Harvard bans undergraduate-teacher relationships

Harvard University banned professors from having “sexual or romantic relationships” with undergraduates, joining a list of campuses that have taken similar steps, writes John Lauerman for Bloomberg.

Many colleges discourage but don’t ban sex between professors and students. While a national professors’ group doesn’t favour such a prohibition, recent moves by Harvard, Yale University and the University of Connecticut suggest the tide may be turning. “Undergraduates come to college to learn from us,” said Alison Johnson, a Harvard history professor who chaired the panel that wrote the policy. “We’re not here to have sexual or romantic relationships with them.”

The change also prohibits arts and sciences faculty from having romantic or sexual relations with graduate students under their supervision. The restrictions apply to lab workers and dissertation advisees.
Full report on the Bloomberg site