About us
Our mission
ISM’s Committee on Ethics, as mandated by ISM’s Code of Ethics, is dedicated to educating our community about, and maintaining within our community, academic ethics and integrity.
Our composition
Members of the Committee on Ethics are unpaid volunteers, elected by the ISM community through a majority vote every two years. It is comprised of six members drawn from ISM’s staff, and each member is elected by their respective peers: two members are academics, two members are administrators, and two members are students. The Chairperson of the Committee is elected by secret ballot by the newly elected Committee members and serves in that role throughout the Committee’s two-year term.
Currently, our members are:
- Dr Jonathan Boyd (Chairman)
- Kristina Aldošina
- Simona Puidokienė
- Eglė Andriulienė
- Meda Kerševičiūtė (student)
- Aistė Keblikaitė (student)
Our founding documents
The Committee’s authority, mandate and operations have been assigned by two Rector’s Orders:
Our neutrality
To effectively serve its purpose, the Committee must be neutral, which confers two key responsibilities, one upon the Community, and one upon the Committee members:
Independence:
The Committee must be independent, meaning that it requires institutional guarantees or safeguards that allow the Committee to be free from external pressures when making decisions.
Impartiality:
The Committee must make its decisions impartially, meaning that its decisions and deliberations must be objective and absent of prejudice towards any of the parties.
Our activities
The Committee has five key functions, to:
- Promote the Community’s engagement with ethical norms and issues;
- Organise events aimed at educating the Community on ethical standards appropriate to our institution and activities;
- Maintain an ethical culture at the University;
- Initiate improvement-focused review of the Code of Ethics;
- Examine cases of ethical misconduct and breaches of the Code of Ethics by members of the Community, and where applicable, determine sanctions.
How we decide which cases should be investigated
Unfortunately, sometimes a member of the Community is asked to account for their conduct in the context of the Code of Ethics. The Committee examines such cases where a written statement on a breach of the Code of Ethics is made by any member of the Community. When the Committee receives such a written statement, the Committee considers it to be confidential, i.e. the Committee must ensure that any information about the person(s) who wrote the statement is not made public (i.e. whistle-blower protection).
How we make our decisions
All of our decisions, whatever they happen to be about, are diligently deliberated and democratically decided. At least half of the Committee members must meet and discuss at length each matter and subsequently makes its decisions according to a majority vote. In the event that there is a ‘tie’, the Chairperson casts the deciding vote.
Academic freedom
The Committee on Ethics maintains that academic freedom is a fundamental principle of university life. The Committee, accordingly, is staunch advocate and supporter of academic freedom. More about how we interpret academic freedom can be found here.
How you can contact us
The Committee makes proactive efforts to educate our Community about our collective and individual commitments to ethical conduct. We are happy to discuss any questions or queries any member of our Community may have, and we will promptly reply to your emails to etika@ism.lt
We also encourage any member of our Community to report any instances of ethical misconduct. The Committee will consider your report to be confidential, i.e. the Committee must ensure that any information about the person(s) who wrote the report is not made public (i.e. whistle-blower protection). To do so, please fill out this form and submit it along with any relevant supporting documents.
