To be considered for selection as an Ethics Scholar, please submit the online application and the required documentation listed below:
Winners will be honored and formally announced at the Ethics Scholarship Banquet at Weber State University. Scholarship winners and their parents will be informed before the banquet, and are strongly encouraged to attend.
First, gather the following information. If these items are not attached to your application, you may not be eligible for a scholarship.
- High school transcript including current GPA and ACT scores (unofficial copy, such as a scanned PDF is acceptable).
- Verification of high school graduation date by high school administrator, if you are a high school senior applying (e.g., brief letter from guidance counselor).
- Letter of Recommendation (this can be from a faculty member, community member, school administrator, etc.)
- A 500-word ethics essay, double spaced, titled and dated including your name and that of your high school. Please write on ONE of the following topics:
1. Maria is a local reporter who hosts a weekly television show that addresses issues of national interest. For an upcoming show, she wishes to focus on global climate change and the internationally agreed-upon goal of trying to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Though a vast majority of climate scientists agree that the world is warming rapidly because of human activities, one physics professor at the local university denies this. As he thinks that there is good evidence to support his position, he insists that Maria include him on her show to present a balanced consideration of the issue. Otherwise, he argues, Maria would be showing media bias in choosing which side of the issue she thinks is true. What is Maria ethically obligated to do?
2. It has been estimated that there are 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, representing 3% of the total population and nearly 24% of all immigrants. President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on the pledge “to launch the largest deportation effort in American history, focusing on criminals but aiming to send millions back to their home countries.”1 Supporters of this idea argue that undocumented immigrants take jobs from those who are here legally; that they are a drain on social services, like education; that their presence here is unfair to those who have entered legally; and that they bring crime and drugs into the country. Those who argue against the policy point out that it would cost nearly $1 trillion over 10 years to implement; that it would tear apart many families; that it would devastate certain industries, like construction and agriculture, that rely on the labor of undocumented immigrants; and that many of the those sent back to their home countries would be returned to conditions of crime and violence that they were simply trying to escape in the first place. From a strictly ethical standpoint, would implementing this proposal be justified?
1 https://www.reuters.com/world/us/how-trump-would-crack-down-immigration-second-term-2023-11-14/
3. The Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that there are currently over 600,000 homeless people in the United States. Despite the challenges of finding adequate housing for these people, several states and municipalities around the country have banned them from camping in urban areas. Critics of these laws argue that they effectively make homelessness a crime and that people are being punished for being in a situation over which they have little to no control. Advocates of the laws, however, say that not only do the bans make urban areas safer and cleaner, but that they also help protect homeless people, since criminals frequently target those sleeping on the streets. Ultimately, do you think these bans are ethical?
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