Case:
Under the Federal Clean Air Act, private businesses and governmental agencies that succeed in keeping their emissions below the permissible limits dictated by the Environmental Protection Agency can earn pollution credits. Holders of these credits can sell them to other organizations that have trouble keeping their emissions within the limits, or can retire them permanently, thus reducing the potential of further pollution. State agencies in New York have amassed millions of dollars in pollution credits. Recently the state has sought to lure businesses to New York by offering the credits for free. That is, if a company agrees to set up a plant or office in New York then the state will give them some of the pollution credits that it (the state) has earned. This new approach for attracting business into the State of New York is highly controversial. Widespread protests forced the state of Maine to back away from a similar approach.

You are a state legislator in a state in which legislation has recently been proposed that would adopt the New York approach. Do you vote in favor of it or against it, and why?

Recently officials at Villanova University have established an academic policy that the campus book store not carry Cliff Notes, the slim yellow and black paper book pamphlet summaries of major literary works. “We’re trying to send a message that a university education is not to be trifled with,” said John R. Johannson, Vice President for Academic Affairs at Villanova. “We want to encourage students to plunge into a piece of literature. It is more important that they ask questions than get the right answers,” said Dr. Johannson. The publisher of Cliff Notes has responded by calling the Villanova policy “censorship.” In a letter that was printed as an advertisement that appeared in the Villanova student newspaper the publisher said, “(iJt is disappointing when students are subjected to book banning and censorship in a university setting.”

Is the Villanova policy morally justifiable? If so, why, If not, why not?