Consensual Relationships

Purpose

St Mary’s College of Maryland (“College”) strives to create and maintain a supportive, respectful, and inclusive community that empowers each individual to thrive in their scholarly and professional endeavors. This can only be achieved in an environment that fosters trust, civility, and mutual respect. The College is committed to its missions of teaching and service, and honors that commitment by preserving the Employee-Student relationship and protecting the Student experience.

Employees have a collective responsibility to support the experience of all Students and nurture Students’ intellectual curiosity. They uphold that commitment by creating an environment that reinforces the highest professional and ethicalstandards. Relationships between Employees and Students are an important aspect of a Student’s experience as they learn and are mentored throughout their time at the College. That relationship should be rooted in trust and based on a commitment to the academic, scholarly, and professional development of all Students.

When situations arise that go beyond the traditional boundaries of the Employee-Student relationship, the College is committed to protecting Students’ interests. Employees have real or perceived authority and influence over the educational and professional development of Students. This inherent power imbalance makes relationships between Employees and Students fundamentally unequal. These relationships can lead to a real or perceived exploitation of the power differential and may compromise the educational experience of all Students. Individuals should be aware that dating, intimate, romantic, and/or sexual relationships between individuals of unequal power, even when consensual, mayresult in claims of sexual harassment because the voluntariness of the consent is questionable when a power differential exists. For this reason, relationships of this type are prohibited at the College.

While the College is equally committed to protecting Employee interests regarding academic freedom, freedom of expression, and intellectual inquiry, these are best protected by a common understanding and avoidance of unprofessional relationships. To this end, the restrictions defined in this Policy create boundaries and expectationsregarding professional and appropriate Employee-Student relationships.

Section 1: Definitions

1. “Educational or Supervisory Authority” means the power to control or influence a Student’s or subordinate’s (as applicable) academic experience, achievements, advancement, career and professional development, employment experiences, or extracurricular participation. Duties and activities related to Educational or Supervisory Authority include, but are not limited to, teaching and instruction, coaching, supervision or advising extracurricularactivities, grading, evaluating, mentoring, supervising research or internships, providing recommendations foremployment, awards, or fellowships, and participating in decisions on hiring, employment, compensation, promotion, and
2. “Consensual Relationships” for the purposes of this Policy means relationships of a romantic, intimate, dating,and/or sexual nature entered into with the mutual agreement of both parties. Marriage is excluded from this definition.
3. “Employee” means a person employed by the College, in any capacity, whether student, faculty or staff, full-timeor part-time, independent contractor or volunteer who performs work or provides services on campus.
4. “Marriage” for the purposes of this Policy means a union or domestic partnership between individuals asdefined by Maryland State law or otherwise recognized by the State of Maryland.
5. “Student(s)” means an individual(s) enrolled in or auditing a course(s) at the College or participating in a College-sponsored program. “Student employees” of the College are students first and will be treated in that manner. While they may be employed by the College on a secondary basis, they are primarily students.
6. “Department Head(s)” means the administrator(s) responsible for an academic program, or a division to which a Faculty/ Staff member reports.

Section 2: Policy

1. Relationships between Employees and Students

1. 1. No Employee shall pursue, have, or maintain a sexual, dating, or romantic relationship with any Student or trainee.
   2. No Employee may teach, evaluate, coach, mentor, counsel, advise, employ, recommend (or serveas a reference for), supervise or manage a student with whom they have previously had a sexual, dating or romantic relationship.

2. Relationships between Employees
   1. The College discourages romantic or sexual relationships between Employees, especially amongst those within the same department.
   2. Professionalism (conduct, behavior, and attitude expected of someone in a work or professional environment. It encompasses qualities such as reliability, competence, ethical behavior, accountability,and respect for ) is expected among all College employees. Consensual relationships that are not expressly prohibited by this Policy must not interfere with any employee’s or student’s professionalism. Sexual relations and sexual contact are strictly prohibited in workplace or academic facilities, including the grounds. Individuals in leadership, management, or supervisory positions areexpected to conduct themselves with a high standard of professionalism in their workplace and social interactions with subordinates and/or students.
   3. No Supervisor shall engage in or pursue a Consensual Relationship with a subordinate employee where the Supervisor has the authority or responsibility to hire, promote, discipline, evaluate, assign or direct the employee. If such a relationship develops, the person in the position of greater authoritymust report or disclose the relationship to the Office of Human Resources (HR). SMCM’s HR, in collaboration with management, will evaluate the situation and ensure that alternate supervisory orevaluative arrangements are in place to address any conflict of interest.
   4. A Supervisor will be subject to disciplinary action (inclusive of termination) for failing to promptly disclose a romantic or sexual relationship with a subordinate
   5. Prompt disclosure is an effective method of adhering to this Policy but does not alone ensure that the Policy has not been violated. Policy violations will be determined by Human Resources (HR) on acase-by-case basis after considering the facts of each relationship.
   6. If two Employees engage in a romantic or sexual relationship but neither is a subordinate of the other as outlined above, they should be mindful of their professional duties and be responsible for assuring that their relationship does not create concerns with regard to favoritism, bias, ethics, job performance or conflict of interest within the guidelines of this Should the relationship dissolve, the Employees must refrain from behavior that is harassing, could cause conflict or affect performance of duties.
   7. ​Employees involved in a Consensual Relationship that is not prohibited by the Policy, or a Marriage must disclose the relationship to their Supervisor if the potential for the Employee member to exercise Educational or Supervisory Authority over a subordinate Employee arises.
   8. Upon disclosure, the Supervisor must take the necessary steps to ensure that Employees will not be in a position for the inherent power imbalance to impact the educational and/or professional development of the subordinate Employee. These steps may include but are not limited to avoiding the assignmentof duties that would allow Employees to exercise or influence any Supervisory Authority over the subordinate with whom they are in a Marriage or Consensual Relationship that is not prohibited by this Policy.
   9. This Policy does not supersede, replace, or circumvent any other policies at the College. All relationship participants are expected to comply with all College policies and procedures.

Section 3: Applicability

1. This Policy applies to all Employees (student, faculty, and staff) as defined in the St.      Mary’s College of Maryland Policies and Procedures, as well as Employees with Educational or Supervisory Authority over Students.
2. Consensual Relationships and Marriages that pre-date the Employee’ appointment at the College or the implementation of this Policy are required to be disclosed to HR.

Section 4: Reports by Third Parties

1. Any member of the campus community who has reason to believe that an Employee is in violation of this Policy, is encouraged to report the concern in good faith to the department head. If the department head is believed to be involved in the inappropriate relationship, the report should be made solely to HR.
2. Knowingly making false statements or submitting false reports is prohibited and may be grounds for disciplinary action under other College policies and procedures.

Section 5: Protection from Retaliation

1. The College prohibits retaliation against any individual who makes a good faith report or who cooperates ininquiries or investigations related to the investigation of such a Anyone who believes that they have been retaliated against for participating in the complaint process in any capacity should report the matter promptly by the same means as explained above.

Section 6: Violations of the Policy

1. Violations of this Policy are subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.
2. Any disciplinary action will be in accordance with the appropriate College
3. Decisions made under this Policy will be made based on operational, academic and businessconsiderations and without regard to sex, race, color, religion, creed age (40 and over), national origin, citizenship, physical or mental disability, military service or application, sexual orientation,gender identity and expression, or any other protected characteristic under federal or Maryland law.

Section 7: Record Keeping

1. HR are responsible for maintaining records related to Faculty/ Staff disclosures of Consensual Relationships and Marriages.
2. Faculty/ Staff records must be maintained in accordance with the College’s Records Retention and Disposal Schedule.