ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a variety of ethical angles to student recommendations based on who the requesting student is. Writing recommendations has a significant ethical angle in people's increasingly competitive world that students enter. A solidly crafted recommendation can be the deciding factor for a student gaining an opportunity she would otherwise not have had and people must consider their gatekeeper role. Students going to work for the federal government with security clearances, or in certain financial fields, need questions like this answered. From an ethics perspective, though, it has to come back to performance. The internet and social media sites have made it not only possible, but probable, that students people had years ago can find them, even at different institutions. And, changes in the law can also affect people's recommendation-writing behaviors. Similar to old-school recommendations, the more specific, realistic, and skills-based the recommendation the better.
