Faculty/Staff Relationships with Students or Employees
The College does not wish to interfere with private choices regarding personal relationships when these relationships do not interfere with the goals and policies of the College. There are inherent risks in any romantic or sexual relationship between individuals in positions of unequal power (teacher and student, supervisor, and employee) such as quid pro quo harassment. These relationships may be less consensual than perceived by the individual whose position confers power. The relationship also may be viewed in different ways by each of the parties, particularly in retrospect. Furthermore, circumstances may change, and conduct that was previously welcome may become unwelcome. Even when both parties consented at the outset of a relationship to romantic or sexual involvement, this past consent will not remove grounds for a later charge of a violation of this policy. For the personal protection of members of this community, relationships in which power differentials are inherent (faculty-student, staff-student) are strongly discouraged.
Consensual romantic or sexual relationships in which one party maintains a direct supervisory or evaluative role over the other party are unethical. Therefore, persons with direct supervisory or evaluative responsibilities who are involved in such relationships must bring those relationships to the attention of their supervisor and Human Resources Deputy Title IX Coordinator Bridgette Gray at gray@hendrix.edu or 501-450-1415 at the outset and will likely result in the removal of the employee from the supervisory or evaluative responsibilities or make changes to prevent an individual from being supervised or evaluated by someone with whom they have established a consensual relationship. Failure to self-report such relationships as required is a violation of this policy and may result in disciplinary action for an employee. Employees are cautioned that in many circumstances an imbalance of power, perceived or real, may occur in employee-student relationships. In such cases, consent is not an acceptable defense against an allegation of non-consensual sexual relationships. Any romantic relationship between two employees (regardless of supervisory capacity) or between an employee and student should be promptly reported to Deputy Title IX Coordinator Bridgette Gray at gray@hendrix.edu or 501-450-1415.