Symposium on Conflict of Interest Launches New Series, Ethical Issues At the University, Sponsored by the York University Centre for Practical Ethics

TORONTO, October 19, 1999 -- Do universities need stronger, legally enforceable codes of professional behaviour? Are university professors, governors, officers and students fully aware of the real and potential conflicts of interest they face? This week, York University's Centre for Practical Ethics launches its series on Ethics in the University with a symposium on Conflict of Interest on Thursday, October 21.

"The choice between public responsibility and personal interest at the university is becoming a complex navigation in an era of increasing consciousness about racial and gender parity and rapid commercialization of our public institutions," said York political scientist and professor of Public Administration at Osgoode Hall Law School, H.T. Wilson, describing the motivation for the series. Wilson will chair the Conflict of Interest symposium.

York political science Prof. Ian Greene, principal speaker at the conference, points out that great strides have been made in the last decade in creating guidelines and laws to govern the behaviour of politicians and public servants. "We haven't made the same advances at the university, and it's time to catch up," said Greene, adding that ethics--how to define them and how to apply them--will be a major theme on the political agenda during the next 30 years, just as human rights has been a major theme in the past 30 years. Co-author of A Question of Ethics: Canadians Speak Out (Oxford University Press, 1998), Greene will speak about conflicts of interest in hiring, tenure, promotion and other committees of the university.

Political Science Prof. David Shugarman, Director of the Centre for Practical Ethics, and co-author with Ian Greene of Honest Politics: Seeking Integrity in Canadian Public Life (James Lorimer and Company, 1997), will talk about recent conflicts of interest as a result of the trend to closer corporate involvement in the university, with reference to the Apotex affair at the University of Toronto. Shirley Katz, Office of the Counsel at York and associate professor in the Division of Humanities, will speak on current draft conflict of interest policies and guidelines at York and analyse some high profile cases at other universities that found their way to the courts.

The symposium will convene from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. in the Senate Chamber, 9th floor North, Ross Building, at York's Keele St. campus. Future symposia in the series will look at: Consensual Relationships in the University in November; Commercialization of the University in January 2000; and International Research Settings and Human Rights in February.

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For further information, please contact:

Ian Greene
Associate Dean of Arts
York University
(416) 736-5260
email: igreene@yorku.ca

David Shugarman
Director
Centre for Practical Ethics
(416) 736-2100, ext. 77083
email: dshugar@yorku.ca

Susan Bigelow
Media Relations
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22091
email: sbigelow@yorku.ca
YU/104/99