As my semester teaching communications ethics wraps up, I had my students pair up to present case studies/discussion problems from the textbook. One presentation focused on the academic bait and switch, or the practice of universities highlighting their all-star faculty while ultimately having teaching assistants and graduate students teaching the actual class. The pair highlighted that not only is this arguably unethical but it also could violate basic truth-in-advertising laws.

The presenting students did a great job highlighting the issue and raising some choice arguments for why this is ethically problematic. The content was superb, raising an important question of how best to advertise college courses. Their creative solution: have the class form groups that were tasked with creating truthful advertisements for my class.

These posters were the result. I think the students generally knocked it out of the park, even though my reputation for costing them their “sanity” has become a bit of a punchline as the semester progressed. Not sure why I’m wearing fishnet stockings under my tie, however!