Ethics in Sports

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

The course is designed to raise students' ability to recognize and resolve ethical issues in sports, but also more broadly in business, accounting and life. Accordingly, this course will ask students to examine a variety of issues through various ethical lenses. Topics will vary from semester to semester, but are likely to include the ethical dimensions of: college athletics, including amateurism, compensation, and unionization; wellness, focusing on everything from finances to doping; corruption, including gambling, college academic and admissions scandals, and FIFA; and sports and the common good, i.e., can sports advance issues as diverse as gender and racial equity and sustainable economic development in the form of stadium construction and hosting the Olympic Games. In addition to critical thinking, students will be well served by curiosity, skepticism and keeping an open mind. Requirements typically include in-class participation, a presentation on a current ethical issue in sports, and two exams.