As the launch date approaches, your attention turns to promoting these initiatives to the campus community. There is broad consensus amongst the student groups that they want to distribute T-shirts promoting their individual initiatives to as many students, faculty, and staff members across campus. After reading articles such as this and this, you are skeptical about the idea of distributing T-shirts but are unable to persuade the student organizations otherwise. 

Putting your qualms aside, you manage to secure a $5,000 grant from an alumnus, specifically to purchase and distribute T-shirts promoting the various programs. These funds are supposed to be uniformly distributed to each of the ten student groups. The alumnus is a diehard champion for sustainability AND for buying products manufactured in the USA. They have promised a follow-on gift of $100,000 if the pilot phase of the larger initiative is successful. This larger gift could be truly transformative for the Sustainable Lehigh 2030 program. 

As the person entrusted with the grant funds, you have the power to formulate rules for procuring and distributing the T-shirts. You scour the T-shirt marketplace and identify three options. The first option is to procure $2 T-shirts made in a certified garment factory in Cambodia that pays workers above the prevailing local wage. The second option is to procure $10 T-shirts made at a garment factory in Los Angeles, where the vast majority of the employees are undocumented immigrants and wage violations and abuse are rife. The third option is to procure $25 organic T-shirts made at a garment factory in Lehigh Valley where the employees are paid a fair wage. There might be other options as well but you are already confused on how to proceed. 

What ethical issues do you need to contend with? 

What rules and suggestions will you provide to the student organizations?

Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible. Clearly state the ethical issue. 

• We have $5,000.
• The goal of the initiative is to change student behavior.
• We were unable to persuade the student organizations to adopt a better idea so we have to assist with the idea of disseminating shirts.
• The purpose of the t-shirts is to raise awareness.
• The investor would prefer we choose American-made shirts
• $100,000 have been promised if the initial project is successful

Step 2: Define the Stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome 

• Executive Director
• Students
• Organizations
• Donor
• Cambodian workers
• LA workers
• LV workers

Step 3: Assess the motivations of the Stakeholders 

• Executive Director
  • Promote the mission of the sustainability office
  • Secure a more significant $100K grant that has the potential to be transformative to the program
• Students
  • Get cool clothes
  • Align with organizations they like
  • Shared community
• Organizations
  • Promote their individual cause
  • Raise awareness among Lehigh
  • Community support
• Donor/alum
  • Ensure his/her money is adequately allocated
  • Have the university promote his/her cause 
  • Interested in Lehigh being at the forefront of the sustainability movement
• Cambodian workers
  • Make money
• LA workers
  • Make money
  • Keep their job
• LV workers
  • Make money

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions – based on information available, using basic ethical core values as guide Approaches [1/2/3: repeat for every action] • Potential solution • Ethical Principle or code • Pros • Cons 

Free shirt vs Sell Shirt

-Free shirts will advertise the project to even people who may not have been interested in looking into it at first. 

• Free shirt, one design

-If the free shirts are for one design, they can reach a larger audience. 

-If there are multiple designs and they are free, people may take more than one and they would reach a smaller audience.

-$25 shirt, one design, sell shirts

• People only buy one at most, less money opportunity 

• $25 shirt, one design, free shirts
  • People get one
  • Reaches larger audience than individual design for free

Sell Shirts, individual designs

• $25 shirt, ind. Design, sell shirts
  • Make some money back, essentially lowering the cost of the shirts
  • Possibility people buy more than one (unlikely)
  • Can reinvest in something cheaper
• $25 shirt, ind. Design, free shirts 
  • Each organization gets only 20 shirts
  • Peoplw would probably get more than one, smaller audience

 Change fundraiser – People who are interested in sustainability likely would not be interested in buying multiple shirts due to cost and sustainability ethics (ie. more likely to throw them out, waste, etc.) Have the organizations talk to the donor about changing their fundraising sale to differentiated products that are less costly.

Other Options: (Not ideal)

• $10 shirt, ind. Design, sell shirts
• $10 shirt, one Design, sell shirts
• $10 shirt, ind. Design, free shirts
• $10 shirt, one Design, free shirts
• $2 shirt, ind. Design, sell shirts
• $2 shirt, one Design, sell shirts
• $2 shirt, ind. Design, free shirts
• $2 shirt, one Design, free shirts

Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate – engineering codes of ethics, previous cases, peers, reliance on personal experience, inner reflection 

• Executive directors could consult with other directors of sustainability offices
• Executive director could approach the donor and discuss the dilemma to help decide which shirts to purchase
• Executive director could poll the student groups and ask for their opinion on which choice to make

Step 6: Select the best course of action – that which satisfies the highest core ethical values. Explain reasoning and justify. Discuss your stance vis-a-vis other approaches discussed in the class. 

• First, consult the donor and ask for their opinion on purchasing t-shirts from Cambodia. The Cambodian option on face value contradicts the donor’s desire to buy American products. However, we can either eliminate or choose the Cambodian option by consulting them. By sourcing the shirts from Cambodia, we would satisfy the triple bottom line constraint allowing for a fair wage. If we were to choose the L.A. option, we would not be adhering to a triple-bottom-line approach. There is an inherent tradeoff with this option.
• If the donor remained committed to buy American approach after our outreach, we would support purchasing the $25 t-shirt with one design that includes information on all ten organizations.  We believe it should be free to students. We would encourage students to promote that the shirts were sourced from organic material and that workers were paid a fair wage as a way to demonstrate the shirts uphold the tenets of sustainability.
• The second option to purchase the shirts from LA was discarded because of the factory’s labor violations of using mostly undocumented immigrants and being described as having rampant wage violations and abuse.
• We would support having students “earn” the shirts in some way to add value to receiving them by demonstrating they are enacting behavior change and becoming more sustainability-minded. We would not necessarily dictate the terms. Instead, we would leave it to the individual organizations to develop novel ideas to elevate the shirts as prized possessions. 
• However, a possible way to impose some structure for the student organizations, which in turn could assist the executive director in being in a better position to receive the $100k future grant, is to devise a set of event guidelines. Modeled after Cornell University’s Sustainable Event Program, we could set up a sustainable event guide and offer students the opportunity for a 30-minute event consultation to maximize how they are disseminating the t-shirts to promote the mission of the Sustainable Lehigh 2030 Program.

Step 7: (If applicable) What are the implications of your solution on the venture. Explain the impact of your proposed solution on the venture’s technology, economic, social and environmental aspects.

For each student group, the technological, economic, social, and environmental aspects of $25 organic shirts, from workers in the Lehigh Valley who are paid a fair wage, given to 20 people are:  

• Technology: Better quality shirt that might be worn for a longer period of time.
• Economic: We would be supporting the American economy.
• Social: T-shirts would be produced under good working conditions thereby supporting workers’ better quality of life.
• Environment: Organic shirts are better for the environment and the transportation costs would be reduced since they would be from a Lehigh Valley factory.