Consensual and Family Relationships

[Sections II O and II P of Handbook]

O. Policy on Consensual and Familial Relationships in the Instructional Setting

1. A faculty member (or other person serving in an instructional role) shall not supervise, provide academic advising to, or grade the academic work of a student with whom s/he has or begins a consensual romantic or sexual relationship. Retaining such a supervisory role is a violation of Policy 03.004 (“Sexual Misconduct, Relationship Violence and Stalking”). Because such relationships may carry the potential for coercion, their consensual nature is inherently suspect. Furthermore, such a relationship may give other students in the same academic setting cause to believe that an unfair educational advantage accrues to the student in the relationship. 
2. Familial instructional relationships may also confer unfair advantage on the student related to the faculty member or be so perceived. Thus, faculty shall not supervise, advise or grade the academic work of immediate family members. For purposes of this policy, immediate family is defined as in Section II.C.7.a and includes husband-wife, parent-child, domestic partner of the same or opposite sex, and sibling relationships. 
3. An exception to the policy set forth in Items 1 and 2 may be permitted if safeguards are put into place by the faculty member’s chair or, if the faculty member is the chair, by the dean of the college offering the course. 
4. Specific concerns or complaints regarding consensual or familial relationships may be brought to the attention of the department chair, University Equity and Civil Rights Compliance (ECRC), or the Office of the Ombudsperson. These three offices will assist the complainant in a timely fashion in an informal resolution of the complaint or direct the complainant to the appropriate grievance procedure. The investigating office will respect the rights of all parties involved in the complaint 
5. If a faculty member is identified in a complaint regarding a potential consensual or familial relationship, he/she/they will be apprised of the complaint and the facts surrounding it by academic governance personnel. The faculty member will have the right to present any relevant information relating to such a complaint before any action is taken and may appeal any action that might result from such a complaint following the appropriate grievance procedures.

P. Consensual and Family Relationships

1. Sexual or familial relationships between university employees can raise special concerns. If such a relationship exists or develops between a person with direct and immediate decision-making authority regarding the other person in the relationship, the person with the greater institutional authority has the responsibility to inform their supervisor.
2. The supervisor will consult with both people so that appropriate arrangements can be made to safeguard fairness and integrity.
3. In the event that job-related problems or complaints arise from such a relationship and appropriate arrangements have not been made, the procedures (Section V.D.) for Allegations of Violation of Professional Ethics may be invoked.