Universities across the country have recently adopted new policies that place restrictions on romantic relationships between professors and their students. The regulations went into effect at places such as the University of Iowa, Stanford, Yale, Ohio Wesleyan, the College of William and Mary and the University of California, among others, and have caused heated debate.

The new policies discourage student-teacher relationships from taking place, and require university employees to notify a supervisor of the relationship. From there, the faculty member is removed from their position of authority over the student and may face consequences that vary from warnings to termination.

Dr. Peter Burian helped instigate new policies at Duke University while he was chair of the Duke academic council in 2002.

Burian, a professor of Classics at Duke University, argued that rules are necessary in order to protect students and faculty in what he considers to be potentially unequal relationships.

“These are not symmetrical relationships. Therefore there is a danger that a relationship will be exploited,” Burian said.

Burian also stated that the rules are necessary in order to avoid conflicts of interest. In general, Burian feels these relationships should be avoided altogether because of their complexity.

“We say it shouldn’t happen because it creates difficulties,” Burian stated, adding that many of these relationships are not completely consensual. “There is enough history to make it pretty clear that the consequences are not entirely clear to the people engaged in the relationship.”

Marianne Whatley, UW professor and chair of the women’s studies department, said she is skeptical that these consensual relationships between faculty and students can ever truly exist in a positive way.

“Although they say it is a consensual relationship, it is hard to erase the effects of power,” she said, adding that there should be a clear system in place in case the situation arises. She said UW’s current policy is sufficient.

The UW faculty handbook states that where there is a conflict of interest, the individual with the power or status advantage should notify his or her supervisor.

Some have questioned the necessity of these policies and have wondered if the revisions in policy are responses to publicized relationships between professors, the precursors to such policies at Ohio Wesleyan and William and Mary.

University of Wisconsin professor of sociology John DeLamater said the controversy is due to vague policy guidelines.

“The term ‘romantic’ is very big and very ambiguous,” DeLamater said. “There is a tremendous amount of ambiguity in what these policies cover.”

“Forty years ago, the university basically ruled students’ lives. We got rid of the structure that dictated what students should and shouldn’t do,” DeLamater said. “This is a trend away from trying to monitor anything other than the academic affairs of students.”