The Cameron Pledge
By Angie De La Cruz and Dina Alkhamis, President and Vice President of the Business Ethics Society- Cameron School of Business——
In alignment with the social responsibility and ethical initiatives that the University of St. Thomas-Houston has implemented in this past year, we would like to introduce to you The Cameron Pledge. This project was guided by Dr. Beena George, Dean of the Cameron School of Business, Dr. Joseph Cerami, The Director of the University Center for Ethical Leadership, the CSB faculty, and the Business Ethics Society (BES). When the BES started this initiative in April 2016, we were inspired by the Hippocratic oath taken by doctors, as well as business oaths that schools such as Harvard and Yale have implemented in their programs.
Purpose of the Pledge
The Business Ethics Society decided to create our own pledge, one that highlights the values and principals that makeup our institution. The purpose of the Cameron Pledge is to reinforce the standards and ideals that alumni from the Cameron School of Business should uphold and live when entering the professional world. This 10 bullet-point pledge highlights the values inherited by our Basilian fathers, the ethical principles of psychology according to the American Psychology Association, and the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME).
As members of the business ethics society, we felt the responsibility to initiate and promote this project in our school. Ethical decisions are involved in our every day lives, and with so many ethical issues affecting our business environment nowadays, we believe the Cameron Pledge will promote moral and ethical thinking in our community.
Taking the Pledge
This initiative provides all CSB students, undergraduate and graduate, with the opportunity to take The Cameron Pledge during their graduation ceremony. We would like to emphasize that this is a voluntary pledge that students can reflect on during their entirety of their degree programs and may decide on taking upon graduation.
On December the 10th in the winter graduation ceremony, we will be saying the pledge for the first time to give initiation to this CSB tradition. Students who decide to take it will be invited to attend the CSB Honors Convocation Ceremony at 3pm in Jones Hall. During the ceremony, the pledgers will rise up to read it out loud and will receive a token that will symbolize this commitment. Finally, their signatures will be collected in the Cameron Pledge Book, which will be kept on a glass case in the CSB building.
We hope the student body responds positively to this initiative and that the Cameron Pledge becomes a long-lasting tradition in our school. We invite all those CSB students who are graduating this fall to read and sign the pledge here: www.stthom.edu/cameronpledge
UST – Cameron School of Business – MBA – Marketing
Dina Alkhamis
UST – Cameron School of Business