Provost Alison Richard has appointed an ad hoc committee to review the policy governing sexual relationships between students and faculty.
The current policy, which dates from 1993, states: "Because of the special trust and the inequality of status inherent in the teacher- student relationship, sexual relations between a teacher and his or her student, even when apparently founded on mutual consent, are potentially coercive, and may be so regarded if a complaint of sexual harassment arises. Therefore, those who teach are advised to recognize the potential problems implicit in such relationships and to avoid them. In a case where a complaint of sexual harassment arises out of such a relationship, the faculty member will bear the burden of overcoming a presumption that the activity was not consensual on the part of the student."
The Provost has asked the committee to review this policy within a context in which there can be no ambiguity about Yale's intolerance of sexual harassment throughout the institution.
"As Yale College Dean Richard H. Brodhead pointed out in a recent letter requesting a review of policy in this area, Yale must aim for a balance between recognizing the dangers inherent in sexual relations between students and faculty and the countervailing principle that adults should have the right to make their own choices and accept the responsibility for the consequences of those choices," says Provost Richard. "Recognizing the weight of both of these principles, it is particularly important for the University to be clear about its expectations of faculty and students and equally clear in stating those expectations."
The Provost hopes to have a report from this committee by the end of the term so that any changes recommended might be reviewed by the deans of the schools and by the Yale Corporation in May or June and put into place by the next academic year.
The committee will be chaired by Dr. William Sledge, master of Calhoun College and clinical director and associate chair for education psychiatry. Its members are: William Kelly, professor and chair of anthropology; Kabita Mariwalla '98 of Ezra Stiles College; Arline McCord, associate provost and lecturer in sociology; Lori McGill, a graduate student in political science; Katherine Rowe, assistant professor of English; Cynthia Russett, professor of history; Kate Stith, professor of law; and John Wargo, associate professor of environmental risk analysis and policy at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and an associate professor in the political science department and Institution for Social and Policy Studies. Dr. Sledge invites written recommendations from any member of the Yale community. Please send them to him via Campus Mail to: Master's Office, Calhoun College.