible conflict of interest it poses to the case.
Christina Fallin: “Appropriate Culturation?”
After Fallin posted a picture of herself wearing a Plain’s headdress on social media, uproar emerged over cultural appropriation and Fallin’s intentions.
Climate Change & the Paris Deal
While climate change poses many abstract problems, the actions (or inactions) of today’s populations will have tangible effects on future generations.
Cover-Up on Campus
While the Baylor University football team was winning on the field, university officials failed to take action when allegations of sexual assault by student athletes emerged.
Covering Female Athletes
Sports Illustrated stirs controversy when their cover photo of an Olympic skier seems to focus more on her physical appearance than her athletic abilities.
Covering Yourself? Journalists and the Bowl Championship
Can news outlets covering the Bowl Championship Series fairly report sports news if their own polls were used to create the news?
Cyber Harassment
After a student defames a middle school teacher on social media, the teacher confronts the student in class and posts a video of the confrontation online.
Defending Freedom of Tweets?
Running back Rashard Mendenhall receives backlash from fans after criticizing the celebration of the assassination of Osama Bin Laden in a tweet.
Dennis Kozlowski: Living Large
Dennis Kozlowski was an effective leader for Tyco in his first few years as CEO, but eventually faced criminal charges over his use of company assets.
Digital Downloads
File-sharing program Napster sparked debate over the legal and ethical dimensions of downloading unauthorized copies of copyrighted music.
Dr. V’s Magical Putter
Journalist Caleb Hannan outed Dr. V as a trans woman, sparking debate over the ethics of Hannan’s reporting, as well its role in Dr. V’s suicide.
East Germany’s Doping Machine
From 1968 to the late 1980s, East Germany (GDR) doped some 9,000 athletes to gain success in international athletic competitions despite being aware of the unfortunate side effects.
Ebola & American Intervention
Did the dispatch of U.S. military units to Liberia to aid in humanitarian relief during the Ebola epidemic help or hinder the process?
Edward Snowden: Traitor or Hero?
Was Edward Snowden’s release of confidential government documents ethically justifiable?
Ethical Pitfalls in Action
Why do good people do bad things? Behavioral ethics is the science of moral decision-making, which explores why and how people make the ethical (and unethical) decisions that they do.
Ethical Use of Home DNA Testing
The rising popularity of at-home DNA testing kits raises questions about privacy and consumer rights.
Flying the Confederate Flag
A heated debate ensues over whether or not the Confederate flag should be removed from the South Carolina State House grounds.
Freedom of Speech on Campus
In the wake of racially motivated offenses, student protests sparked debate over the roles of free speech, deliberation, and tolerance on campus.
Freedom vs. Duty in Clinical Social Work
What should social workers do when their personal values come in conflict with the clients they are meant to serve?
Full Disclosure: Manipulating Donors
When an intern witnesses a donor making a large gift to a non-profit organization under misleading circumstances, she struggles with what to do.
Gaming the System: The VA Scandal
The Veterans Administration’s incentives were meant to spur more efficient and productive healthcare, but not all administrators complied as intended.
German Police Battalion 101
During the Holocaust, ordinary Germans became willing killers even though they could have opted out from murdering their Jewish neighbors.
Head Injuries & American Football
Many studies have linked traumatic brain injuries and related conditions to American football, creating controversy around the safety of the sport.
Head Injuries & the NFL
American football is a rough and dangerous game and its impact on the players’ brain health has sparked a hotly contested debate.
Healthcare Obligations: Personal vs. Institutional
A medical doctor must make a difficult decision when informing patients of the effectiveness of flu shots while upholding institutional recommendations.
High Stakes Testing
In the wake of the No Child Left Behind Act, parents, teachers, and school administrators take different positions on how to assess student achievement.
In-FUR-mercials: Advertising & Adoption
When the Lied Animal Shelter faces a spike in animal intake, an advertising agency uses its moral imagination to increase pet adoptions.
Krogh & the Watergate Scandal
Egil Krogh was a young lawyer working for the Nixon Administration whose ethics faded from view when asked to play a part in the Watergate break-in.
Limbaugh on Drug Addiction
Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh argued that drug abuse was a choice, not a disease. He later became addicted to painkillers.
U.S. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte’s “over-exaggeration” of an incident at the 2016 Rio Olympics led to very real consequences.
