Sacramento State students attended a lecture about federal ethics at noon today in the University Union’s Delta Suite.

Ethics and Compliance Leader (Government Contracts) for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Stephen Epstein provided an overview of federal ethics for students. The event was held at noon today in the University Union’s Delta Suite of Sacramento State.

Director for the Center of Practical and Professional Ethics Christina Bellon said it is important for students to be aware of ethical issues.

Epstein explained the following basic ethical principles he said government officials must follow:

? Official actions must be free of conflicting interests.

? Officials may not give preferential treatment.

? Officials may not expend taxpayer funds for unapproved purposes.

He gave examples of government officials who followed or broke ethical policies, which he witnessed when he worked as the chief ethics officer of the Department of Defense.

“My goal was to give (primarily government students) a survey of federal ethics practices, so they would understand how ethics work,” he said.

He said it is important for journalists to test actions taken by the government. He said most ethics measures resulted from scandals involving government officials, which were exposed by the media.

Senior philosophy major A.J. Smith found the lecture to be beneficial.

“Politics abiding by ethics is a lot bigger than what you read,” he said.

Evelyn Bigelyaizen can be reached at [email protected].