Statement of

ACPA

Ethical Principles
& Standards

One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20036-1188

tel: 202.835.2272 fax: 202.296.3286

www.myacpa.org

Preamble
Pr
eamble
ACPA College Student Educators International is an
association whose members are dedicated to enhanc
ing the worth, dignity, potential, and uniqueness of
each individual within post-secondary educational
institutions and, thus, to the service of society. ACPA
members are committed to contributing to the compre
hensive education of students, protecting human rights,
advancing knowledge of student growth and develop
ment, and promoting the eectiveness of institutional
programs, services, and organizational units. As a
means of supporting these commitments, members of
ACPA subscribe to the following principles and stan
dards of ethical conduct. Acceptance of membership in
ACPA signies that the member understands the provi
sions of this statement.

the provisions of this document, several courses of ac

tion are available. Suggestions to assist with addressing
ethical concerns are included in the Appendix at the
end of this document.

Ethical
E
thical Foundations
Foundations
No statement of ethical standards can anticipate all
situations that have ethical implications. When stu
dent aairs professionals are presented with dilemmas
that are not explicitly addressed herein, a number of
perspectives may be used in conjunction with the four
standards identied in this document to assist in mak
ing decisions and determining appropriate courses of
action. These standards are: 1) Professional Responsibil
ity and Competence; 2) Student Learning and Devel
opment; 3) Responsibility to the Institution; and 4)
Responsibility to Society.

This statement is designed to address issues particu

larly relevant to college student aairs practice. Per
sons charged with duties in various functional areas of
higher education are also encouraged to consult ethical
standards specic to their professional responsibilities.

Ethical principles should guide the behaviors of profes

sionals in everyday practice. Principles are assumed to
be constant and, therefore, provide consistent guide
lines for decision-making. In addition, student aairs
professionals should strive to develop the virtues, or
habits of behavior, that are characteristic of people in
helping professions. Contextual issues must also be
taken into account. Such issues include, but are not
limited to, culture, temporality (issues bound by time),
and phenomenology (individual perspective) and com
munity norms. Because of the complexity of ethical
conversation and dialogue, the skill of simultaneously
confronting dierences in perspective and respect
ing the rights of persons to hold dierent perspectives
becomes essential. For an extended discussion of these
aspects of ethical thinking, see Appendix B.

Use
U
se of this Statement
Statement
The principal purpose of this statement is to assist stu
dent aairs professionals (individuals who are admin
istrators, sta, faculty, and adjunct faculty in the eld
of student aairs) in regulating their own behavior by
sensitizing them to potential ethical problems and by
providing standards useful in daily practice. Observance
of ethical behavior also benets fellow professionals and
students due to the eect of modeling. Self-regulation
is the most eective and preferred means of assuring
ethical behavior. If, however, a professional observes
conduct by a fellow professional that seems contrary to
1

ACPA - College Student Educators International

Ethical
E
thical standards
standards
Four ethical standards related to primary constituencies with whom student aairs professionals work, colleagues,
students, educational institutions, and society are specied.

1 Professional Responsibility and Competence.

Student aairs professionals are responsible for promoting and facilitating student learning about students and their
world, enhancing the quality and understanding of student life, advocating for student welfare and concerns, and
advancing the profession and its ideals. They possess the knowledge, skills, emotional stability, and maturity to dis
charge responsibilities as administrators, advisors, consultants, counselors, programmers, researchers, and teachers.
High levels of professional competence are expected in the performance of their duties and responsibilities. Student
aairs professionals are responsible for the consequences of their actions or inaction.
As ACPA members, student aairs professionals will:
1.7 Establish fees for professional services after consid
eration of the ability of the recipient to pay. They will
provide some services, including professional develop
ment activities for colleagues, for little or no
remuneration.
1.8 Adhere to ethical practices in securing positions:
[a] represent education and experiences accurately; [b]
respond to oers promptly; [c] interview for positions
only when serious about accepting an oer; [d] accept
only those positions they intend to assume; [e] advise
current employer and all institutions at which applica
tions are pending immediately when they sign a con
tract; [f ] inform their employers before leaving a posi
tion within a reasonable amount of time as outlined by
the institution and/or supervisor; and [g] commit to
position upon acceptance.
1.9 Provide an honest, accurate, and respectful refer
ence. If it is not deemed possible to provide a positive
reference, contact the searching employee to inform
them of such. It is not appropriate to provide a posi
tive reference to move an individual beyond a depart
ment or institution.

