Ohio Wesleyan University and Duke University recently drafted official policies regarding sexual relationships between students and professors, prompting other universities to re-examine the adequacy of their own policies.
At Dartmouth, where no such policy exists, administrators disagree on the merits of creating rules that would govern student-professor relations.
Ohio Wesleyan drew up its approach to the issue in the wake of a student-professor relationship that turned sour and went public, stirring up negative media attention.
Dale Swartzentruber, chair of the faculty personnel committee at Ohio Wesleyan, said that although the incident served as a catalyst, support for the policy would have been forthcoming regardless.
"We were one of the few universities that didn't have a statement, and it was time we made one," he explained.
Widely supported by the faculty, the policy outlines sanctions that range from a formal letter of reprimand to outright dismissal of the professor. Under no circumstances would action be taken against the student. Swartzentruber said the faculty didn't feel any student sanctions were necessary.
"It was more relevant to maintain the integrity of the academic atmosphere and fairness in the classroom than to monitor personal morality," he said.
Swartzentruber said the policy has not yet been used since its acceptance by faculty vote in March. "Hopefully it will be used very seldom," he said.
At Duke University, administrators have adopted a more lenient system in order to prevent any future difficulties that student-professor romantic liaisons might bring about.
Duke hopes that its simple statement of official disapproval will be sufficient. Its policy stands in stark contrast to the unequivocal prohibition of such relationships, punishable by dismissal, that is the rule at a few institutions.
Some colleges, such as the University of Iowa, have had policies regarding student-faculty relationships for quite some time. Iowa passed its policy in 1985 as part of a sexual harassment policy.
Iowa Associate Provost Lee Anna Clark said Iowa was "ahead of the curve" with their sexual-relations policy.
Clark said the two rules have recently been separated because the University felt they had different conceptual bases -- sexual harassment being a moral question and relationships between students and professors a question of academic purity.
Yet despite other colleges' actions, Dartmouth remains without an official policy. Associate Dean of the Faculty Jane Carrol, however, explained that "having an official policy really binds your hands," while the College would prefer to deal with situations on a case-by-case basis.
Should a student lodge a complaint, the Dean of the Faculty office will try to mediate between the student and the professor.
If that fails, the Dean becomes involved to as "a detective," as Carrol put. Carrol keeps a file of allegations of misconduct on the professor for five years, and should another such incident occur, the previous one would be considered as a basis for action.
But unless the student enters an official complaint, Carrol said, the College prefers to think of the personal lives of students and professors as "off-limits."
"We like to think that students and professors are mature enough to recognize the impropriety of their actions," she explained. "Besides, if the relationship is consensual, we rarely hear about them."
The Dean of the Faculty's office believes that professors are instilled with the understanding that there is an unspoken trust between student and professor, Carrol said. "The majority of the faculty understand that principle and abide by it."
Aine Donovan, executive director of Dartmouth's Ethics Institute, said that student-professors are potentially damaging, especially to the student. A long-time professor of professional ethics, Donovan said that due to age and position, students in sexual relationships with professors "are in a subordinate position where they are easily taken advantage of."
Donovan said that although society has turned a blind eye to this problem, "we are increasingly seeing that the student is the one who is hurt and this sort of thing is simply inappropriate."
Donovan noted that most relationships are between male professors and female students. In that situation, she said, the female student is "used."
The role of professors is one of trust and guardianship, Donovan said, invoking the idea of "in loco parentis."
Professors "need to be the adults -- even more, we need to be professionals. ... If we were professionals, we shouldn't have a moment's hesitation about adopting a code of conduct."
The Dean of the Faculty's office meets every few years to re-evaluate its policy on student-faculty relationships. The next meeting will be held within the month, and Donovan, hired last fall from the Maryland Military Academy, will be among those present.
