SIRCA
(Students Involved in Responsible Character Awareness)
Workbook
Office of Student Conduct
Kent State University
www.kent.edu/studentconduct
119 Twin Towers (Beall/McDowell)
330-672-4054
studentconduct@kent.edu
Co-facilitators Lisa Oddo and Pamela Jones
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STUDENT NAME (PRINTED): ___________________________________________
STUDENT FLASHLINE E-MAIL: ________________________________________________
DATE OF WORKSHOP:__________________________________________________
WORKBOOK DIRECTIONS:
Students are required to complete this workbook honestly and in its
entirety prior to attending the SIRCA Workshop.
Workbooks will be checked for completion upon arriving at the workshop.
Students who fail to complete the workbook will not be permitted to
participate in the SIRCA Workshop and a hold may be placed on your
student registration.
Please be prepared to discuss your responses during the workshop. There
are no right or wrong answers.
Your completed workbook will not be shared and will only be used in this
workshop.
Before you begin this workbook, list 3 things that you hope to become more aware of
through the SIRCA workbook and workshop?
1. _____________________________________________________________
2._____________________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________________
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Getting started…
1. How do you define ethics?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
2. To you, is it important to be an ethical person? Why or why not? ___________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3. List three people that you believe have good ethics (relative, friend, public figure, other; living or deceased).
1. _______________________________________
2. _______________________________________
3. _______________________________________
4. Why do you believe they have good ethics? Have any influenced your definition of ethics?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
5. List three people that you believe do not have good ethics (relative, friend, public figure, other; living or
deceased).
1. _______________________________________
2. _______________________________________
3. _______________________________________
6. Why do you believe they do not have good ethics? Have any influenced your definition of ethics?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
7. How many decisions do you think you make each day? ________________________________
8. How do you know you are making responsible decisions?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
9. Who/what influences the decisions that you make in your life?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
10. Are you aware of how others perceive you? __________________________________________________
11. Does being aware of your ethics and decisions help develop your personal character? Why or why not?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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Definitions:
retrieved from Integrity, by Steven Carter
Morals
Beliefs or principles that guide the understanding of what is right and wrong.
Values
Standards that influence decisions behavior.
Ethics
A set of moral principles that guide behavior.
Integrity
Quality of being honest and morally upright.
 Determining what is right and wrong.
 Acting on what you have determined, even at a personal cost.
 Stating openly that you are acting on what your understanding of right and
wrong is.
Ethics
What is missing?
Complete the diagram:
______________________________
____________________________
Morals
Values
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Values Assessment Part Ị
Review the following Values categories. Then circle each that you value in each category. Feel free to add
values that may not be listed.
Academic Achievement
Education
Knowledge
Politics
Physical health
Friends
Reading
Success
Appearance and image
Approval
Respect
Courage
Self Values
Personal development
Achieving goals
Reputation
Religion
Emotional health
Legacy
Support/appreciation
Social status
Integrity
Determination
Service/volunteering
Power
Achieving goals
Promotions
Change and variety
Diversity
Vision and goals
Challenge
Status
Advancement
Career Values
Loyalty
Recognition
Autonomy
Influence
Creativity
Support
Title
Friendship
Reputation
Being ethical
Collaboration
Student Employment
Productivity
Responsibility
Other: ________________
Other: ________________
Achieving goals
Teaching others
Diversity
Collaboration
Growth
Leadership
Learning
Team work
Educational Values
Recognition
Sharing knowledge
Advancement
Knowledge
Creativity
Personal development
Community service
Achieving results
Opportunities
Study away experiences
Clubs/organizations
Challenge
Internships
Teamwork
Other: _________________
Other: _________________
Relationship Values
Cooperation
Support
Love
Forgiveness
Responsibility
Loyalty
Harmony
Diversity
Other: __________________
Other: __________________
Family
Respect
Children
Friends
Helping Others
Contributing resources
Being ethical
Community Values
Diversity
Neighborhood
Justice
Being ethical
Helping others
Leadership
Learning
Independence
Goals
Intellectual Growth
Recognition
Other: _________________
Other: _________________
Other: _________________
Contributing Money
Sense of Community
Other: ___________________
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Values Assessment Part II
Rank order your top five areas from your Values Assessment Part I (1 = most valued / 5= least valued)
Rank
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
Self Value
Rank
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
Career Value
Rank
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
Education Value
Rank
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
Relationship Value
Rank
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
Community Value
From your ranked ordered values above, now rank order the top five areas that you value most
Rank
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
I Most Value
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Values Assessment Part III
Looking at your top five values, answer the following questions:
1. Why did you select these 5 values?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. Do the decisions you make reflect your values? Why or why not?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. How often are decisions made by others based on the same values you selected as most important to you?
4. Most people’s values change over time in response to events in their lives… has this happened to you? Do
you think it will happen to you?
5. Think of a time when you didn’t trust your “gut” and/or didn’t stand your ground. Briefly write that
experience here: ____________________________________________________________________________
a. How did you deal with that experience?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
b. Was there potential for you to get into trouble?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
c. Did you face a negative consequence?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
d. Did you seek any support?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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SCENARIOS:
What would you do?
1. I Can't Get a C
You’re a student athlete at Kent State University. You decide to take An Introduction to Art History, an “easy”
class, to balance out the hard science classes you must take this semester.
