The Consensual Faculty - Student Relationship Policy appears in the 1997 Teaching Assistant Handbook in Appendix A. Interactions between faculty and students at Washington University are guided by mutual trust, confidence and professional ethics. Policy Faculty members shall not engage in consensual relationships with students whenever the faculty member has a professional position of authority with respect to the student in such matters as teaching a course or in otherwise evaluating, supervising, or advising a student as part of a school program. Even when the faculty member has no professional responsibility for a student, the faculty member should be sensitive to the perceptions of other students that a student who has a consensual relationship with a faculty member may receive preferential treatment from the faculty member or the faculty member's colleagues. Definitions Faculty, for purposes of this policy only, consists of all full or part-time faculty, teaching assistants, graders, member of dissertation committees and all other personnel who teach, coach, evaluate, allocate financial aid to or guide research by students.
Students are all full or part-time students.
A consensual relationship is any dating, romantic, sexual or marriage relationship. Position of authority includes, but may not be limited to situations in which the faculty member makes or is responsible for an evaluation of a student for admission, coursework, promotion, financial aid, research funding, suspension, expulsion or other discipline. Sanctions Persons in violation of this policy shall be subject to sanctions ranging from verbal warnings to dismissal or termination. Faculty Rights Nothing herein shall abridge the rights of faculty as outlined in the Washington University Policy on Academic Freedom, Responsibility, and Tenure.