HSE Students to Help Develop a University Code of Ethics

HSE University will renew its efforts to develop a code of ethics and guidelines for students, staff and teachers.

A working group including student government representatives and university administrators will commence work on the student component of the code. They urge the entire student community to participate.

What is a code of ethics?

A code of ethics is a set of norms that the university community considers important and does not violate. Unlike internal rules and regulations, violations of the code of ethics do not directly lead to disciplinary action. However, they are condemned by the community and may lead to a case hearing by an ethics commission or similar body.

Ethical guidelines are instructions or recommendations that help community members understand what acceptable actions are in ambiguous situations. In ethical guidelines of universities abroad, for example, you can find tips on how to dress for Halloween so as not to offend anyone, how to correspond with your instructor, or how to take care of the environment. Guidelines are exclusively advisory in nature.

Who will develop and discuss the code and guidelines?

The organizers who will coordinate the drafting of the documents and their discussion include the Commissioner for Student Rights, Ruslan Aslanov and Timur Slavgorodskiy-Kazanets, the Acting Director of the Student Council Executive Office, Ivan Torubarov, and the head of the Legal Committee, Elizaveta Vakatova, as well as the Assistant to the Rector, Ivan Chernyavsky, and the director of the Student Initiative Support Centre Dmitry Shminke.

How can I participate in the work and discussion?

Take the survey and tell your classmates about it

The development of rules is an occasion to reflect on how we all would like HSE to be. How should students, staff, and faculty treat one another? How would we like HSE to be a reflection of ourselves? Your answers in the form and specific examples of various situations will help developers to make the most comprehensive and comprehensive recommendations.

Join the discussion

In the chat, you will find all the ideas being discussed at the moment, as well as an analysis of code examples from other universities abroad. All guidelines and changes in the current document will be discussed in the chat.

The organizers want to have an inclusive discussion with a wide variety of opinions represented. They look forward to representatives of all student organizations, members of student media groups, and interested campus members getting involved.

Why do we need a code and guidelines? Aren’t internal rules enough?

They help the community identify, embody, and protect important values ​​and practices

For example, the HSE Internal Rules and Regulations state that plagiarism is prohibited and subject to the following punitive measures: admonition, reprimand, or dismissal. Ethical standards say the HSE community condemns plagiarism and rejects all forms of academic forgery.

The internal rules do not address what is accepted in the community — being honest and open to the outside community. Ethical standards and guidelines, on the other hand, focus on this.

Increasing clarity

There are a lot of ethically complicated situations in which we may not know how to conduct ourselves.

For example, there is the question of romantic relations between students and instructors. Uncertainty creates a situation in which everything is allowed and forbidden at the same time. The development of a code of ethics and guidelines is a chance to agree and decide what is acceptable and what is not.

Broadcasting HSE community life and integrating new students

HSE annually attracts thousands of students, and hundreds of employees join our university. Reading the code and guidelines is a quick way to understand HSE, and also quickly decide whether our conduct is in line with university community values.

I don’t feel like getting caught up in all the details of this, but I want to know what’s going on — what should I do?

The most important updates in the code development will be available on the STUDLIFE HSE page on VK.  Working versions of the code and guidelines will be posted as well as the final version of the project.

If you want to receive weekly updates about the project from the organizers, but do not want to join the chat, leave your email in the survey form. The weekly newsletter will include updates about how the project is developing and what has already been done.

March 26, 2020