The Chynn Family Endows $100,000 for Prize in Ethics

Dr. K. York Chynn and M. Noelle Chynn, GSS '60, have made a $100,000 gift to the Center for Ethics Education to endow an essay prize that asks undergraduate students to delve deep into their personal experiences to find moments that taught them about moral choices.

By creating a prize that stimulates self-examination on morality and ethics, the Chynns’ generous gift “reflects the larger mission of the University, which emphasizes moral development in tandem with intellectual development”, said the Center’s Director, Celia B. Fisher, Ph.D., Marie Ward Doty University Chair and professor of Psychology.

Fisher added that the prize has a trickle down effect, in the best sense of the term: No one loses a contest that challenges one to answer questions like, “What personal characteristics are essential to a moral life?”

The University wide prize sprung from an initial contest this past spring where more than 100 students submitted essays on ethical and moral issues and dilemmas they encountered personally or as a concerned member of society. Three students won prizes of $300, $500, and $1,000.

Those winners (and their essay titles) included, Ariadne Blayde Baker-Dunn, FCLC '12: Alex; Patrick Kelly, a Fordham College at Lincoln Center senior: Ecuadorian Oil: A Reason to Re-Examine My Consumption; and Kevin Coughlan, a Gabelli School of Business junior: Ethics and Morality Leading to a Happy Life. Deadlines for the 2013 prize are December 12, 2012 and March 15, 2013.

--Tom Stoelker

Fordham Explores Moral Issues Surrounding 9/11 Responses

As the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks nears, the debate over methods of preventing future harms while preserving moral integrity has raised complex questions that touch upon issues of rights, redress and common humanity.

Fordham’s Center for Ethics Education and Center on Religion and Culture are co- hosting a conference featuring discussions by a distinguished multidisciplinary group of policy makers, theologians, legal scholars, journalists, moral philosophers and social scientists.

Moral Outrage and Moral Repair: Reflections on 9/11 and Its Afterlife, which seeks to advance public dialogue and moral understandings as the country continues to grapple with these tensions, will take place on Tuesday, April 12, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus.

Panel topics include:

• Religion and Terrorism: Context and Perspective: Foundational themes that will inform historical, psychological, and religious understandings of terrorism and wrongdoing.

• Forgiveness & Moral Repair: Religion & Philosophy: An examination of the themes of forgiveness, reconciliation, justice, and hope in response and reaction to acts of evil and terrorism.

• Responses to Terrorism: Law, Politics, and the Media: Discussion of legal, political, and media responses to terrorism and methods of preventing future harms.

• Continuing the Conversation: Our Post-9/11 Future: A panel including all the speakers, in a format that will allow speakers to challenge, respond to, and debate one another, and include audience questions and comments.

This event is free and open to the public but prior registration is recommended.

Register online at www.fordham.edu/moraloutrage, e-mail ethics@fordham.edu or call (718) 817-0926.

--Gina Vergel