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aging that, despite the difficult and abstract nature of ethi- cal principles, students ranked them as third in importance among the lessons they learned in ethics class. Equally encouraging was that "how to be a more ethical person" was ranked fourth. Quite often, students seem to resist this as a goal in an ethics class. It sounds neither aca- demic nor fashionable to say that a course is teaching stu- dents to be more ethical, as it implies some deficiency that must be overcome. However, this ranking suggests that stu- dents might not be entirely resistant to the idea. What students also learn in ethics class is that some of their classmates view topics much differently than they do, which is an essential truth for managers attempting to resolve ethical dilemmas in the workplace. Most often, stu- dents come to this realization through case study discus- sions, when they discover that not everyone else has responded to a particular set of circumstances in the same way that they have. Realizing that the world is full of peo- ple with differing viewpoints—a choice ranked fifth by stu- dents in this survey—is much more important than realiz- Encouraging Ethics at Eller More than half the students at the University of Arizona's Eller College of Manage ment in Tucson, surveyed two years ago, admitted to cheating at some point during their aca- demic careers. The actual figure—54 percent—seemed both astounding and unacceptable to ethically minded students. Nonetheless, the number turned out to be close to the national average, based on results of a 2003 study of pla- giarism at U.S. schools. Rutgers University management professor Donald McCabe led the study, which surveyed more than 18,000 students on 23 campuses. More than half the undergraduates admitted one or more incidents of serious cheating on written work, with 22 percent admitting to one or more incidents of serious test cheating. Sixty-three percent of students majoring in business confessed to cheat- ing in the past year. "The statistics in these reports are astounding, but not surprising, due to the competitive nature of business col- leges," says Eller student Tara Abbott. To reverse the trend, Eller students began working with faculty and administration to develop the Eller College Integrity Initiative, or E-tegrity for short. "Our student-driven board of honor and integrity was created to help eliminate academic dishonesty," says Abbott. E-tegrity board members, of which Abbott is one, 38 BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 ing that some people have the same viewpoint, a choice ranked sixth. It was a huge relief to see that the lowest-ranked item on the list was "I'm not sure what I learned in this class." It was a gamble even to put this item on the questionnaire. However, since the questionnaires were completed anony- mously, I believe that this ranking reflected honest answers. Classroom Approach Just as important as discovering what students learned was discovering how they learned. We asked students which teach- ing and learning methods were most effective as they studied ethics, and they ranked the choices this way: 1. Lectures/presentations by the instructor. 2. Instructor-led discussions after student case presentations. 3. My own reading of texts/articles prior to class. 4. Studying for and taking the exams. 5. Case presentations by student groups. 6. My own reading and studying of cases prior to class. have developed a range of new initiatives to integrate integrity into the college's culture: The Eller College student oath. When freshmen business stu- dents electronically schedule their first appointments with aca- demic advisors, they are required to review the integrity oath and accept its terms. The oath reads: "We, the students of the Eller College of Management, believe in fostering an academic environment where competition is fair, integrity is promoted, and academic dishonesty is punished. As members of the Eller community, we voluntarily pledge our support for knowing and abiding by The University of Arizona's Code of Academic Integrity, exemplifying ethical behavior in both an academic and social setting, and agree to challenge and make known any acts of academic dishonesty." Later, when students apply for upper-division status, they are asked if they have cheated at the university. Their answers are checked against student records. A student honor board. Members of the board review policies and issues revolving around the student oath. These students are charged with promoting a culture of integrity and will work with faculty and administrators to arbitrate integrity violations. An E-tegrity Web site. Here undergraduates can find informa- tion on policies and codes, answers to frequently asked ques- tions, guides to student resource guides, and an application for serving on the Eller E-tegrity Student Board. Students also can use the site to report academic dishonesty by engaging an