My professor's my boyfriend
When students and teachers become involved, a lot is on the line
Sarah Trent
Issue date: 2/11/08 Section: News
"You're not going to use my name, are you?" she said from the driver's seat, her long ponytail whipping around as she turned to face me. "You can't use my name."
As we pulled into a space in the university parking garage, her voice wavered and her hands fidgeted on the wheel. A 25-year-old USM senior, Rebecca, as she later asked to be called, is dating a professor.
Over the last decade, universities across the country have started revisiting their policies on consenting faculty-student relationships, and the general trend has been to ban them outright.
Yale University revised their policy in 1998 to forbid consensual relationships between students and any faculty who is in a position, or potential position, to grade or otherwise supervise them.
Citing that the "integrity of the teacher-student relationship is the foundation of the university's educational mission," Yale decided that such relationships, which involve an inherent inequality in power, increase the vulnerability of both parties and can lead to coercion.
These relationships, they claim, "jeopardize the integrity of the educational process," and may lead to an "inhospitable learning environment for other students."
At USM, the policy is much more nuanced: while it does not ban them entirely, it strongly discourages student-faculty relationships.
The policy states that "the power differential creates a strong possibility that the relationship may not be truly consensual, or if consensual may not permit a later decision by the person with less power to discontinue the relationship."
When a relationship occurs between a student and his or her (usually her) professor, it is required to be reported to a supervisor or dean, at which point a second faculty-member is appointed to grade and otherwise oversee the student.
Any concerns about sexual harassment or preferential treatment stemming from student-faculty romance are taken to the Office of Campus Diversity and Equity, which investigates all discriminatory complaints at USM.
As we pulled into a space in the university parking garage, her voice wavered and her hands fidgeted on the wheel. A 25-year-old USM senior, Rebecca, as she later asked to be called, is dating a professor.
Over the last decade, universities across the country have started revisiting their policies on consenting faculty-student relationships, and the general trend has been to ban them outright.
Yale University revised their policy in 1998 to forbid consensual relationships between students and any faculty who is in a position, or potential position, to grade or otherwise supervise them.
Citing that the "integrity of the teacher-student relationship is the foundation of the university's educational mission," Yale decided that such relationships, which involve an inherent inequality in power, increase the vulnerability of both parties and can lead to coercion.
These relationships, they claim, "jeopardize the integrity of the educational process," and may lead to an "inhospitable learning environment for other students."
At USM, the policy is much more nuanced: while it does not ban them entirely, it strongly discourages student-faculty relationships.
The policy states that "the power differential creates a strong possibility that the relationship may not be truly consensual, or if consensual may not permit a later decision by the person with less power to discontinue the relationship."
When a relationship occurs between a student and his or her (usually her) professor, it is required to be reported to a supervisor or dean, at which point a second faculty-member is appointed to grade and otherwise oversee the student.
Any concerns about sexual harassment or preferential treatment stemming from student-faculty romance are taken to the Office of Campus Diversity and Equity, which investigates all discriminatory complaints at USM.
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