“Cheating: A Cultural Norm?” is the topic of two upcoming “Tea and Ethics” discussions sponsored by Coastal Carolina University’s Jackson Family Center for Ethics and Values.

Coastal Carolina professors Eddie Dyer and Brian Schaefer will present the first session on Thursday, March 30 at 4:30 p.m. in the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts Building, room 249. The session will be repeated on Thursday, April 6 at 6 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Myrtle Beach, located at the corner of 13th Ave. North and U.S. 17 Business (North Kings Highway).

Dyer and Schaefer will address cheating inside and outside of the classroom. They will discuss how and why cheating has become a societal norm in many facets of everyday life.

Dyer has been a member of Coastal Carolina University’s political science faculty since 1976. He was the first recipient of the HTC Teacher-Scholar Lecturer Award and has also received the Distinguished Teaching Award, the Student Development Award, was a faculty inductee of the local chapter of Omicron Delta Kappa (national leadership fraternity) and is an honorary inductee of the CCU Athletic Hall of Fame. Since Coastal Carolina’s independence in 1993, he has served as university counsel and also as vice president for University Relations. Dyer earned a bachelor’s degree from Guilford College and has a master’s degree and juris doctorate from the University of South Carolina.

Schaefer is a visiting professor of philosophy at Coastal Carolina. He previously taught at Ohio University and Sweet Briar College (Va.) before coming to Coastal in the fall of 2005. He has presented at conferences in the Czech Republic, Scotland and England. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College (Vt.) and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland).

The discussion is sponsored by Coastal’s Jackson Family Center for Ethics and Values. The purpose of the center is to cultivate and promote awareness in the community of the importance of personal and professional integrity. The center sponsors scholarships and visiting scholars as well as public discussion forums on ethical issues in science, business, education, and the arts and humanities. For more information, call 349-4149.