Vetting Campus Exhibitors An Ethics in Action Case Example

Abstract

While visiting a campus event, an administrator notices a booth for a local organization that offers service programs in a variety of locations around the world. The administrator has worked with this organization before and has concerns about the group and the experiences they offer.

As the administrator considers the situation, she notes several concerns. These include: 1) volunteers are operating outside the scope of their knowledge 2) host community members are not treated as equal partners in the project 3) the services the group provides don’t seem to meet the needs of the local community.

Based on these concerns, the administrator reaches out to the event organizer and alerts them to the concerns. She also suggests that it would be helpful to have a review process for outside organizations that want to exhibit at the event. While the event organizers acknowledge their own concerns with this local volunteer sending organization, they aren’t sure that a implementing an exhibitor review process is practical for event staff.