At the SAS?s annual meeting in Washington last fall, it was suggested that SAS adopt an ethics statement and procedure.  After examining those of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the American Historical Association (AHA), the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS), and the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), it was decided by the Executive Council to put the MESA procedure in place for SAS until an even more suitable procedure could be devised in the future.
            Those who desire to lodge an ethics complaint now have a mechanism through which their complaint can be heard and adjudicated.  Having a regular procedure will allow us to deal with serious questions in a serious manner and not to have people engage in public denunciations, star chamber trials by e-mail, or to disrupt our meetings.
            To lodge an ethics complaint, the individual or individuals must put their complaint in writing with whatever supporting evidence is available,  and sworn affidavits of witnesses if appropriate.  The complaint should be sent directly to the chair of the SAS?s Ethics Committee (SASEC) who will circulate it to the other members of the Ethics Committee for review, with a copy to the Secretariat.  It is preferable that the complaint be sent directly to all members of the Ethics Committee with a return receipt requested to avoid any misunderstandings.  The members of the SASEC are:

Haig Der Manuelian, Esq.
Chairman, SASEC
Holland & Knight, LLP
1 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108

Dr. Artin Arslanian
Dean of Faculty/AVP
Marist College
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601-1387

Dr. George Bournoutian
116 Garfield St.
Haworth, NJ 07641

            Mr. Der Manuelian is a founding member of  the Society and its long time counsel.  Dr. Arslanian is Dean of Faculty at Marist College and a former member of the Executive Council.  Dr. Bournoutian is a faculty member at Iona College and an outgoing member of the Executive Council.  All of these gentlemen enjoy the highest public respect in academic and other circles.