1.1 Conduct their professional activities in accordance

with sound theoretical principles and adopt a personal
value system congruent with the basic tenets of the
profession.
1.2 Contribute to the development of the profession
(e.g., recruiting students to the profession, serving
professional organizations, advocating the use of ethical
thinking through educational and professional develop
ment activities, improving professional practices, and
conducting and reporting research).
1.3 Maintain and enhance professional eectiveness
by continually improving skills and acquiring new
knowledge.
1.4 Monitor their personal and professional function
ing and eectiveness and seek assistance from appropri
ate professionals as needed.
1.5 Maintain current, accurate knowledge of all regula
tions related to privacy of student records and elec
tronic transmission of records and update knowledge of
privacy legislation on a regular basis.
1.6 Represent their professional credentials, competen
cies, and limitations accurately and correct any misrep
resentations of these qualications by others.

ACPA - College Student Educators International

2 Student Learning and Development.

Student development is an essential purpose of higher education. Support of this process is a major responsibility
of the student aairs profession. Development is complex and includes cognitive, physical, moral, social, emotional,
career, spiritual, personal, and intellectual dimensions. Professionals must be sensitive to and knowledgeable about
the variety of backgrounds, cultures, experiences, abilities, personal characteristics and viewpoints evident in the
student population and be able to incorporate appropriate theoretical perspectives to identify learning opportunities
and to reduce barriers to development. Multicultural competence is a fundamental element of ethical practice.
As ACPA members, student aairs professionals will:
2.1 Treat students with respect as persons who possess
dignity, worth, and the ability to be self-directed.
2.2 Avoid dual relationships with students where one
individual serves in multiple roles that create conict
ing responsibilities, role confusion, and unclear ex
pectations (e.g., counselor/employer, supervisor/best
friend, or faculty/sexual partner) that may involve
incompatible roles and conicting responsibilities.
2.3 Abstain from all forms of harassment, including
but not limited to verbal and written communication,
physical actions and electronic transmissions.
2.4 Abstain from sexual intimacy with clients or with
students for whom they have supervisory, evaluative, or
instructional responsibility.
2.5 Inform students of the conditions under which
they may receive assistance.
2.6 Inform students of the nature and/or limits of
condentiality. They will share information about the
students only in accordance with institutional policies
and applicable laws, when given their permission, or
when required to prevent personal harm to themselves
or others.
2.7 Refer students to appropriate specialists before
entering or continuing a helping relationship when the
professionals expertise or level of comfort is exceeded.
If the referral is declined, professional sta is not
obliged to continue the relationship nor should they do
so if there is not direct benet to the student.
2.8 Inform students about the purpose of assessment
and research; make explicit the planned use of results
prior to assessment requesting participation in either.
2.9 Comply with the institutional guidelines on elec
tronic transmission of information.
2.10 Provide appropriate contextual information to
students prior to and following the use of any evalua
tion procedures to place results in proper perspective
with other factors relevant to the assessment process
(e.g., socioeconomic, gender, identity, ethnic, cultural,
and gender related).

2.11 Discuss with students issues, attitudes, and behaviors that have ethical implications.
2.12 Develop multicultural knowledge, skills, competence, and use appropriate elements of these capacities
in their work with students.
2.13 Faculty should inform prospective graduate students of program expectations, predominant theoretical
orientations, and skills needed for successful program
completion, as well as positions received by recent
graduates.
2.14 Assure that required experiences involving selfdisclosure are communicated to prospective graduate
students. When the preparation program oers experiences that emphasize self-disclosure or other relatively
intimate or personal involvement (e.g., group or
individual counseling or growth groups), professionals
must not have current or anticipated administrative,
supervisory, or evaluative authority over participants.
2.15 Provide graduate students with a broad knowledge base consisting of theory, research, and practice.
2.16 Educate graduate students about ethical standards, responsibilities and codes of the profession. Uphold these standards within all preparation programs.
2.17 Assess all relevant competencies and interpersonal
functioning of students throughout the preparation
program, communicate these assessments to students,
and take appropriate corrective actions including dismissal when warranted.
2.18 Assure that eld supervisors are qualied to provide supervision to graduate students and are informed
of their ethical responsibilities in this role.
2.19 Support professional preparation program eorts
by providing assistantships, practical eld placements,
and consultation to students and faculty.
2.20 Gain approval of research plans involving human
subjects from the institutional committee with oversight responsibility prior to the initiation of the study.
In the absence of such a committee, they will seek to
create procedures to protect the rights and ensure the
3

ACPA - College Student Educators International

safety of research participants.

