What do two campus ministers and a professor of anatomy talk about in a university parking
lot at 7:30 in the morning? Back in 1972,
Robert Thomason, the Methodist Campus Minister, and I took advantage of a casual meeting
to test an idea with a friend. Robert and I
had talked about bringing together researchers, clinicians, theologians, and others to
deal with some of the moral and ethical implications of modern medicine and research. What we had in mind had never been done—at
least, to our knowledge. We needed to know
what “scientific types” were thinking. So,
we decided to do some informal “interviews” wherever we could catch these busy
people—over the phone, on sidewalks, in offices or parking lots. Believe it or not, we were doing company business,
or ministry, that spring on the parking lot.
“Ken, got a minute? We’ve
been wondering, do you ever run into moral and ethical questions in your lab for which
there are no pat answers?”
“Are you kidding?”
Well, we had obviously touched a sensitive nerve in the thoughts and feelings of
this man in basic brain research. “Moral
and ethical questions? Let me tell you about
the other day.” And on and on he went
for the next thirty minutes. And we
discovered that there were others who wanted to talk about that research project, that
patient, that drug protocol, or the clinical trials committee.
We had two other questions to ask that were also important to us in our planning. First, would you be interested in talking with
other people about these and other concerns? If
the answer was affirmative, we asked our final question.
Would you be willing to meet with a pilot group in the not-too-distant
future?
On September 21, 1972, thirty-two selected persons attended the first meeting of
the Emory Committee on Biomedical Ethics. They
came from several schools at Emory, the national Centers for Disease Control, Georgia
Mental Health Institute, Columbia Theological Seminary, the Georgia Department of Human
Resources, local churches, and other institutions. It
was a memorable and meaningful night for participants and spouses for a lot of
reasons. Perhaps most significant was the
many disciplines represented. They included
anatomy, law, psychiatry, theology, cardiology, microbiology, chemistry, religion,
internal medicine, preventive medicine, publications, campus ministry, medical genetics,
ethics, nursing, administration, and English. The
group continued to have dinner meetings until 1990, when I retired. About 450 individuals, couples, and groups were
always on our mailing lists.
The genesis of the story really goes back to a hot July 7th in 1971. It was an all-day planning meeting of the Emory
United Campus Ministry staff. During the
discussion, four areas of advocacy were approved as part of our shared ministry. One was identified as “health care
systems,” for which I agreed to explore and develop (if possible) ways of getting at
this concern.
During the next six months, I talked with a large number of people. Each agreed that this was an important area of
concern, but they were not much help in suggesting ways to implement. Viable vehicles or models just did not seem to
exist, and my own “creativity system” apparently was burnt out. (And that is the life-blood of a campus ministry,
or any ministry, for that matter). Then
during the Christmas recess, over a cup of coffee in the university cafeteria, a former
student, Dr. James Gavin, told me about the Institute for Society, Ethics and the Life
Sciences. Well, by March 6, 1972, Robert
Thomason and I had put together a proposal and submitted it to the Board of Christian
Education of the Presbyterian Church, U.S., for $1,000, which was funded. After that, the modest subsidy needed came from
the Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian Campus Ministries.
Robert Thomason and I staffed this ministry until his departure in 1974, at
which time the Baptist Campus Minister, Dwight Pearce, joined me.
Our basic goal over the years continued to be a modest one, that is, to bring
together an intentional mix of people from a variety of disciplines and institutions to
explore increasingly knotty moral and ethical questions precipitated by advanced
technology in basic research and the practice of medicine.
We had no constitution, no bylaws, and no membership cards or fees. We met about every six weeks during the nine-month
academic year, and we averaged around 65 to 70 each session. And since these were busy people, we actually
involved several hundred different people over a year’s time. But there were subtle and significant things that
happened apart from the formal dinner meetings.
One dimension of this could be broadly described as social. People in many different disciplines got to know
one another. Encouragement for social
interaction came from a faculty couple who had many wine and cheese parties after the
dinner meetings, where conversations and discussion continued on into the late evening. Not only these entrees on a social level
enjoyable, they introduced people who subsequently collaborated in research, teaching,
legislative action, and other forms of advocacy.
Another dimension was clearly educational.
Even though one cannot draw a cause-and-effect relation, concomitant to the
existence of the Emory Committee on Biomedical Ethics, the University introduced many
interdisciplinary courses, ethics courses in all the colleges, and developed the Center
for Ethics in Public Policy and the Professions. In
many instances, these new efforts were spearheaded by some of the same people who had been
most involved in the dinner meetings and parties afterwards.
A third dimension may be described as social policy. The fact is that many who participated are in
positions of power and do influence policies that affect us all. Some have held prominent positions in local,
state, and federal agencies and institutions that do basic research, set policies, or
deliver services. Others have been involved
in religious, educational, political, or social structures that react or interact with
some of the Committee’s concerns, through lobby groups, educational campaigns, or
other so-called lay groups.
In 1990, when I retired, Emory University did a beautiful thing (a la John
Cantelon’s history of campus ministry in A
Protestant Approach to the Campus Ministry). Desiring
to continue this ministry that campus ministers developed, they announced The Emmett
Herndon Lectures in Professional Ethics. Even
thought the focus is broader, our ministry continues, with big funding and outstanding
full-time staff.
Emmett Herndon served as
Presbyterian Campus Minister at Stetson University, DeLand, FL, for two and a half years
and at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, for 32 years. Robert Thomason retired
after 31 years in campus ministry in Georgia, Florida, and Virginia, and currently serves
the National Campus Ministry Association as Membership Secretary and Newsletter
Editor. The late Dwight Pearce served as a campus minister at Emory for more than
thirty years.
Address your questions
about this ministry to Emmett Herndon at 1000 Liawen Court, NE, Atlanta, GA
30329 <hernatl@aol.com> |
