Consensual Amorous Relationships Between Faculty And Students: The Constitutional Right to Privacy

Abstract

Surveys of college students in the United States revealed that a significant number of students thought they had been victims of some form of sexual harassment. Growing awareness of the magnitude, dimensions, and effects of sexual harassment at educational institutions and the potential for institutional liability have prompted educators to adopt policies to avert such problems. The policies typically prohibit sexual harassment of employees and students and alert the university community to the serious effects of sexual harassment and the potential for student exploitation. Some universities have gone beyond establishing regulations directed at widely litigated problems of sexual harassment and have promulgated polices addressing the problematic issues surrounding consensual amorous relationships between faculty and students. However, such policies highlight the potential conflict between concerns for preventing victimization of students through sexual harassment and concerns for the individual’s right to enter intimate relationships. This article contends that the constitutional right to privacy applies to consensual amorous relationships between faculty and students in public colleges and universities. Accordingly, such institutions must recognize this right when regulating faculty-student amorous relationships.