Letter from the Director

Greetings!

It is a joy and privilege to write this introductory note for the tenth volume of the Mudd Undergraduate Journal of Ethics (MUJE). This tenth-anniversary edition also marks the journal’s new manifestation as an online, interdisciplinary publication examining ethical concerns from a wide range of disciplines. In the past, the journal featured papers presented at an annual undergraduate conference hosted at Washington and Lee University before moving to a virtual experience during and after the pandemic. After the 2024 conference, the Mudd team regrouped and considered how we might reinvigorate and reimagine the journal experience. From that conversation, and under the guidance of the 2023-25 Mudd Center for Ethics Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Rachel Levit Ades, a new vision of an interdisciplinary journal emerged.

MUJE remains a rigorous peer-reviewed undergraduate journal showcasing accepted pieces from students the world over, but this anniversary edition takes the journal to new heights.  In addition to high-level academic papers that go through an intensive process of revision, the journal now also features news reports related to the Mudd Center’s year-long lecture series as well as creative work that investigates ethical questions and concerns. Indeed, MUJE is committed to highlighting a range of intellectual and creative perspectives in relation to ethical discussions that deeply affect our lives. This edition features visual art and poetry, as well as several academic papers. The topics for these papers and images relate to life-saving stem-cell transplants; psychological coercion; organ donation; and paid maternity leave. One image, “In Memoriam: Chevrolet Astrovan” by Sarah Eaton ’25, anticipates the Mudd Center’s 2025-26 lecture series theme, which will focus on environmental ethics.

The undergraduate students who both contribute to the journal and help produce it are dedicated to fostering exciting intellectual exchange, creative engagement, and critical thinking outside the classroom. We invite you to pore through the images and words of this new edition. We hope they inspire you to consider new possibilities and solutions within these ethical debates.

My very best,
Melissa R. Kerin