Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud in a speech Tuesday said a review of the university’s policies governing faculty and student sexual relationships is a priority this spring.

Syverud asked the University Senate and college deans to provide recommendations on how to review policies governing sexual relationships between faculty or staff and students.

“There is a potential for abusive power in these relationships,” Syverud said. “And we have witnessed that here and we have witnessed it at other universities.”

In an address this past December, Syverud originally asked the senate to review how SU governs relationships between faculty and undergraduate students. As the rule currently stands, faculty can have sexual relationships with undergraduates as long as they do not teach, advise or supervise them.

Syverud on Tuesday said senators and administrators should provide recommendations on the policy by the end of the spring semester and said it’s important to address the issue as soon as possible.

“It’s time to reassess whether or not we have the best policies and practices in place at Syracuse,” Syverud said.

He also said there has been a “truly remarkable awakening,” with dozens of women speaking out against sexual abuse in the workplace, academic settings and athletic settings. In the past year, there has been an unprecedented number of women who have publicly recounted their experiences of sexual harassment and abuse.

Dozens of women have shared their stories through the #MeToo Movement, which expanded rapidly after entertainment executive Harvey Weinstein was publicly accused of sexual assault in October. Tarana Burke, a civil rights activist, originally started the #MeToo Movement in 2008 as a way for young women to speak out about sexual harassment and assault.

Other universities have also moved to review similar policies due to the national outcry against sexual harassment and assault. Earlier this January, Chancellor Carol Folt of the University of North Carolina said the school would be reviewing its policies regarding sexual harassment and assault, according to The Daily Tar Heel.

Syracuse University was subject to a federal investigation in June 2016 after a graduate student filed a Title IX complaint alleging the university failed to “respond promptly or equitably” to a report of sexual assault. The case is still open, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education Title IX tracker.

In 2014, the university also closed the Advocacy Center, which supported students that experienced sexual assault. The center’s services were integrated and dispersed among other offices including the Counseling Center, Office of Student Assistance and Office of Health Promotion.

That change created frustration among students and a petition was created that amassed several thousand signatures.

Published on January 16, 2018 at 10:51 pm