How are a tuxedo rental, plane tickets to the Aloha Bowl and a car insurance deductible classified as appropriate “work-related expenses”? We’re still wondering the same thing. However, a state ethics panel last week dismissed complaints filed earlier this year against seven University employees, voting that the University Foundation money they received was legitimately spent.
The panel went on to note that the expenses may have been unusual, but they weren’t illegal, driving home the old adage that following the letter of the law may not indicate the most ethical behavior. Illegal or not, we still think the spending was unnecessary and unethical.
It seems wrong somehow that it is OK for the University to foot the bill for luxuries such as catering for office parties, while students at the University are forced to pay for the most basic items, such as Scantrons and even class schedules. It just doesn’t add up.
At a University where countless courses teach us that ethical behavior and acting within the boundaries of the law aren’t always one and the same, and at a University that tries to instill a secular sense of ethical behavior, it is disheartening, if not surprising, that the case was dismissed.
Choices should be based on what is right, regardless of whether the law deems it legitimate.