A selection of articles, op-eds, TV segments, and other media featuring Ethics Center staff and programs.
The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics does not advocate for any product, company, or organization. Our engagements are intended to provide training, customized materials, and other resources. The Markkula Center does not offer certifications or seals of approval.
Joan Harrington, a fellow at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, said board members are required to conduct a comparability analysis, where they consider the organization's complexity and fiscal health and executive pay at other private companies or nonprofits of a similar scale.
As a board member, Harrington said, "you want maximum performance and to be able to attract the best people… but without crossing that line where it's hard for people to justify how someone could earn that much money."
"Nonprofit executives are not supposed to starve to serve social service organizations," she added. "We want them to be properly compensated so they stay in their jobs and do good."
Joan Harrington, Ethics Center fellow, quoted by San Francisco Chronicle.
The pressure on college athletes navigating a new, professional-like industry at a young age as millions of dollars in name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation after the NCAA antitrust settlement goes into effect July 1. Transfers of student athletes to more lucrative opportunities are becoming more common.
Ann Skeet, senior director of leadership ethics said all parties should be held to the same standards.
“I do think one of the realities of sport in this day and age is that people are making changes more often than they used to,” Skeet said. “How they communicate what their decision is, how much time they give people, how frequently they’re changing teams, all of those things should be considered, and I think it’s fair to hold the coaches and players to equal standards.”
“...players are having to trade off and think about what serves their own personal interests vs. what serves the team interests in ways that they haven’t had to consider in the past,” she said.
Ann Skeet, senior director, leadership ethics, quoted by the Associated Press. The article was syndicated across multiple news outlets across the U.S. and Canada including the following:
ABC News
Yahoo Sports
Houston Chronicle
AOL
Sacramento Bee
Press Democrat
Erie News Now
Halifax City News
Detroit News
Winnipeg Free Press
Newsday
The Sacramento Bee reports, "While Hagen's move to CPS HR Consulting doesn't violate state hiring laws, the contracting history between two public entities creates troubling optics," government ethics experts said.
"It's reasonable for the public to take a look and say, ‘That doesn't seem right,' " said John Pelissero, Ethics Center director of government ethics.
John Pelissero, director, government ethics, quoted by The Sacramento Bee (paywall), and republished on MSN.
The Trump company announced Monday a new business, Trump Mobile, that will offer cell service in a licensing deal and sell gold phones by the summer.
Irina Raicu, director internet ethics, commented on potential security concerns relating to the President's connection to the product.
"If this is seen as a signal of allegiance and support, I suspect if we end up having a product rather than an announcement, then we might start seeing those gold phones in congress, and the privacy and security implications at that point will be truly severe."
Irina Raicu, director, internet ethics, quoted by NBC Bay Area.
As the use of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT become common in schools, teachers are grappling with a steep rise in student cheating and declining engagement.
The San Diego Tribune writes, "Government ethics and transparency experts said the trustees’ texts and emails raise questions as to whether they are acting in the public’s best interest — and how much board business they are conducting behind closed doors."
“These kinds of actions erode trust in the school board,” said John Pelissero, director, government ethics. “That undermines their legitimacy in making policy for the school district.”
Pelissero said it seems inappropriate that Hobbs, as an unelected person, was allowed to give so much advice to trustees and be so involved in board decision-making.
John Pelissero, director, government ethics, quoted by The San Diego Union Tribune (paywall). The article also appeared on MSN.
Executive Branch Club President and San Francisco real estate businessman Glenn Gilmore is a close business associate of David Sacks, Trump’s crypto and AI czar. Gilmore's role in the endeavor adds to possible ethics questions related to Sacks’ involvement in this operation, according to government ethics experts.
“The real problem,” says John Peliserro, director of government ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, “is that no official in a presidential administration should be promoting a business, including that club. It provides an opportunity for business partners and friends of members of the administration to do business out of the public eye.”
John Pelissero, director, government ethics, quoted by Mother Jones.
GlobalX, a private Miami-based charter airline, is hired regularly by professional and university athletic teams, and most recently, by ICE to assist in deportation actions.
“They may not have known, but now they do, so now they have a choice to make,” said Ann Skeet, a senior director at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. “They need to think about the purpose of their organization and their mission, and whether or not using a charter service that also serves ICE is consistent with their mission.”
Ann Skeet, senior director, leaadership ethics, quoted by The New York Times.
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