Meet Me at Starbucks
Two black men were arrested after an employee called the police on them, prompting Starbucks to implement “racial-bias” training across all its stores.
Myanmar Amber
Buying amber could potentially fund an ethnic civil war, but refraining allows collectors to acquire important specimens that could be used for research.
Negotiating Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy lawyer Gellene successfully represented a mining company during a major reorganization, but failed to disclose potential conflicts of interest.
Pao & Gender Bias
Ellen Pao stirred debate in the venture capital and tech industries when she filed a lawsuit against her employer on grounds of gender discrimination.
Pardoning Nixon
One month after Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency, Gerald Ford made the controversial decision to issue Nixon a full pardon.
Patient Autonomy & Informed Consent
Nursing staff and family members struggle with informed consent when taking care of a patient who has been deemed legally incompetent.
Prenatal Diagnosis & Parental Choice
Debate has emerged over the ethics of prenatal diagnosis and reproductive freedom in instances where testing has revealed genetic abnormalities.
Reporting on Robin Williams
After Robin Williams took his own life, news media covered the story in great detail, leading many to argue that such reporting violated the family’s privacy.
Responding to Child Migration
An influx of children migrants posed logistical and ethical dilemmas for U.S. authorities while intensifying ongoing debate about immigration.
Retracting Research: The Case of Chandok v. Klessig
A researcher makes the difficult decision to retract a published, peer-reviewed article after the original research results cannot be reproduced.
Sacking Social Media in College Sports
In the wake of questionable social media use by college athletes, the head coach at University of South Carolina bans his players from using Twitter.
Selling Enron
Following the deregulation of electricity markets in California, private energy company Enron profited greatly, but at a dire cost.
Snyder v. Phelps
Freedom of speech was put on trial in a case involving the Westboro Baptist Church and their protesting at the funeral of U.S. Marine Matthew Snyder.
Something Fishy at the Paralympics
Rampant cheating has plagued the Paralympics over the years, compromising the credibility and sportsmanship of Paralympian athletes.
Sports Blogs: The Wild West of Sports Journalism?
Deadspin pays an anonymous source for information related to NFL star Brett Favre, sparking debate over the ethics of “checkbook journalism.”
Stangl & the Holocaust
Franz Stangl was the most effective Nazi administrator in Poland, killing nearly one million Jews at Treblinka, but he claimed he was simply following orders.
Teaching Blackface: A Lesson on Stereotypes
A teacher was put on leave for showing a blackface video during a lesson on racial segregation, sparking discussion over how to teach about stereotypes.
The Astros’ Sign-Stealing Scandal
The Houston Astros rode a wave of success, culminating in a World Series win, but it all came crashing down when their sign-stealing scheme was revealed.
The Central Park Five
Despite the indisputable and overwhelming evidence of the innocence of the Central Park Five, some involved in the case refuse to believe it.
The CIA Leak
Legal and political fallout follows from the leak of classified information that led to the identification of CIA agent Valerie Plame.
The Collapse of Barings Bank
When faced with growing losses, investment banker Nick Leeson took big risks in an attempt to get out from under the losses. He lost.
The Costco Model
How can companies promote positive treatment of employees and benefit from leading with the best practices? Costco offers a model.
The FBI & Apple Security vs. Privacy
How can tech companies and government organizations strike a balance between maintaining national security and protecting user privacy?
The Miss Saigon Controversy
When a white actor was cast for the half-French, half-Vietnamese character in the Broadway production of Miss Saigon , debate ensued.
The Sandusky Scandal
Following the conviction of assistant coach Jerry Sandusky for sexual abuse, debate continues on how much university officials and head coach Joe Paterno knew of the crimes.
The Varsity Blues Scandal
A college admissions prep advisor told wealthy parents that while there were front doors into universities and back doors, he had created a side door that was worth exploring.
Providing radiation therapy to cancer patients, Therac-25 had malfunctions that resulted in 6 deaths. Who is accountable when technology causes harm?
Welfare Reform
The Welfare Reform Act changed how welfare operated, intensifying debate over the government’s role in supporting the poor through direct aid.
Wells Fargo and Moral Emotions
In a settlement with regulators, Wells Fargo Bank admitted that it had created as many as two million accounts for customers without their permission.
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