It turns out that Art History has weekly homework assignments – nothing difficult, but you never seem to have
time to do them. You reason that you shouldn't waste your energy on class content that you will never use. Still,
you cannot afford to do poorly in the class because medical schools will care about your GPA. You ask a friend
to help you with the homework. Your friend gives you all of their homework from when they took the class and
encourages you to copy their homework. You notice all of the assignments are exactly the same. You could
easily copy the work and turn it in, which would allow you to focus on your science classes. Your class has 200
other students and you know the professor does not keep homework from previous students in other sections.
What would you do?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Would your decision change if the class only had 25 students? Why or why not?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________
Would you provide your homework to your friend if your role was reversed in this situation?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________
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2. Yesterday you were having lunch at Rosie’s with your two friends. As you were leaving, you notice a student
FlashCard on the floor of Rosie’s. Your friend picks up the FlashCard and then indicates that it will be good to
use later for dinner. You ask your friend if they are going to turn in the FlashCard and your friend says no
because it’s that student’s fault they dropped it.
How do you respond?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________
Would your response change if you knew the FlashCard had $1,000, $100, or only $5 on it?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________
3. You’re drinking in your friend’s residence hall room with several other people, some of which you know.
There is a knock at the door and everyone gets silent. You realize that most of the people in the room, except
you, are under 21. Your friend reaches behind the TV and pulls out a glass pipe and small bag of marijuana.
She throws them in the pile of dirty laundry that is next to you and opens the door for the RA who has two
university policy officers with him. The officers enter the room and everyone is asked to stay seated and
present their IDs. One of the officers is standing next to you and starring at the pile of laundry. You notice that
the tip of the pipe and corner of the bag are sticking out of the laundry pile. When you hand the officer your ID
she asks you who the pipe and marijuana belong to.
What do you do?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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Ethics and the Internet
Read the 11 situations below. On a scale from 1-11, rank the following list with 1
being the most acceptable and 11 being least/not acceptable (each situation will
have a different number).
Situation
Rank
Pretending to be somebody you are not using online profiles
(Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
Copying and pasting information from online sources and
using it in an assignment for class
Downloading music, movies, or games without paying for
them
Posting videos online of people who don’t know they were
being filmed
Posting embarrassing pictures of your friends on social
networking sites
Posting a threatening status about somebody else
Reading emails that were not intended for you
Posting threatening comments on someone’s wall
Sending your friends inappropriate (ethnic, racial, or sexual)
jokes through email
Using foul or offensive language when responding to
comments, statuses, or blogs
Forwarding emails without the permission of the original
author
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Code of Student Conduct:
Understanding Prohibited Conduct at KSU
 The university attempts to provide, for all students, a university environment that is conducive to
scholarship, social growth and individual self-discipline.
 The Code of Student Conduct shall apply to conduct occurring on University premises, at Universitysponsored activities, and to off-campus conduct that adversely affects the University community
and/or the pursuit of its objectives.
 Each student shall be responsible for his/her conduct from the time of application for admission
through the actual awarding of a degree, even though conduct may occur before classes begin or after
classes end, as well as during the academic year and during periods between terms of actual
enrollment.
 Students may be sent to Kent City Court and KSU Office of Student Conduct for the same incident
(not double jeopardy).
 Outcomes from other jurisdictions do not have a bearing on a finding of responsibility for the
campus, but may affect student conduct sanctions.
Code of Student Conduct, SECTION 4: Prohibited Conduct
Activity: LIST all 27 Code of Student Conduct violations (found in Section 4 of the Code of Student Conduct:
http://www.kent.edu/studentconduct)
1.____________________
15. ____________________
2. ____________________
16. ____________________
3. ____________________
17. ____________________
4. ____________________
18. ____________________
5. ____________________
19. ____________________
6. ____________________
20. ____________________
7. ____________________
21. ____________________
8. ____________________
22. ____________________
9. ____________________
23. ____________________
10. ____________________
24. ____________________
11. ____________________
25. ____________________
12. ____________________
26. ____________________
13. ____________________
27. ____________________
14. ____________________
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Lastly. Think before you act. Check yourselfETHICS/CHARACTER QUESTIONS
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Is it Legal?
Will I be violating university policy?
Is it balanced?
Is it fair to all concerned?
Does it promote win/win situations?
How will it make me feel about myself?
Will it make me proud?
Would I feel good if my hometown newspaper published an article about my decision?
Would I feel good if my family knew?
Helpful Student Resources:
Title
Code of Student Conduct
Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
Informational Services - DMCA
Web Location
www.kent.edu/emsa/studentconduct/index.cfm
www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf
http://www.kent.edu/is/security/copyright/raq.cfm
Enrollment Management and Student Affairs
www.kent.edu/emsa
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
(FERPA)
The Green Dot Strategy
Hallways Handbook
Judicial Advocates
Residence Hall Contract
www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html
https://www.livethegreendot.com/
www.kent.edu/housing/hallways.cfm
www.usg.kent.edu/?page_id=48
www.kent.edu/housing/prospectiveresidents/housing
contract.cfm
The Office of Sexual and Relationship
Violence Support Services (SRVSS)
http://www2.kent.edu/srvss/index.cfm
Student Ombuds
http://www.kent.edu/emsa/ombuds.cfm
Undergraduate Student Government;
Graduate Student Senate
www.uss.kent.edu
www.kent.edu/graduatestudies/gss
I have completed this SIRCA workbook completely and honestly,
_______________________________________________________________________
(Student signature & date)
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