KENNESAW, Ga. |
Nov 10, 2022
Presiding Justice of the Supreme Court docket of Georgia Nels Peterson, a Kennesaw State
graduate, had an encouraging message for present college students throughout an Ethics Consciousness
Week keynote handle: Use your faculty years to be taught to be an engaged and moral
member of higher society.
“Whether or not you’re a pupil or a excessive authorities official or wherever in between, you’re a member of a neighborhood, and you’ve got an obligation to have interaction in your neighborhood responsibly,” Peterson stated. “I don’t know a greater place to essentially experiment with what that appears like than a college campus.”
Peterson famous that he took his personal alternative to hunt out challenges and moral
inquiries to deal with in his time as a pupil at Kennesaw State, a interval he stated was
pivotal in his profession and his private improvement.
Peterson spoke Wednesday because the keynote to Ethics Consciousness Week, every week of occasions throughout the College System of Georgia highlighting USG establishments’ dedication to integrity, logic and a dedication to public service.
In his handle, Peterson acknowledged the inherent grey areas in implementing questions
of moral dilemmas when in comparison with the black and white certainty of written legislation.
However he stated questions of ethics are sometimes questions of character.
“Ethics and professionalism are simply phrases for a way we deal with one another. They’re phrases for a way we act as accountable members in a neighborhood,” he stated.
Peterson stated one of many chief traits of moral conduct is civility.
“Civility means treating every particular person like a human being with inherent price and dignity, even once we assume them fully and horribly mistaken a few actually necessary difficulty,” Peterson stated. “Civility isn’t a luxurious reserved for conditions with little at stake. To reject this concept to say that some points are too necessary to deal with our fellow people as all having inherent price and dignity is to scale back folks to merely a method to an finish.”
Peterson spoke within the College Rooms of the Carmichael Scholar Heart and was launched by President Kathy Schwaig.
“We’re so fortunate to have such a distinguished alum come again and share his personal expertise with moral dilemmas and choice making for Ethics Consciousness Week,” Schwaig stated.
Peterson was appointed by then-Gov. Nathan Deal to the Supreme Court docket of Georgia in
2017 and was re-elected statewide for a six-year time period in 2018. He beforehand served
as a choose of the Georgia Court docket of Appeals, legislation clerk for federal judges, Georgia
solicitor normal, vice chancellor for authorized affairs and secretary to the Board of
Regents of the College System of Georgia, govt counsel and deputy govt
counsel to Gov. Sonny Perdue and varied different roles.
Peterson graduated from Kennesaw State College with a B.S. in political science
and a minor in economics. He additionally graduated from Harvard Regulation Faculty.
– By Thomas Hartwell
Photographs by Judith Pishnery
Associated Tales
A pacesetter in revolutionary instructing and studying, Kennesaw State College presents undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels to its practically 43,000 college students. With 11 faculties on two metro Atlanta campuses, Kennesaw State is a member of the College System of Georgia. The college’s vibrant campus tradition, various inhabitants, sturdy world ties and entrepreneurial spirit draw college students from all through the nation and the world. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral analysis establishment (R2), inserting it amongst an elite group of solely 6 p.c of U.S. faculties and universities with an R1 or R2 standing. For extra data, go to kennesaw.edu.
