The importance of ethics in making everyday decisions.

Two graduate students, Luisa, 27 and Joe, 29, work in the student activities office at fictitious Everglades University. Luisa has held several campus jobs before enrolling in a master's program. Joe recently completed his undergrad degree there and began the master's program. Their supervisor, Mark, is just 24 and new to the job. Luisa invites Joe over for dinner and the evening culminates in consensual sex. The next day the two decide that their consensual relationship is acceptable because the school has no policy restricting them. Within a week, they are open about their relationship around the office, but haven't discussed it with their supervisor. Mark finds out about it when his supervisor, the dean of students, calls a meeting to discuss it. How should Mark prepare for the meeting?

This case study was part of an ethics presentation led by Mimi Benjamin, assistant to the VP for student affairs at Iowa State University. Joining her were two second-year doctoral students in student affairs at Iowa State, Leah Ross and Juan Guardia. The trio discussed the importance of ethics in their everyday work at the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators conference held in Tampa in March.

Garden variety ethics

Like the one above, most ethical situations are unlikely to make headlines. But many new employees lack the grounding to make ethical decisions on gray issues.

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For example: How will a new staff person handle an interaction with an LGBT student when the student's lifestyle contradicts the staff member's beliefs? What about a breach of confidentiality during a search? How would a staff member react when she discovers a student had done Internet research without documenting it in a paper?

Other ethical dilemmas can include appropriate resource management, conflicts between what's right for students versus school policy, and the sharing of information. A critical one for young professionals is how to distance oneself from their students, especially in social situations.