Relationships between university professors and students: Should they be banned?

The limits of limit cases: Sexual ethics and graduate student–staff relationships

“…Before engaging in an analysis of the case studies in light of this model, it is necessary to lay out some of the concerns around graduate student-faculty relationships as well as the state of play with respect to current policies. Generally, arguments in favor of strict or limited bans of such relationships, as discussed by McArthur (2017), Bellas and Gossett (2001), and Bleven-Khabe and Mack (1999), have to do with concerns around the potential for sexual harassment, conflicts of interest (as it relates to assessment or the granting of teaching/research duties), a compromised classroom environment (particularly if there is an acrimonious breakup or student perception of preferential treatment), and reservations around consent. Opposing this view is disquiet around privacy and liberty, the curtailing of the right to intimacy, and worries related to the power and responsibility of policing said bans.…”

“…Moreover, this duty will likely fall on the university and risk replicating the asymmetrical penalization of racial and sexual minorities and/or those with unpopular views (which is in line with what we see in the context of conventional policing, for example) (Alexander, 2010; Jones‐Brown & Williams, 2021). Also of note are arguments that home in on the moral standing of educators and, finally, the role of played by consent (Dank & Fulda, 2018; Hutchens, 2003; McArthur, 2017). The status of consent is particularly fraught in these cases since it is often assumed that students in such relationships cannot adequately give consent due to unequal power relations.…”

“…McArthur, on re‐examining these data decades later, concluded that blanket bans of such relationships are not necessary and that if we are worried about conflicts of interest, “banning relationships outright actually works against, not in favour of, this important goal. If we are to prevent conflicts of interest, it is crucial that the conflicts be reported as they arise, so that they may be managed” (McArthur, 2017, p. 134; Weinberg, 2018). In a response to McArthur's argument however, five female Canadian philosophers pointed out that the cases cited failed to acknowledge the women who did feel coerced and that 71% felt a “not marginal” degree of coercion (Goldenberg et al, 2017).…”

Am I my students’ nurse? Reflections on the nursing ethics of nursing education

“…My own university 'prohibits' 20 intimate and sexual relationships between staff and students, but in rightfully seeking to prohibit misconduct and exploitation, the policy appears to exclude, unjustly, the possibility of genuine and lasting relationshipssexual or otherwiseas a result of an oversimplistic approach similar to that of the NMC. [21][22][23] There is no mention in any university policy that I am aware of that discourages or attempts to prohibit relationships with former students.…”