Members of the Syracuse University Senate on Tuesday expressed support for a new policy banning sexual and romantic relationships between undergraduate students and faculty that was first announced Monday.

USen faculty members said they thought the ban was a necessary change that would combat the dangers of power imbalances in faculty-student relationships. They added that the consequences of sexual and romantic relationships between employees and students often affect more than those directly involved, including other students and professors, as well.

“It’s really refreshing to see the work that we did taken seriously. We felt really strongly that the language needed to be updated to be more clear,” said Lynn Brann, a senator and nutrition science professor, referring to previous SU policy regarding relationships between employees and students. “It was very vague.”

Brann added that teaching and instructional assistants are also prohibited from engaging in relationships with undergraduates under the new policy. That applies regardless of whether the TA has an advisory or supervisory role with the student, per the updated manual.

SU banned sexual and romantic relationships between undergraduate students and employees after a USen subcommittee recommended Chancellor Kent Syverud implement the policy last spring. For years, SU’s Faculty Manual allowed relationships between undergraduates and faculty unless the faculty taught, supervised or advised the student. The manual previously discouraged relationships between faculty and graduate students.

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The new policy, announced Monday, also prohibits relationships between employees and graduate students if the employee has a teaching, supervisory, research, departmental, program or advisory connection to the student.

Syverud announced in January that he had charged USen with reviewing SU’s relationship policy. He cited the #MeToo movement, an international protest against sexual harassment and assault, as a motivation for the university’s review.

“Out in the world these last few months there has been a truly remarkable awakening as many step forward to recount their experiences of sexual abuse by those in power or authority over them in workplaces, academic and athletic settings,” Syverud said in a January speech. “There is a potential for abuse of power in these relationships, as we have witnessed here and we have witnessed it at other universities.”

The policy adjustment announced Monday came about four months after USen voted to ban the relationships. USen suggested to Syverud in April that SU revise the policy after a review conducted by USen’s Women’s Concerns committee and the Academic Freedom, Tenure and Professional Ethics committee.

The language of the policy is now clear, the senators said.

“It provides a better environment with students and … states in very clear language how we can avoid problems that can arise from relationships where there’s an imbalance of power,” said Alan Middleton, a senator and physics professor who serves on the Women’s Concerns committee.

Middleton added that the policy puts SU in line with other institutions that practice similar bans.

SU, though, stands apart from many of its peer institutions by explicitly banning all relationships between all employees and undergraduates, rather than only with faculty. Three peer institutions — the University of Rochester, the University of Notre Dame and Northwestern University — ban all relationships between undergraduates and faculty.

Cornell University, another SU peer institution, is currently reviewing its faculty-student relationship policy. Cornell also prohibits relationships between faculty and undergraduates if the faculty member teaches, advises or supervises the student.

Margaret Susan Thompson, a senator and a history and political science professor, said SU’s new policy will help prevent issues that arise when people of unequal power share a relationship.

“We have more power than (students) do,” Thompson said. “We may not have a lot, but we can give you a bad grade, we can write a bad recommendation, we can treat you unfairly in class and we can use that power to harass, to make inappropriate demands, including sexual ones.”

—News Editor Jordan Muller contributed reporting to this story

Published on August 28, 2018 at 9:17 pm

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