Dennis Papazian

Society for Armenian Studies
Ethics Committee

Scope
            The Committee is charged by the Executive Council to be concerned with ethical issues which relate to the conduct of teaching, research, and publishing in the Armenian studies area, i.e. plagiarism, academic freedom, and professional conduct. For the purposes of this Committee, these terms are defined as follows:
Plagiarism. Plagiarism is the use of another author?s text, findings, or interpretation presented as one?s own work without proper attribution as to its original source. This is a fundamental violation of professional ethics in scholarship and applies to SAS members and colleagues in Armenian studies irrespective of discipline.
Academic Freedom.
            Academic freedom is a fundamental canon recognized and respected throughout the academy, other scholarly institutions, and in publications. Academic freedom is broadly protected by law and the governance of scholarly institutions and publishers. However, within Armenian studies, academic freedom may require special monitoring and observance due to the sensitive nature of research, teaching, and publication in this area. In this light, academic freedom means the ability to conduct one?s research, teaching, and publication activities in Armenian studies openly, freely, and without intimidation or discrimination.
Professional Conduct.
            Professional conduct relates to working directly in the field and/or related institutional research settings. The ethical conduct of professionals while carrying out research pertains to relations with local scholars and research participants, to museum and archival materials, and other sources of information that may be privileged or protected. The Ethics Committee takes an interest in this area because scholars have an ethical imperative to balance their right to conduct research with a responsibility to the people and materials they study. The Ethics Committee also takes an interest in this matter because unethical conduct by a researcher may result in restrictions being placed upon future researchers. Indeed, the Ethics Committee may be used as a resource by scholars of Armenian studies on questions related to professional conduct in ?the field? and/or related research settings.
            Professional conduct also relates to scholars and educators of Armenian studies working in their regular academic and/or non-academic settings. The SAS Ethics Committee recognizes and supports the principle of professionally ethical behavior in the academy and other scholarly institutions. Only cases which are directly related to Armenian studies will be reviewed. Ordinarily, most cases of this type will not be directly related to Middle East or Armenian studies. Hence, they will fall within the scope of institutional codes, AAUP, and/or disciplinary ethics committees. (See procedure 6, paragraph two)
Procedures
            The Ethics Committee is not an investigative or adjudicative body. It is not an alternative option for institutional grievance procedures or civil and criminal courts. Rather, the Committee is limited to reviewing cases of alleged plagiarism, violation of academic freedom, or breaches of professional conduct not otherwise subject to internal institutional procedures and/or to an authoritative external organization focused on the particular issue at hand. Review of a case by the Committee does not automatically lead to adoption of it.
            The Ethics Committee has no enforcement or compliance powers. Rather, its authority is moral and is derived directly from the profession itself, and the Society for Armenian Studies Executive Council and members.
            The SAS Executive Council remains the ultimate source of policy and authority within which the Ethics Committee functions. Within the limits of this defined scope and framework of authority, the SAS Ethics Committee follows the procedures listed below in reviewing a case:
1. The person bringing a charge against another person or institution must submit her/his complaint in writing with whatever supporting evidence is available directly to the Chair of the Ethics Committee who will circulate it to the other members of the Committee for review, with a copy to the SAS Secretariat. Should the Chair of the Ethics Committee not be known to the individual submitting a complaint, then the SAS Secretariat should be requested to forward it to the Committee Chair and members.
2. Within a reasonable period of time, the Ethics Committee members will respond in writing to the Chair indicating their vote on whether or not the case should be adopted. Adoption is based on the submission of tangible evidence which warrants further action by the Committee. A majority vote of available Committee members is required for adoption.
3. If the case is not adopted, the person submitting the complaint is notified in writing by the Chair of the Ethics Committee. The person may resubmit her/his case to the Committee if new evidence becomes available. If resubmitted, procedures 1 and 2 will be followed.
4. If the case is adopted, the Chair of the Ethics Committee will inform in writing all the parties involved in the matter of the charges that have been alleged. The parties so notified will be requested to respond to the charges. However, the Chair, on behalf of the Committee, will make it clear that neither the Committee nor SAS has taken a position on the matter. Only in cases of clearly proven violation of accepted professional ethics, most especially in cases of plagiarism, will the Ethics Committee in consultation with the SAS President and/or the Executive Council, seek voluntary redress from the charged and/or associated parties.
5. The role of the Committee will ordinarily be to encourage all parties to resolve their points of contention among themselves. In some cases, the Ethics Committee may suggest a course of action that could be acceptable to all parties. The use of the Committee?s good offices to assist in resolving the matter will be employed judiciously.
6. During the process described in number 5, the Ethics Committee may seek the advice, help, and cooperation of disciplinary ethics committees relevant to the case. The Ethics Committee may also seek to clarify particular information bearing on the case, but at no time takes on the role of an investigative body. Moreover, the Committee may refer individuals submitting a complaint related to a violation of professional conduct to other agencies and/or may choose to cooperate with those agencies on such cases when warranted by the evidence and the direct relationship to Armenian studies.
7. If the case is not resolved between the parties themselves, the Ethics Committee can vote to present the case with recommendations to the SAS Executive Council for review and possible further action. At this point, the case falls under the jurisdiction of the Executive Council. The Executive Council may request the Committee to identify experts relevant to the particular type of case. At least two such experts would be recruited to review the case, anonymous both to the parties and to each other. They would submit their findings separately to the Executive Council. The Executive Council would then decide whether further action should be pursued. Such action as publishing the results of the experts? review in the SAS Newsletter after the parties have been notified could be taken. The parties may be offered a short period in which to reconsider their positions and perhaps seek resolution of the problem before the publication date. If the experts do not concur, the Executive Council can notify the parties that the case is sufficiently ambiguous and SAS can take no further action.
8. If the parties involved in a case are able to resolve their areas of discord and contentions between themselves, then the case is closed by the Ethics Committee, and no public summary or mention is made of the case in any SAS publications. However, summaries of the cases will be submitted by the Ethics Committee Chair to the Executive Council at its annual convention and Executive Council meeting, and they will become part of SAS?s records kept at the Secretariat. All proceedings of the Committee will be kept in strict confidence.

Back to SAS Newsletter Page 1
 

Forward to SAS Newsletter Page 3