The year-long fellowship--which includes seminars, workshops and study groups--allows the scholars to conduct their own research in ethics.

John Kleinig, professor of philosophy at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the City University of New York, used his fellowship year to begin work on Ethical Policing, a definitive book in the field of police ethics.

"I had piles of information [about policing], but I needed a framework to think about the ethical problems," Kleinig says.

Kleinig, who was a fellow in the Program in 1990-91, says he welcomed the different perspectives of the other fellows.

"We were battling out issues from rather different academic backgrounds. It was very interesting to get that mixed group of people talking about common issues," Kleinig says.

Fundraising Difficulties

Despite 10 successful years of existence, the Program in Ethics and the Professions is still struggling to raise funds to establish itself as a permanent institution in the University.

Current operations of the Program depend largely on financial support from the University's professional schools, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and the President's fund, according to Thompson.

"We're still being supported [by the schools]. It could go on indefinitely, but I don't think it should," he says.

Like the other Interfaculty Initiatives, the Program in Ethics and the Professions is seeking to raise $15 million as part of the University-wide capital campaign. But according to the most recent estimates published by the Program, only $100,000 have been raised from individual donors to date.

"It's fair to say that we've gotten some promises but no big gift for the core program to date," Thompson acknowledges. "Fundraising for the ethics has not been as successful as it should have been."

But Thompson says the Program has not needed to raise funds on its own in the past because of support from the schools.

As a result of the Program's lack of financial independence, it has grown little in size over the last 10 years.

"The core size--the budget, the number of fellows--has not changed all that much," Thompson says. "But the dynamic effects [of the Program] make it seem like it's grown enormously."

"There are ways of growing influence without adding more bodies to the program," he says. "The program has a multiplier effect. [The fellows] go out and start centers. They teach their leaders elsewhere."