An Ethical Dilemma

Our group was faced with a very difficult situation that I hope none of us will ever be placed in. The context is that Aaron Craft has asked you to help him cheat in a class so he can concentrate for his big game coming up. You do not want to upset him so you help him out. After the test, the professor approaches you and asks if there was any cheating going on. Since you helped him out, turning him in would mean also turning yourself in.

What we decided we would do was not based on rules-based thinking. I agree with my group, and our decision was to not tell the professor that Aaron cheated off of us. The way we see it, Aaron Craft is not the type to cheat normally. In fact I don't believe he ever would, but if he did just once, that does not make him a cheater. We do not want to ruin his future in both the academic setting and on the court and also risk the future of the OSU Men's Basketball team. We would allow this to happen just this one time because we believe that it is not a big deal and that he has much more to look forward to. Also, this would tarnish your own reputation as a student, even though you didn't want to in the first place but just gave into peer pressure.