Ethics in politics and more discussed at UVU’s Ethics Awareness Week

Rinamay Lopez | Reporter | @Rinamaylopez
Additional reporting by Tiffany Frandsen

Utah Lieutenant Governor Spencer J. Cox attracted a big audience of students, faculty and members of the public on Tuesday morning for his keynote speech on ethics in politics to open the week-long ethics conference hosted by the Center for Ethics at Utah Valley University.

In his speech the governor focused on what a politician should do when elected. A system with checks and balance is necessary to maintain ethics and protections for people and the government. When a candidate is running there should also be control,

“One of the biggest mistakes we have made in this country is when we decided that money equals speech,” saidCox. Not all politicians are corrupt and unethical, he said, in fact the majority of politicians are good citizens.

“Almost all the elective officers are part-time legislators … they have real outside jobs and give back” said Cox.

The press also plays a major part in politics. It’s the press job to inform the people so they can make informed decisions. He encouraged society to get involved, get to know the leaders in office and what they are doing.

He called for good citizens to run for office. Cox is originally from the small town of Utah, him and his wife have four children.  He decided to try politics after having practiced law for a few years.

 Events were free and open to the public and topics included the former Utah Attorney Generals John Swallow and Mark Shurtleff, mental health, the penal system, banned books, climate change, education, law, the confidence crisis for females, war, and others.

 Ethics Awareness week has been hosted at UVU for 27 years, and aims to address ethical dilemmas in departments across campus, and this year’s panels and addresses included faculty from each of the eight colleges and schools across UVU’s campus.