Amorous relations revisited
Kern Vijayvargiya
Issue date: 5/15/09 Section: News
Don't stand so close to your professor! The Faculty Senate updated its Statement on Consensual, Amorous Relations with Students for the first time in over a decade last month. The new statement, which goes into effect in September, prohibits any romantic relationships between faculty and all undergraduate students, and between faculty and graduate students directly under their supervision or in their department.
The updated statement, which was approved in a 17-2 vote by the Senate on April 15, includes stricter language and more precise definitions of expected behavior, Faculty Senate Speaker Deborah Harter said.
Chair of the Working Group on Rice's Amorous Relations Policy Rebekah Drezek urged the Faculty Senate to examine the university's policy on consensual, amorous relations between faculty and students during the Senate's March meeting. Drezek, a professor in the Bioengineering Department, noted that the existing policy had not been updated in over a decade and that the language was very vague.
"Many faculty felt it was a confusing document and did not provide clear guidance on expected behavior," Drezek said. "In addition, it was among the least restrictive policies in the country."
According to Harter, a French Studies Professor, Drezek also noted at the meeting that weak policies on amorous relations often end up hurting female students disproportionately.
The working group, consisting of Drezek, Bioengineering Professor Rob Raphael and Chemistry Professor Matteo Pasquali, began working on an updated policy, which it presented to the Senate during its April meeting.
The updated statement says that "in an academic setting such romantic or sexual relationships conflict with the implicit trust we encourage our students to enjoy vis-à-vis their professors [and] can result in emotional and psychological damage, and always have the potential for an abuse of power that constitutes unprofessional conduct."
The updated statement, which was approved in a 17-2 vote by the Senate on April 15, includes stricter language and more precise definitions of expected behavior, Faculty Senate Speaker Deborah Harter said.
Chair of the Working Group on Rice's Amorous Relations Policy Rebekah Drezek urged the Faculty Senate to examine the university's policy on consensual, amorous relations between faculty and students during the Senate's March meeting. Drezek, a professor in the Bioengineering Department, noted that the existing policy had not been updated in over a decade and that the language was very vague.
"Many faculty felt it was a confusing document and did not provide clear guidance on expected behavior," Drezek said. "In addition, it was among the least restrictive policies in the country."
According to Harter, a French Studies Professor, Drezek also noted at the meeting that weak policies on amorous relations often end up hurting female students disproportionately.
The working group, consisting of Drezek, Bioengineering Professor Rob Raphael and Chemistry Professor Matteo Pasquali, began working on an updated policy, which it presented to the Senate during its April meeting.
The updated statement says that "in an academic setting such romantic or sexual relationships conflict with the implicit trust we encourage our students to enjoy vis-à-vis their professors [and] can result in emotional and psychological damage, and always have the potential for an abuse of power that constitutes unprofessional conduct."
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