Pamela Fountain, Principle Technologies and OK Ethics Foundation Board member, speaks to students about academic integrity Friday afternoon. Marcin Rutkowski/ The Daily

Academic integrity isn’t the most interesting topic, but needs to be discussed more often, said Breea Bacon, co-adviser to the UOSA Honor Council and assistant director of Academic Integrity Systems.

To foster discussion, the council hosted its first integrity forum Friday in Nielsen Hall. The council invited professionals from fields such as medicine, engineering and law to appeal to a variety of students.

The forum featured a six-member panel of professionals who discussed how they use ethics and integrity throughout their lives and careers.

“The goal of this event [was] to show our student body that the integrity you learn and apply in your academics as a Sooner is not a temporary ideal, but a lasting virtue that will carry over into your professions upon graduation,” Bacon said.

Elizabeth Knowlton, zoology senior, said she enjoyed hearing Jerry Weber, education and human relations professor, discuss academic integrity because she wants to be a professor and thought his testimony was most applicable to students.

Knowlton, Honor Council secretary, said Weber gave her a better understanding about upholding integrity in real-life scenarios.

Weber stressed students should not trade the long-term rewards of honesty for any short-term rewards of dishonesty.

“What you place at risk is so much more important than the 20 percent of your grade you traded,” he said.

He also mentioned in issues involving integrity he would have no hesitation to confront a colleague.

However, Pam Fountain, president the Oklahoma Ethics Foundation board, said confronting colleagues is sometimes easier said than done.

In business, it’s usually one person’s word against another’s, so reporting someone for misconduct may come off as bad-mouthing. Although a person might like everyone to know that someone is acting in an unethical manner, it is not always the right thing to do, Fountain said.

Other members of the panel expressed that knowing the right thing to do in situations involving dishonesty is not always easy.

Josh Walker, asset manager for Chesapeake Energy, said it is not always a clear-cut line.

“To me, integrity is basically just about doing the right thing,” Walker said. “Sometimes it might not be the easiest thing in the world to do, but as long as you follow that it will follow you with your career and everything else will take care of itself.”

Other panelists agreed that choosing the most ethical action isn’t always easy.

People have to be able to sleep at night with whatever decisions they make and they have to be able to reconcile with what they choose to do, said Cory Williams, a state representative.

Although students may not care about the consequences of unethical decisions right now, Fountain said that they will have to be able to live with their consciences, which they will care about more as they grow older.

The UOSA Honor Council works to educate students about academic integrity and also plays a role in academic misconduct hearings, according to its Web site. The council is also a chapter of the Oklahoma Business Ethics Consortium.

In the spring of 2010, the Honor Council will change its name to the Integrity Council to avoid any confusion with the Honors College and other programs, Bacon said. Its function will remain the same.