Randy Shilts (1987), author of "And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic," uses the analogy of the sinking ship and the "band playing on" to draw attention to America's false sense of security in the midst of the growing AIDS crisis. We describe a doctoral curriculum in which students examine the conflicts inherent in their ethical practice through a case study analysis of the AIDS epidemic. Moral development theory and critical pedagogy provide a rationale for the selection of subject matter and method designed to awaken the critical consciousness of students to social justice. The curriculum encourages students to explore how acts of discrimination and oppression related to race/ethnicity, class, gender, and sexual orientation influenced the responses of leaders to the AIDS epidemic.