QEP holds interactive seminar

Hundreds of students filled Lee Hall Auditorium on Wednesday for the “Ethics in Everyday Life” seminar. Attendance was mandatory for freshmen.

The seminar, hosted by the Quality Enhancement Plan, the Office of Student Affairs and the Office of University Retention, was geared toward the freshman class in hopes that students will utilize their critical thinking skills and apply them to everyday ethical situations.

According to the QEP, the seminar is part of the Critical Thinking Seminar Series, which is a co-curricular activity designed to enhance students’ critical thinking, problem solving and decision-making skills by involving them in interactive discussions that deal with real life situations.

Genyne Boston, director of QEP and an associate English professor, served as the moderator for “Ethics in Everyday Life.”

The seminar had an interactive session, which included three skit dramatizations and group discussions that provided students insight and guidance for making ethical decisions in everyday life.

“Rude Boy,” the first skit, portrayed students in an African-American history class, where one student in particular was rude, disrespectful and threatened to harm a classmate with a knife.

Classmates observed and recorded the incident on their phones. At that time, the professor asked the student to leave.

“I can relate to this skit the most,” said freshman Sen. Derek Keaton. “It symbolizes what you see in class. A person not taking their education seriously hinders the learning ability for students who are focused on their education.”

The second skit was called “Who’s Cheating Who?” It showed a scene where a doctor diagnosed her patient with a brain tumor. She insisted that there was no cure or chemotherapy.

The moral of the story was the doctor was not as educated as she needed to be.

“Pharmacists, nurses and doctors will all be responsible for someone’s life,” Boston said. “Give critical thought to your education. Learn the information for your profession. Don’t cheat just to get by.”

Christopher Johnson, a first-year political science student from Ft. Lauderdale, said he was not surprised by the skit.

“This happens more often than we think,” Johnson said. “People cheat themselves by cheating.”

“Snitches get Stitches” was the final skit. In it, a young woman was robbed and shot. The witness refused to say what happened in fear that he would die. Most of the students agreed that people should do for others what they would want done for them.

“I hope the series encourages and enhances students’ critical thinking skills as it pertains to ethics and their academic future,” Boston said.

All dramatizations were performed by students in the FAMU Connection. The FAMU Connection is operated through the Essential Theatre faculty and staff.