Professor-student relationships should be banned across schools

Various well-known universities around the United States have recently reaffirmed their stance on employee-student relationships. According to a recent Los Angeles Times article published this month, taking such action is pertinent, as these types of relations should not be allowed on college campuses. Universities, including USC, have policies that frown upon professor-student relationships, but do not strictly ban such practices. Furthermore, while the University of California sees “[professors] entering into a romantic or sexual relationship with any student … as unacceptable,” the California State University does not have any policy regarding relationships between undergraduates and professors.

Universities across the United States, however, such as Yale University and the University of Connecticut, have finally started to restrict such relations. Oddly enough, though the American Association of University Professors in Washington notes that relationships “between professors and students are ripe for exploitation, and faculty members should take steps to ensure unbiased evaluation of the student,” the organization does not outright ban such relations. In fact, the organization strongly feels that while these types of relationships must require as many ethical checks where possible, prohibiting them does not seem appropriate.

Policies banning such relationships must be seen as a necessary precaution, as “these relationships may put either party at risk [or] can create a perceived lack of freedom given meaningful consent about the relationships,” according to the SCampus. Furthermore, these kinds of relationships can create a huge disparity in power between both individuals, which can lead to damaging academic and psychological effects for both the student and the professor. Such effects for the student could include exploitation by the professor and non-consensual sexual intercourse, isolation from friends and family stemming from guilt over the risque relationship and biased grading that leads to either an unwarranted deflation or inflation in the student’s grade. Additionally, the professor is jeopardizing his or her academic career. Even if the university the professor teaches at does not ban employee-student relations, said professor may be fired or forced to transfer schools. According to Billie Wright Dziech, a University of Cincinnati professor who studies abusive relationships, “relationships between faculty and students can be abusive,” though they are often romanticized in fiction. She notes that “some schools have a tiny minority of professors who use their popularity and prestige to empower themselves, and students respond to it.”

Opponents of such policies mention that the potential for abuse is drastically eliminated if the student is in a different major than the professor’s area of study or if the student will never partake in any of the instructor’s classes. Though this might sound like a simple solution, they would first require the university to be aware of any relationships between a student and a professor. This rarely happens because such relations are almost taboo on college campuses and viewed in a negative light. Therefore, to implement a policy to allow these relationships to exist and to ensure that the professor and student never had any contact within a classroom would require a huge amount of effort on behalf of the university. Ultimately, the university does not gain any benefit from allowing its students to partake in any kind of sexual or romantic relationship with a professor.

Regardless of whether it is a private or public school, universities should have the final say in what policies are enacted. These types of relationships not only affect the individuals involved in the affair and university officials, but also can negatively impact the overall student population. Rumors, regardless of their truth, could damage a professor or student’s reputation, limit the opportunities for leadership and social events for the student, or make other students’ weary of taking a certain professor’s class. Such relationships also harm the university’s image and reputation, as parents or guardians  might not want to send their children to a school where students engage in romantic relationships with professors. For professors and students, romance should not be in the air.