2.21 Conduct and report research studies accurately.
Researchers will not engage in fraudulent research nor
will they distort or misrepresent their data or deliber
ately bias their results.
2.22 Cite previous works on a topic when writing or
when speaking to professional audiences.
2.23 Comply with laws and standards common in the
helping professions related to citation and attribution
of information accessed electronically where public
domain status may be ambiguous.
2.24 Acknowledge major contributions to research
projects and professional writings through joint authorships with the principal contributor listed rst. They
will acknowledge minor technical or professional con
tributions in notes or introductory statements.
2.25 Co-authorship should reect a joint collabora

tion. When involvement was ancillary it is inappropri

ate to pressure others for joint authorship listing on
publications.
2.26 Share original research data with qualied others
upon request.
2.27 Communicate the results of any research judged
to be of value to other professionals and not withhold
results reecting unfavorably on specic institutions,
programs, services, or prevailing opinion.
2.28 Submit manuscripts for consideration to only one
journal at a time. They will not seek to publish previ
ously published or accepted-for-publication materials
in other media or publications without rst informing
all editors and/or publishers concerned. They will make
appropriate references in the text and receive permis
sion to use copyrights.

3 Responsibility to the Institution.

Institutions of higher education provide the context for student aairs practice. Institutional mission, goals, policies,
organizational structure, and culture, combined with individual judgment and professional standards, dene and
delimit the nature and extent of practice. Student aairs professionals share responsibility with other members of the
academic community for fullling the institutional mission. Responsibility to promote the development of students
and to support the institutions policies and interests require that professionals balance competing demands.
As ACPA members, student aairs professionals will:
3.1 Contribute to their institution by supporting its
mission, goals, policies, and abiding by its procedures.
3.2 Seek resolution when they and their institution
encounter substantial disagreements concerning
professional or personal values. Resolution may require
sustained eorts to modify institutional policies and
practices or result in voluntary termination of
employment.
3.3 Recognize that conicts among students, col
leagues, or the institution should be resolved without
diminishing respect for or appropriate obligations to
any party involved.
3.4 Assure that information provided about the insti
tution is factual and accurate.
3.5 Inform appropriate ocials of conditions that may
be disruptive or damaging to their institution.
3.6 Inform supervisors of conditions or practices that
may restrict institutional or professional eectiveness.
3.7 Refrain from attitudes or actions that impinge on

colleagues dignity, moral code, privacy, worth, profes

sional functioning, and/or personal growth.
3.8 Abstain from sexual intimacies with colleagues or
with sta for whom they have supervisory, evaluative,
or instructional responsibility.
3.9 Assure that participation by sta in planned
activities that emphasize self-disclosure or other rela
tively intimate or personal involvement is voluntary
and that the leader(s) of such activities do not have
administrative, supervisory, or evaluative authority
over participants.
3.10 Evaluate job performance of subordinates regu
larly and recommend appropriate actions to enhance
professional development and improve performance.
3.11 Dene job responsibilities, decision-making
procedures, mutual expectations, accountability proce
dures, and evaluation criteria with subordinates
and supervisors.
4

ACPA - College Student Educators International

3.12 Provide fair and honest assessments and feedback

for colleagues job performance and provide opportuni
ties for professional growth as appropriate.
3.13 Seek evaluations of their job performance and/or
services they provide.
3.14 Disseminate information that accurately describes
the responsibilities of position vacancies, required
qualications, and the institution.
3.15 Adhere to ethical practices when facilitating or
participating in a selection process by [a] representing
the department and institution honestly and accurately
[b] periodically notify applicants of their status; [c]
adhere to established guidelines, protocol, and stan
dards for the selection process; and [d] provide accurate
information about the resources available to applicants
once employed.
3.16 Provide training to student aairs search and
screening committee members.
3.17 Refrain from using their positions to seek unjusti
ed personal gains, sexual favors, unfair advantages, or
unearned goods and services not normally accorded in
such positions.
3.18 Recognize their duciary responsibility to the
institution. They will ensure that funds for which they
have oversight are expended following established pro

cedures and in ways that optimize value, are accounted

for properly, and contribute to the accomplishment of
the institutions mission. They also will assure equip
ment, facilities, personnel, and other resources are used
to promote the welfare of the institution and students.
3.19 Restrict their private interests, obligations, and
transactions in ways to minimize conicts of interest or
the appearance of conicts of interest. They will iden
tify their personal views and actions as private citizens
from those expressed or undertaken as institutional
representatives.
3.20 Evaluate programs, services, and organizational
structure regularly and systematically to assure con
formity to published standards and guidelines. Evalu
ations should be conducted using rigorous evaluation
methods and principles, and the results should be made
available to appropriate institutional personnel.
3.21 Acknowledge contributions by others to program
development, program implementation, evaluations,
and reports.
3.22 Maintain current knowledge about changes in
technology and legislation that are signicant for the
range of institutional responsibilities in their profes
sional domain (e.g., knowledge of privacy and security
issues, use of the internet, and free speech/hate speech).

