Rutgers University faculty and their students — both undergrads and graduates — are not currently prohibited from being in a sexual or romantic relationship.

If a faculty member violates university policy, or faces allegations of unprofessional or inappropriate behavior, the faculty member is not required to disclose that information to their superiors.

And deans, department heads and faculty have no training programs on how to prevent or handle cases of harassment in any form.

All of that is about to change.

The Rutgers University Committee on Sexual Harassment Prevention released a report this week recommending that the university adopt consequential policy changes, including a ban on relationships among employees, university affiliates and students. The several dozen recommendations also include disclosure requirements and new training programs to prevent harassment.

“As a student, I very much expected that those rules would be in place, so I was surprised that there was nothing like that, considering Rutgers is a very forward institution,” said Stephanie Bondockawa Mafla Mills, a graduate student on the 45-member committee. “These rules weren’t set in stone before, but that probably speaks to the legacy of the way higher education was built.”

Barbara A. Lee, Rutgers' senior vice president for academic affairs, led the committee last fall as it developed this report to “attack the problem of sexual harassment” based on the framework provided by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in 2018.

Rutgers President Robert Barchi formed the Rutgers committee of students, faculty and staff in October after he removed the university requirement that sexual harassment cases must be reported within two years of the alleged incident.

“I don’t think there’s any big research university that doesn’t have these issues,” Lee said. “It’s not that we thought we had a crisis here, but we know that many students are reluctant to report harassment or inappropriate treatment because they’re worried about retaliation, or they don’t think the university will respond appropriately."

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Campuses across the country have been reevaluating policies to prevent sexual harassment, especially since the MeToo movement took fire. The movement helped survivors of sexual assault feel more comfortable speaking out about their stories and seeking assistance, which resulted in a rise in requests for services at crisis centers.

“I’d like to think that we would have done this anyway, but certainly the MeToo movement has raised this issue high on the national agenda,” Lee said. “I think it will help us convince our faculty that this is a serious problem and they need to make themselves informed about how to help our students if these issues arise.”

The most glaring problem the committee found was that the university did not have a policy against relationships between faculty members and students. At most, the policy “strongly discouraged” those relationships, Lee said.

“Many of us feel that because of the substantial power differential between faculty and students, whether undergraduate or graduate students, it’s not always clear that a relationship that appears to be consensual really is,” she said.

A draft policy is in the works and will be sent to the Board of Governors for approval, she said.

The committee also decided to create an "R is for Respect" campaign to get the message to faculty, leadership and students that the university has a "no tolerance" stance on harassment.

In its research, the committee found that the university lacked formal training for deans, department heads, faculty, staff and students on sexual harassment prevention.

"Department chairs and deans are very well trained in their discipline — they’re wonderful chemists or biologists or English novel writers — but they’re not necessarily trained to deal with this issue if faculty and students come to them and say, ‘I have a problem with Professor X and I need your advice,’ ” Lee said.

Once new training begins, the university will assess how effective it is.

The committee also recommends thatif an employee violates university policy, a reportshould be placed in that person's personnel file and made available to committees that oversee reappointments, promotions or tenure recommendations. Those facing allegations would be required to have a discussion with their department head or dean.

Earlier this year, state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said he will send county prosecutors to campuses this fall to forge relationships with assault survivors.

Lee said that because of the policy changes and new training, there will likely be an increase in the number of complaints from students or faculty.

"If we do a good job at this, the number of complaints should increase, because people should feel more comfortable coming forward," she said. "We hope that it’s not a huge increase, but it should increase if people feel that they can let their concerns be known and that something will be done about them."

Email: carrera@northjersey.com