This study develops and validates a model explaining how the organizational and human resources, advising and supporting, and personal and ethical foundations competencies influence leadership in student affairs. The most notable finding from this study is the overlooked and powerful influence of advising and supporting upon leadership. The…

This report examines the transformative role of artificial intelligence (AI) in student affairs, demonstrating its potential to personalize student interactions, automate routine processes, and leverage data insights for informed decision-making. AI presents unprecedented opportunities to enhance the student experience. The report emphasizes…

The purpose of this longitudinal case study was to examine if participation in a four-year ethical reasoning curriculum leveraging ethical dilemmas enhanced college students' abilities to differentiate between ethical dilemmas and moral temptations and apply an ethical reasoning decision-making process. Three longitudinal cohorts of…

Scholarship about ethics in higher education often focuses on wrongdoing: cheating, incivility, and a host of other misdeeds. We focus, instead, on ethicality as the enactment of integrity across everyday work life. This approach is particularly true in student affairs where administrators, faculty members, staff members, and students intersect…

This participatory study examined how student affairs professionals advocated for students within the power structures of university systems. Data analysis from research conversations with six participants found that student affairs professionals experienced a high degree of conflict when they attempted to advocate for students within the confines…

Student affairs administrators make discretionary moral and ethical choices regarding the relationship of individual students and of institutional policy to the law. A study was conducted which used Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Development Theory to explore the relationship between the student personnel administrator's moral judgment and his or her…

A total of 580 ethical problems faced by 303 student affairs administrators were examined by category using Kitchener's ethical principles. Reports of these problems differed significantly when gender, level of experience, administrative level within the institution, and institution size were examined. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

Conducted study to examine how administrators at community and four-year public and private colleges assess their faculty, student, and institutional responses to academic dishonesty. Findings from 257 chief student affairs officers revealed that problem of student academic dishonesty persists across institutional types. Respondents appeared to…

Surveyed 75 student affairs professionals in different positions in 8 traditional areas to examine competencies needed by entry-level professionals. Results indicated that most valued competencies were those general ones applicable to work in most settings involving service to people, such as communication skills, ability to demonstrate caring,…

A review of historical documents revealed the primacy of three values in student affairs: individual human dignity (with freedom, altruism, and truth); equality; and community (with justice). Individual dignity seemed to be the most essential historical value, while equality underwent a transition from the individual to the group. (RJM)

Through a national survey (n=219), this study explores how gay, lesbian, and bisexual students view discrimination on campus. Students concluded that on many campuses, existing ethical guidelines concerning discrimination are not equally applied to gay, lesbian, and bisexual students. Considers possible causes for this divergence between ethical…

Through the Decision Perspective Survey, Southern Association for College Student Affairs members were asked to consider the extent to which they considered educational/development versus legal issues when making decisions in their work. Results indicate a change in emphasis in decision making with significant new consideration given to legal…

Institutionally imposed limits on social relationships provoke compelling questions. Reviewed five policies written to define the relationship of faculty/staff and student, considered ethical and legal implications, and responsibilities of student development personnel for leadership in this area. An appendix provides a model policy scheme. (JBJ)