4 Responsibility to Society.

Student aairs professionals, both as citizens and practitioners, have a responsibility to contribute to the improve
ment of the communities in which they live and work and to act as advocates for social justice for members of those
communities. They respect individuality and individual dierences. They recognize that our communities are en
hanced by social and individual diversity manifested by characteristics such as age, culture, class, ethnicity, gender,
ability, gender identity, race, religion, and sexual orientation. Student aairs professionals work to protect human
rights and promote respect for human diversity in higher education.
As ACPA members, student aairs professionals will:

4.1 Assist students in becoming productive, ethical,

and responsible citizens.
4.2 Demonstrate concern for the welfare of all students
and work for constructive change on behalf of students.
4.3 Not discriminate on the basis of age, culture,
ethnicity, gender, ability, gender identity, race, class,
religion, or sexual orientation. They will actively work
to change discriminatory practices.
4.4 Demonstrate regard for social codes and moral
expectations of the communities in which they live and
work. At the same time, they will be aware of situations

in which concepts of social justice may conict with

local moral standards and norms and may choose to

point out these conicts in ways that respect the rights

and values of all who are involved. They will recognize

that violations of accepted moral and legal standards

may involve their clients, students, or colleagues in

damaging personal conicts and may impugn the

integrity of the profession, their own reputations, and

that of the employing institution.

4.5 Report to the appropriate authority any condition

that is likely to harm their clients and/or others.

ACPA - College Student Educators International

Appendix A
Suggestions for Resolving Ethical Misconduct

Request consultation from ACPA Ethics Committee.

If an individual is unsure whether a particular behavior,
activity, or practice falls under the provisions of this
statement, the Ethics Committee may be contacted in
writing. A detailed written description (omitting data
identifying the person(s) involved), describing the po
tentially unethical behavior, activity, or practice and the
circumstances surrounding the situation should be sub
mitted to a member of the ACPA Ethics Committee.
Members of the Committee will provide the individual
with a summary of opinions regarding the ethical ap
propriateness of the conduct or practice in question, as
well as some suggestions as to what action(s) could be
taken. Because these opinions are based on limited in
formation, no specic situation or action will be judged
unethical. Responses rendered by the Committee
are advisory only and are not an ocial statement on
behalf of ACPA. Please contact the ACPA Executive
Director for more information.

USE OF THIS STATEMENT (from page 1)

Initiate a private conversation. Because unethical con
duct often is due to a lack of awareness or understand
ing of ethical standards as described in the preceding
document, a private conversation between the target of
inappropriate action(s) and the individual being inap
propriate is an important initial line of action. This
conference, if pursued in a spirit of collegiality and
sincerity, often may resolve the ethical concern and
promote future ethical conduct.
Pursue institutional resources. If a private conference
does not resolve the problem institutional resources
may be pursued. It is recommended individuals work
with mentors, supervisors, faculty, colleagues, or peers
to research campus based resources.

Appendix B
Ethical Foundations of this Document

are greater needs than resources available or when the

interests of constituencies conict, justice requires hon
est consideration of all claims and requests and equi
table (not necessarily equal) distribution of goods and
services. A crucial aspect of promoting justice is dem
onstrating respect for human dierences and oppos
ing intolerance of these dierences. Important human
dierences include, but are not limited to, characteris
tics such as ability, age, class, culture, ethnicity, gender,
gender identity, race, religion, or sexual orientation.

The principles that provide the foundation for this

document are:
Act to benet others. Service to humanity is the
basic tenet underlying student aairs practice. Hence,
the student aairs profession exists to: [a] promote
cognitive, social, physical, intellectual, and spiritual
development of students; [b] bring an institution-wide
awareness of the interconnectedness of learning and de
velopment throughout the institution in academic, ser
vice, and management functions; [c] contribute to the
eective functioning of the institution; and [d] provide
programs and services consistent with this principle.

