The Emory Integrity Project: Integrating and Assessing an Integrity Initiative in University Education and Student Life

The Emory Integrity Project (EIP) is an ambitious plan to transform university culture by establishing integrity as a constant narrative theme in the undergraduate experience. Integrity is a complex idea, but for our purposes reflects 1) a capacity for critical reflection and analysis of the values and ethical considerations in a given moral situation; 2) a practical skill set to determine and implement moral courses of action; and 3) the fortitude to withstand moral scrutiny and pressures to conform. Teaching integrity is a pedagogical challenge in the university setting. The EIP will draw from the literature and expertise on integrity formation in college-aged students, and employ Emory’s history of integrity-based programs, to design and implement campus-wide initiatives and programs to reimagine and refocus Emory’s undergraduate experience. Using curricular and co-curricular strategies, the EIP employs three primary virtues (and many associated virtues) to examine integrity: 1) humility (an affectational posture towards oneself and others characterized by other-regard and a recognition of one’s own imperfections and limitations of knowledge and affect); 2) honor (an affectively and cognitively based capacity to select and apply moral values to moral actions); and 3) helpfulness (an interest in and willingness to assist others in fostering their goals, interests, and aims). The EIP also includes a multi-faceted program assessment. The EIP is envisioned as a five-year project, 2014-2019, with Templeton funding helping to support the core three years of the project, 2015-2018. Products of the EIP will include a national conference; peer-reviewed articles and talks at conferences; and creation and dissemination of an integrity curriculum for use by colleges worldwide. The goal is for the EIP to transform Emory’s collegiate culture and to provide a model for promoting the incorporation of integrity in the pedagogical mission of Higher Education.