Q: Is it ethical to order food for delivery during a thunderstorm? If I’m doing it to avoid getting wet or struck by lightning, isn’t it wrong to have somebody else (with little agency to refuse) do it in my place? – James J. Stranko, New York
A: As someone who seldom mines his own coal, I’m in no position to condemn those who consign difficult, dangerous or simply miserably uncomfortable jobs to others. Here is how you can do so ethically: by ensuring, or at least supporting those who strive to ensure, that workers in such jobs toil in decent conditions with their health and safety protected, earn decent wages and receive the benefits we all want and many of us expect in our wealthy nation. You can’t always know such things, but you can make some effort to educate yourself about those you employ, and you can tip generously – lavishly – when someone works for you under unusually rough conditions.
Q: My two college-age daughters are traveling to France. Each was required to pay half the cost. Daughter No. 1 used money she earned at a part-time job. Daughter No. 2 used money she received by subletting her apartment, for which her dad and I pay the rent. Daughter No. 1 thinks this is unfair. Is it? – Linda Fletcher, Long Beach, Calif.
A: It is. Daughter No. 2 made her money by renting out something that wasn’t hers to sublet. Before there are any profits she must repay what you and her dad spent on rent. You could allow her to retain what a rental agent would, say 15 percent of the sublet money, and apply it to the trip.
UPDATE: The parents returned Daughter No. 1’s money.
Q: My college newspaper ran an opinion article supporting a professor who had not been rehired. The article now appears at the top of any Internet search of the professor’s name. Hoping not to discourage potential employers, the professor asked us to remove the article from our archive for two years. Should we? – B.B., New York
A: You should not. If the article met your standards for publication – and it did – you may not purge it. Helping even a worthy professor’s career is not sufficient reason to falsify by omission the historic record, even so modest a record as back issues of a college paper.
In any case, there would be little practical value in your acceding to the professor’s request. His departure from your college is bound to come up in any job interview.
UPDATE: Members of the editorial staff decided that in a conflict between journalistic ethics and the good of the school community, they would give priority to the latter: They redacted this piece in the archive.
Send questions and comments for Randy Cohen to Universal Press Syndicate, 4520 Main St., Kansas City, MO 64111, or ethicist@nytimes.com.