Respect autonomy. Student aairs professionals

respect and promote autonomy and privacy. This
includes the rights of persons whose cultural traditions
elevate the importance of the family over the impor
tance of the individual to make choices based on the
desires of their families if they wish. Students freedom
of choice and action are not restricted unless their ac
tions signicantly interfere with the welfare of others or
the accomplishment of the institutions mission.

Promote justice. Student aairs professionals are com

mitted to assuring fundamental fairness for all persons
within the academic community. The values of impar
tiality, equity, and reciprocity are basic. When there
6

ACPA - College Student Educators International

Be faithful. Student aairs professionals make all ef

forts to be accurate in their presentation of facts, honor
agreements, and trustworthy in the performance of
their duties.

CONTEXT: FINDING PATTERNS OF MEANING

AND DEVELOPING ETHICAL PERSPECTIVES
Because our campuses are comprised of people from all
over the world, have ocial connections with institutions in many countries, and also serve people who are
Americans with signicant allegiance to non-dominant
cultures, it is important to take context into account
when addressing ethical concerns. There are three
frames of reference that should be considered: culture,
temporality, and phenomenology.

Do no harm. Student aairs professionals do not

engage in activities that cause either physical or psycho
logical damage to others. In addition to their personal
actions, student aairs professionals are especially
vigilant to assure that the institutional policies do not:
[a] hinder students opportunities to benet from the
learning experiences available in the environment; [b]
threaten individuals self-worth, dignity, or safety; or [c]
discriminate unjustly or illegally. Student aairs profes
sionals are expected to understand that students from
non-dominant cultures and groups that dier from the
majority may feel harmed by attitudes and processes
that are considered harmless by members of the domi
nant (i.e. majority) group.

Culture. Every culture has its own ideas about values,

virtues, social and family roles, and acceptable behavior.
Cultures may be grounded in ethnicity, faith, gen
der, generation, sexual orientation, physical ability, or
geographic area to name a few. Every campus also has
a range of cultures based on work status or location as
well as a dominant culture of its own. Ethical dilem
mas often arise among or between people from dier
ent cultures. Ethical decision-making suggests that the
values of relevant cultures be examined when dilemmas
arise and overt conversations about conicting values
take place, if necessary.

VIRTUES: HABITUAL BEHAVIOR

The virtues that student aairs educators should
work to develop are based on widely accepted ideas
about the characteristics of people in helping professions who are consistently ethical in their choices and
behavior. Virtues dier from principles in that they are
related to specic contexts and demonstrate personal
characteristics that people in that context, in this case
the student aairs profession, value. Virtues balance
principles in that they are somewhat exible and reect
the means by which a person acts on values. The four
virtues associated with this profession are prudence,
integrity, respectfulness, and benevolence.

Temporality. This term suggests that an awareness of

time-related issues be present. These include the dura
tion of the problem, the urgency of its resolution, the
time of the academic year, the duration of the relation
ships among the people involved, and the spirit of the
times or Zeitgeist.
Phenomenology. All persons have both cultural roots
and individual attributes that shape their perspectives.
Phenomenology refers to the personal and individual
points of view of the persons involved in the situation.
Both justice and prudence require that decision-mak
ers do not assume anything about a persons perspective
based on cultural background until that perspective
is understood in both its individual and its cultural
contexts.

Self-regarding virtues. Prudence and integrity are

virtues related to the behavior of a person in a particular situation. Prudence signies thoughtfulness and
unwillingness to jump to conclusions. Integrity signies
consistency and wholeness; a lack of dramatic behavioral dierences from one situation to another.

Fried, J. (2003). Ethical standards and principles. In S. Komives, D. Woodard, & Associates (Eds.), Student services: A handbook for the profession
(4th ed., pp. 107-127). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Other-regarding virtues. Respectfulness and benevolence are virtues that describe a persons treatment
of others. Respectful persons are prudent - they take
time to think about appropriate responses to others in
unfamiliar situations. Respectfulness is also connected
to benevolence, the consistent habit of taking other
peoples well-being into consideration.

Kitchener, K. (1985). Ethical principles and ethical decisions in student

aairs. In H. Canon & R. Brown (Eds.), Applied ethics in student services
(New Directions in Student Services, No. 30, pp.17-30). San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Meara, N., Schmidt, L., & Day, J. (1996). A foundation for ethical decisions, policies and character. The Counseling Psychologist, 24, 4-77.
7

ACPA - College Student Educators International

www.myacpa.org

References for additional information