College of Business Administration

GROUP MEMBERS:

Toby Svarc
Jason Stump
Steve Velasquez
Nick Plette

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

When our group was asked to come up with a social change project, we had a variety of ideas. One of the main criteria for which project were going to chose was that it was interesting to us. After much deliberation, we chose to do a basketball tournament in honor of Samantha Graham, a San Diego State University student who recently died of meningitis. Steve was a good friend of Samantha’s and suggested the idea to us. It appealed to our group because it was a subject that hit home for all of us. Not everyone knew Samantha personally but we all had heard of her story. Knowing Samantha, Steve knew that she loved basketball. It seemed like the perfect fit to have a tournament in her honor that would raise money for the Meningitis Foundation of America. We could also raise awareness of the disease.

Meningitis is a disease that comes in two forms, bacterial and viral. The bacterial version is the most deadly and is the type that Samantha contracted. It is a disease that affects many different people but college students are one of the most susceptible groups. Working with MFA, we can help to bring attention to our fellow students that this is a real concern. Our group wanted to make sure that other people don’t lose a close friend to this disease because they didn’t know how to deal with it.

When we first decided to do this project, our group did not realize the magnitude of what we were getting into. After getting through much red tape, we finally received permission to use the Aztec Recreation Center as our site, with the rental fee of $1000 being waived. The date that we received was not the day we had requested but we had to deal with what we were given. Partnering with a group called Communicative Solutions, we started the promotions and sign-up processes. Through the efforts of many volunteers, as well as the group, we have had several teams sign up as well as over $500 in donations to date. Hoping to host a 32-team men’s and a 16-team women’s tournament on May 12, we are expecting to raise over $1000 with the tournament alone. Through our efforts, we have been able to get many businesses involved. Clearly, Samantha was an important person to many to get such a reception.

We feel that the ethical frameworks related to this project are the Social Contract Theory and the Ethics of Care. Social Contract Theory states that we all agree to rules to abide by that are in our best interests to do so. Inherent in this theory, is a social responsibility to your fellow man. We felt that we had a duty to inform our fellow college students as to the dangers of meningitis as well as possible preventative procedures. The Ethics of Care theory places value in caring relationships. Steve knew Samantha very well and felt a duty to honor her life. Through this duty, our group project was formed. Those of us who didn’t know Samantha personally before this project now realize how important she was to so many people. Out of this, we now feel a duty to help in carrying on Samantha’s name.

If nothing else, our group has raised attention to the fact that meningitis is a serious issue to college students. Through our promotions efforts as well as through the tournament, we are able to find a way to get the word out to the public. This makes all of our efforts worthwhile. We not only have the money to help out in research of this disease, but also the satisfaction of knowing that we are performing a social duty. We expect our tournament will be a great success and hope that it does not end there.