Hypothetically, John Smith has applied for a maintenance post at Columbia. The job entails routine and emergency plumbing and fixing of general problems, everything from burned-out lightbulbs to graffiti. More or less, the job is to walk around and make sure things are in working order. He'd be working the night shift from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. His assigned buildings would be a classroom and three coed dorms. He has been arrested three times for attempted rape of young women, but there was never enough evidence to convict.

Susan Rieger heads the Columbia University employment office. It's part of her job to defend the school's policies.

In ethical terms, how do you suppose she might defend Columbia's refusal to discriminate on the basis of arrest record?