Christianity Oasis Member Forum & Chat Room

Hello everyone,

It is nice to write to you all. I went into chat and did this, but I think I will do it here too in an effort to (a) gather input and (b) stimulate discussion.

I am in college now. I am going to a christian university in an accelerated learning program for a business degree.

I am to write a paper on my opinion on the ethics of the story below. I have decided which route I will be going, but its always good to critically thing something through on all sides of a situation.

Behold:

Earlier this year, a successful and popular administrator at the Massachusetts Instute of Technology lost her job after 28 years when it was discovered that she had falsified her academic credentials on her resume 30 years before. Although she had earned an undergraduate degree from one college, she listed a different institution on her resume, and she included two other academic degrees that she had never earned. However, she was nationally recognized for her work and had risen to a senior position based on her extensive experience and ability. In response to her forced resignation, some have claimed that any falsification of academic credentials, no matter how old or inconsequential, should be punished as unethical and fraudulent. Others, though, have suggested that if someone has proven his or her abilities through years of experience, success, and recognition, then the discovery of a misrepresentation of academic credentials from years ago is actually a minor matter.

ISSUE: What is the appropriate response to this or other similar situations? How should employes and the public respond to a discovery of misrepresentation or falsification of academic credentials after years of successful achievement?

ok....here goes. If I was on the committee that looked into this matter I would make this suggestion. (I am the compromise queen) I would not fire this individual. If possible, I would give the individual the choice to receive a demotion in job title and pay according to the starting pay scale for said job. Also...if it is available a type of "ethics" training class may need to be completed to satisfy as another disciplinary step.

Why take chances? In many workforce situations, a falsified application is always grounds for immediate dismissal. If an applicant is going to lie to acquire a position, what type employee would they be? Trustworthy? Loyal? Dependable? Perhaps, but they knowingly lied their employer before they got started. Where should the line be drawn? God forgives. Unfortunately, human nature is not as forgiving


Thank you for stimulting my thinking! I'm gonna go pray!

Im just thinkin...look at the fruits. If God is forgiving..and He wants us to be the same........second chances...looking at the fruits......???

in Jesus,
love momo

First let me say HEY SCRUBBS I missed ya!!!
I see the other's points....but a lie IS a lie just as a sin is a sin
just as our Lord sees all sin the same I think the same applies to lies
"it's just a little white lie" is just as much a lie as the biggest lies the only difference is the backlash of the outcome like in this situation it didn't change what the person accomplished but think if this was a Judge or someone who changes outcomes of lives and lied to get into their position
this is why I think a lie is a lie because it would not be fair to say ok for one and not the other.
If it was God's will for this person to be in the position they would have gotten it with the truth.

opinions expressed in this note are not necessarily those of this website and should not be reflected as such.....LOL

God bless all

the truth is that sin has consequences. it may have taken two decades to come to light but sin will call u out. having said that, justice must be tempered with mercy. for if God only dealt out justice, none of us would be able to stand before HIM. i don't disagree that the sin must be dealt with, and although she earned the accolades she rec'd after she got the job, the first step was deceitful.
early retirement would have been my vote.
God bless

The question remains, would Jesus still have to die to redeem this woman if this was the only sin she had ever committed? There are still consequences and those consequences are already perscribed, the penalty should be carried out. The place and time that the consequences for our actions will not be realized at all will be after this life is done. We reap what we sow here. This woman needs to reap those consequences just as any of us should in the same situation.
There are many other situations we can see that would not be as serious. For example my 2 year old granddaughter told a lie the other day. When I confronted her about it she knew she had made a mistake and began saying, "I sorry" but still put herself in the corner. Consequences are what help to teach us to act righteously even at a young age.

Skrubby~

Well... here is my opinion since you asked... One thing I always do before I answer anything on here are give advice is to ask the HOLY SPIRIT to do it for me! I ask that HE give me the words to say so I won't mess things up.

When I did this, I couldn't hear anything until I wrote your name... Then He reminded me of one story in the Bible...

John 8:1-11 ~
1Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 2And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. 3And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 6This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 7So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Yes this woman sinned... but it was not like murdering or harming anyone physically. Like in this story. So... I say like Jesus says.... "GO, AND SIN NO MORE!"

Can you imagine the GUILT she has carried all these years.. I think that she paid her price of what she had done by feeling the GUILT and was trying to make things better by doing all she did to become what she was.

Hope this helps... it did me!

One lil aside... MIT should be doublechecking credentials, i woulda thought they did that back then too... ok so which is which.... i really like the go and sin no more... but if coming from worldly perspective (perhaps also flavored with a lil mercy) i would vote for her going back to school to get the actual degrees she said she had to begin with. And perhaps something along the lines of academic probation.

Learning is good. School is good. But i can honestly say in my heart that although i went and graduated from college, i really didn't LEARN about my career until i actually did the work in the field. In reality, school prepared me little. It was an awesome experience for sure, but book work did not prepare me... it was actually in doing the work that i learned.

luv ya

If you get hit by a bus and forgive the bus driver, you still have to recover from the broken bones.

The school has been embarrassed by this incident. There has been betrayal of trust. Students cheat and plagiarize and not punishing faculty is implicit approval of more cheating and lying.

Forgiveness would be wishing her the best in her new endeavors and offering to write a letter of recommendation on her achievements.

There are repurcussions to actions. We don't ask that death row inmates be released when they repent and are saved. Christians do visit them and give them books and shampoo.

Her credibility is destroyed in her current position. She needs to move on. Forgiveness would be allowing her to keep her retirement credit, perhaps or the things mentioned above. But she cannot stay on.

Here is my opinion. Which is worth the weight of the ink im using to write..... but you did ask.
With as much as goes on in the world( children being abused in so many horrendous ways not to mention killed and their little bodies disposed in so many way..
terrible drug problems in the world.
economy failing.people becoming homeless daily
children starving to death in the united states . not to mention other countries. human trafficking. missing people never to be found again.
more babies being born to teenagers.
well i think i have made my point : apparently someone had paid their debt . and is doing a very good job at whatever job they are doing .
how about " Hey your doing a great job"
Case closed

yo scrubs............... r u gonna reveal wat ur response was or r ya gonna leave us guessing huh huh?????