PRACTICAL ETHICS FOR SUMMER PROJECTS

For the third year, several Harvard College students have been awarded Lester Kissel Grants in Practical Ethics to carry out summer projects on subjects ranging from the role of consequences and intentions in determinations of punishment, to the psychological and social consequences of the threat of deportation. The students will use the grants to conduct research in the U.S. or abroad, and to write reports, articles, or senior theses. Each grant supports living and research expenses up to $3,000. Those receiving Lester Kissel grants for summer 2008 are as follows:

DANIEL W. ASHER, a senior Social Studies concentrator, will explore the ethics of U.S. immigration policy, asking whether the liberal tradition of political philosophy and our common moral intuitions as Americans can justify America’s current exclusionist policies. Drawing on the works of Rousseau, Jefferson, and Habermas, he will argue that a major change in U.S. policy is a moral necessity.

TREVOR BAKKER, a sophomore Social Studies concentrator, will conduct research at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, the Netherlands, on the ethical challenges faced by the Court in its collection of evidence and decisions to prosecute amidst ongoing violent conflict. Research will include direct observation of trial sessions and interviews with members of the Court.

JOANNA BRONOWICKA, a junior Social Studies concentrator, will research the consequences of the threat of deportation on a community of the undocumented workers in Paris. She will attempt to understand the formation of collective identity and group solidarity in a community that belongs to a larger social movement that seeks to redefine French immigration policy in more ethical terms.

JAY COSTA, a junior concentrating in Biological Anthropology, will undertake senior thesis research examining the role of consequences and intentions in determinations of punishment. He will utilize behavioral psychology experiments to test an adaptive hypothesis of the privileging of consequences in individual judgments of punishment, and he will conduct a cross-cultural analysis of legal systems in order to explore whether a similar reliance on consequences persists at a systematic level.

HENRY COWLES, a senior Environmental Science & Public Policy (ESPP) Concentrator, will expand a chapter of his senior thesis, which was on the origins of legislated wildlife protection in Britain during the 1860s, to address the explicitly ethical dimensions of that project. He will explore the ways in which ethical status was first granted to wild animals by addressing both the theoretical roots underpinning the early wildlife preservation movement and the social and cultural context in which that movement was born.

DA LIN, a junior Mathematics and Economics concentrator, will undertake research on “Regulatory Cosmopolitanism,” for a European project titled: “Pathways to Human Dignity.” She will examine the regulatory challenges presented by modern bioscience in the specific context of moral exclusion in patent regimes. In particular, she will explore ways to secure compliance with international regulations based on fundamental values while empowering national regulators who strive to uphold local standards.

The Lester Kissel grants are made possible by a gift from the late Lester Kissel, a graduate of Harvard Law School and longtime benefactor of Harvard's ethics programs. More Information