Student-faculty relationships to be prohibited under new U. policy
Caroline LippmanAny kind of romantic relationship between members of the University where one has supervisory status or direct power over the other is forbidden under the revised University policy on faculty-student relationships, even if the relationship is consensual, according to Dean of the Faculty Deborah Prentice. Revisions to "Rules and Procedures of the Faculty" and the corresponding section of "Rights, Rules, Responsibilities" were approved at the faculty meeting in December. According to Prentice, the Faculty Advisory Committee on Policy drafted the changes at the recommendation of a committee of faculty formed in the fall of 2014 to address sexual misconduct policies at the University. She also noted that peer institutions such as Harvard put out new policies in the last academic year and that the decision to make changes to the University’s policy on consensual relationships was not a response to any incidents or violations at the University but rather in response to peer institutions changing their policies. Dean of the College Jill Dolan, who also served on the FACP that drafted the policy changes, deferred comment to Dean Prentice. Dean of the Graduate School Sanjeev Kulkarni, who was also involved on the committee that drafted the changes, declined to comment. Prentice noted that the policy’s former language was vague and ambiguous. "We thought that it needed greater clarity than it had about what kinds of activities were and were not okay," she said. The former language in "Rules and Procedures of the Faculty" stated that consensual sexual relationships between students and faculty members are a serious violation of the faculty member’s professional responsibility to the student.