The University of British Columbia (UBC) could soon ban romantic relationships between professors and students if a recommendation made by the school’s interim president, Martha Piper, is taken seriously.
Piper released a statement at the end of April, in which she acknowledged that while there are ethical policies in place that govern consensual relationships between UBC professors and students, total prohibition of such relationships is worth consideration.
“I still remain concerned about how ‘consent’ and ‘conflict’ are defined in an environment where there is a power imbalance,” Piper said. “On the one hand, we need to respect the decisions of consenting adults and on the other ensure that the rights and interests of students are appropriately protected.”
If Piper’s proposed ban becomes a reality, UBC will be the first Canadian university to enact such a policy.
The university is currently in the process of preparing a standalone sexual assault policy after students complained earlier this year the university administration wasn’t adequately handling complaints of sexual harassment. A draft of the new policy will be presented to the UBC Board of Governors in June, according to the school’s website.
Susan Danard, the director of public affairs at UBC, said the subject of professor-student relationships is part of a larger conversation happening on campuses across the country.
“All North American universities have been grappling with issues of sexual assault and sexual harassment and issues around consent, and this has sparked a healthy and vigorous discussion,” Danard said.
The current conflict of interest policy UBC uses to govern professor-student sexual relationships permits them as long as the faculty member involved isn’t evaluating their partner’s work.
Carleton University’s human rights policies are similar to UBC’s in this regard.
Carleton’s policy states the university “strongly discourages sexual relationships between individuals in positions of authority.” It adds that these relationships “may lead to significant problems including allegations or charges of sexual harassment, conflict of interest, or questions regarding the validity of consent.”
Faculty members at Carleton must disclose any sexual relationship with a student to their dean or director. They cannot evaluate a student or supervise an employee they’ve been sexually involved with in the last five years.
Carleton media relations officer Steven Reid said in an email he is aware UBC is considering an outright ban on such relationships but Carleton is not.
“We are confident that our current policies are sufficient,” he said.
Several post-secondary institutions in the United States have policies that prohibit romantic relationships between professors and students as well.
In 2015, Harvard University strengthened the language of its policies on sexual misconduct to explicitly forbid these relationships. The new policy describes such relationships as “fundamentally asymmetric.” Faculty found to be violating this policy can be subject to complaint or formal action.
Craig Jones, a law professor at Thompson Rivers University, said he doesn’t believe it’s necessary to further restrict professor-student relationships at Canadian universities because they aren’t a significant concern.
“I have students in my office every day during the school year with problems . . . and I have never had a student describe a problem about an [intimate] relationship with a professor, either theirs or somebody else’s,” Jones said. “It’s not on the list of student complaints when you put it up beside high tuition, uncaring university administration, [and] bad grades.”
Jones acknowledges that twenty years ago, dating between students and university faculty was not uncommon. He said he knows professors across the country who are now married to people who used to be their students. But today, he said he isn’t aware of any colleague involved in a romantic relationship with a student.
According to Jones, there are several factors that could explain this change.
Discussions about sexual harassment and consent are happening more and more frequently at Canadian universities, which may have stigmatized professor-student relationships as inappropriate, according to Jones.
Most universities have also adopted policies that strictly regulate these relationships, enforcing boundaries on when and between whom they can occur.
“I don’t think it’s illegitimate to have the concerns when you have clear relationships of structural power imbalance, and we should always be mindful of that,” Jones said. “I think the question for me, is whether or not the existing policies strike a good balance between peoples’ personal liberty and those concerns over exploitation.”
