A new temporary amendment to the UO’s conflicts of interest romantic relationships policy has been enacted to clarify that faculty and staff are prohibited from initiating a relationship with a student while in a supervisory or evaluative relationship with the student.

President Michael H. Schill last week signed the policy — conflicts of interest and abuses of power: sexual or romantic relationships with students — which “addresses sexual or romantic relationships between a faculty member and student or between a staff member and student in order to foster a learning environment characterized by professional behavior and fair and impartial treatment.”

The policy outlines how such relationships can “potentially involve a conflict of interest, an abuse of power, compromised judgment and impaired objectivity when the faculty member or staff member has supervisory, evaluative or other power over the student. The power differential in the relationship may even make a student’s consent to a sexual or romantic relationship suspect.”

The temporary changes also clarify that faculty and staff are prohibited from initiating a relationship while in a supervisory or evaluative relationship with a student. Staff and faculty in relationships that existed before the temporary amendment are required to make prompt notification to the Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs. Prompt notification is defined as within two weeks.