Either way, I believe that one should keep in mind the unfortunate fact that profs do have power over their students and that said profs effectively hold their students’ futures in their hands. (Students know this.) A complication which can affect/be affected by the other complication… sex.
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Down, Duke! Down! 
I was only offering up a possible scenario re prof/student sex for general consideration.
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Sorry! Sorry!
Definitely in the case of a current student/teacher or student/advisor relationship, there would be a lot of problems with a sexual or even a romantic relationship.
No problem. Didn’t mean to collar you! 
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Do you believe that adult women can’t be victims of non-consensual sexual abuse or assault if the person in authority over them is their boss at work or their religious leader? Or their husband?
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They were victims not because of their age, but because they were subjected to inappropriate and exploitative sexual behavior in an institutional setting by an authority figure. Frankly, though, an older man with teens—that’s an age difference that might inform a reasonable analysis of the power relationship.
“Abuse of trust” is a relevant term in other jurisdictions that have had to legislate directly against instructor-student sex (such as the UK) due to lower ages of consent.
One thing I’d like to stress is that the womens’ agency and consent should not be enough to get him off the hook, because his responsibilities are not to them exclusively.
There are many things adults cannot consent to.
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Sure. Notwithstanding the accusations of nonconsensual touching, he wasn’t charged with a crime for the mere fact of the sexual relationship with students. They just want him fired, because what an awful educational environment.
“Former” student is a bit of a dodge, I think. “Current” student is worse, obviousy, because then the instructor is in a position to extort or blackmail the victim. But he’s still faculty, still an authority figure, still able to put in a good or bad word, still a representative of the institution and its powers.
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I would humbly suggest “once they have completed their program of study at that institution.” Particularly if an instructor teaches additional classes the student is likely to take at any point in the future.
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Not sure where you’re going with this. I have two girls who are not women yet and i was trying to say that I don’t intend to send them to a school where associate professors are allowed to have sex with currently enrolled students. I’ll wager that PA isn’t going to be a huge draw for them anayway.
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I’ve been doing some reading about this. At some universities you would have to formally declare the relationship to your higher-ups and apply for an exception. At others, it seems to be prohibited. I was in a technically worse situation, same department but no direct (or likely) student-teacher relationship. But that was back in the dark ages.
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We were married long before she enrolled in that non-credit class and she never took any classes in my department so I don’t think there are many institutions that would actually give me flack over that kind of thing.
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Kind of like how Eastern/Russian Orthodox priests (who are allowed to marry) are welcomed into the Roman Catholic priesthood despite having families. They are not expected to give them up.
I guess there have been some shakeups in that segment of Christianity, so quite a few of their priests have left and come over to the more Western version of their faith.
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Princeton is quite prohibitive:
https://dof.princeton.edu/policies-procedure/policies/consensual-relations-students
UMich has an elaborate exception process:
https://spg.umich.edu/policy/601.22
but:
The guidelines state professors should avoid any romantic or sexual relationship with a student and must declare it, if not, because any relationship would be considered a conflict of interest. …
University spokesperson Mary-Jo Barr told CBC Montreal Daybreak host Mike Finnerty earlier this month that the school can not outright forbid intimate relationships between instructors and students — only strongly discourage them.
“We explored the option of banning such relationships, but concluded, for legal reasons, we cannot prohibit such relationships between consenting adult,”
Back in the day, if someone graduated and became a GTA elsewhere, it was common for their SO to transfer their credits and finish their degree at the same U. This was rarely a problem, since the GTA was usually working with the freshmen hordes. I don’t remember it ever being an issue.
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Still, it looks like their concern is between faculty and students that faculty member may have some authority/influence over, so even at Princeton I don’t think a faculty member would get in trouble if their longtime spouse enrolled in a course outside that faculty member’s program.
In addition, no faculty member, researcher, graduate student, visiting student, or undergraduate course assistant shall initiate or engage in a romantic or sexual behavior with any student, including a graduate student or DCE student, who is enrolled in a course taught by that individual or otherwise subject to that individual’s academic supervision or evaluation
(emphasis mine)
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I read the second paragraph as an absolute prohibition for faculty-undergrad, and the third as additional prohibitions for “any student”.
Still, the phrasing suggests that the idea is to prevent faculty from starting new relationships with students, not to prevent faculty members’ partners or spouses from enrolling as students.
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My husband works for the IT department at the college I went to and when we started dating I asked him to make sure it was ok as I wanted everything above board. And obviously IT has no position of power over students.
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Except the night before one’s thesis or senior paper is due!
I kid, I kid!!
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Now that I think about it, I could have graduated with much higher marks.
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College professor here. While I do have more power over a student in my classroom, I retain considerable power over students even after they are no longer in my classes. I have plenty of pull with deans and deanlets; e.g. if I see a promising student who needs to get into a closed class, it has an impact if I (as a professor) intervene with a Dean to get the student enrolled above the course cap. Similarly, I frequently compare notes with other professors about how students are doing, and this informational sharing is also quite powerful; e.g. I’ve definitely flagged problem students so that other professors can try to steer clear. Lastly, students often need recommendations from former professors; those, too can make or break a student and I know of a professor accused of trading sex for top-notch recommendation letters. Beyond that, I also have access to any former students grades and personal information. So, yeah, I retain power even after class is over.
So, I am strongly in favor of a blanket ban on romantic relationships between faculty and undergraduates. I would happily include, however, a grandfather clause (e.g. a professor has her husband enroll at her school to finish his degree) allowing previous relationships.
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