UCL introduces ban on intimate relationships between staff and their students
The university’s new personal relationships policy aims to protect students from potential abuse of power.
UCL’s new personal relationships policy has introduced a ban on “close personal or intimate relationships” between staff and the students they supervise, as well as between staff and underage students or adults at risk – which may include those with disabilities. The new guidelines have been put in place to avoid conflicts of interest and to prevent abuse of power and sexual misconduct in the university.
According to the document, staff should “maintain an appropriate physical and emotional distance from students,” and they are advised to avoid forming special friendships with students, meeting them off campus or contacting them outside of official university channels.
The new policy does not prohibit intimate relationships between staff and students that are not under their direct supervision. However, these relationships – alongside those between two staff members that “may give rise to real or perceived conflict of interest, breach of trust or confidentiality” – must be reported to UCL. If this does not occur within a month, staff may face disciplinary action.
This ban on intimate student-staff relationships has made UCL the first in the Russell Group and the third in the UK to introduce such a policy. An investigation by the Guardian found that, while many universities discourage relationships between lecturers and students, only Roehampton and Greenwich have explicitly prohibited them, with one more university in the process of implementing a ban.
The investigation also found that, out of 122 universities contacted, only seven members of staff had faced disciplinary action for maintaining relationships with students in the past five years.
Kelsey Paske, the Behaviour and Culture Change Manager at UCL, told Pi News that the personal relationship policy was devised by the Preventing Sexual Misconduct Strategy Group, created in 2017 to review UCL’s policy and practice. According to Paske, the priority of the change to existing guidelines was “to limit circumstances where a position of power may be abused, and to protect students and staff from allegations of actual or perceived conflict of interest.”
Paske explained that the group looked overseas for examples of similar policy change when drafting its own: “UCL looked to good practice established in the US on this issue, who are further ahead than us [UK universities] due to Obama-era legislation, and more recently [to] Australia.”
Commenting on the new policy, one UCL undergraduate expressed disbelief at the fact that this kind of policy is not more widespread in UK higher education, while another concluded: “I think it’s a good idea because there’s an inherent power imbalance between staff and students.”
However, one undergraduate expressed scepticism, questioning the extent to which the policy “infringes on the rights of consenting adults,” and places the private lives of students and staff under the close scrutiny of the university. Another student expressed doubt at the ability of departments to police personal relationships and enforce the new policy.
UCL’s personal relationships policy has been announced amid growing concerns about how sexual misconduct is reported and addressed at UK higher education institutions. A recent investigation by Tortoise Media found inconsistencies in universities’ policies towards harassment, including time limits on sexual assault complaints and disparities in institutions’ approaches to resolving allegations of staff misconduct. It closely follows an investigation on the handling of sexual assault allegations at Cambridge University’s Trinity Hall.
A survey conducted in 2018 by the NUS and the 1752 Group, which campaigns against sexual misconduct by university staff, found that 80% of students would be “very or somewhat uncomfortable” with staff having sexual or romantic relationships with students.
UCL’s new personal relationship policy will be accompanied by a series of proactive measures to address bullying, harassment, and sexual misconduct at university. These include the new online reporting tool for unacceptable behaviour, ‘Report + Support’, and the university-wide campaign ‘Full Stop’. The latter will focus on the role of all members of UCL’s community in shaping an inclusive environment for students and staff.