Some analysts and critics have attributed the ailing economy to corporate greed and poor ethics, but NIU’s College of Business looks to curb that through its Building Ethical Leaders using an Integrated Ethics Framework (BELIEF) initiative.

A New York Times article published last week stated the current economic situation has led many universities across the country to rethink their business curricula and focus more on social issues and ethics. As it turns out, NIU is years ahead of the rest of the colleges.

The BELIEF initiative was developed around 2004 and implemented in 2007. The initiative is the result of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business’ (AACSB) recommendation to renew and revitalize the students’ and faculty’s commitment to ethical responsibility.

Accountancy professor Pam Smith is the coordinator of BELIEF and said the program is an effort to create leaders out of students without preaching morality lessons at them.

“I don’t think I can change somebody’s innate ethics, but I can make them think about it,” Smith said. “We are going to be able to help students identify issues much earlier on and make better decisions.”

This was the first push toward promoting business ethics as there were never any separate business ethics courses in the College of Business.

By doing so, the department integrated these ethical studies into the pre-existing curriculum, having students begin these studies when they enter the junior level.

“We came to the conclusion that the best way was not to have a standalone class because then it looks compartmentalized, dull and theoretical to where students won’t be able to apply it as easily,” Smith said.

Each student is given an ethics handbook and required to take a series of quizzes that test the choices they make, asking how they feel about the choices, the legality of their choices and even what their mothers would think about them.

Some students going through the BELIEF-affected courses have recognized its importance.

“It’s very important,” said junior marketing major Lindsi Campbell. “It’s not good to have heads of companies taking our money. You’d think they’d be ethical about it.”

Junior finance major Mike MacDonald believes there is a balancing act to maintaining ethics and conducting business.

“You’ve got to find a balance between a societal responsibility and a business sense to make the business work efficiently,” MacDonald said. “But at the same time it’s at the expense of society, and that’s where I think ethics come in.”

Since the College of Business has been ahead of the curve for integrating business ethics into its curriculum, it has found success and admiration among the AACSB, other universities and corporations.

“All we can do is make the difference one or two people at a time, but hopefully we’re affecting more students,” Smith said.