Professor/student romances: '20 bad endings' for every happily ever after

A former University of Cincinnati flute professor accused of sexual misconduct over two decades may also have had consensual sexual relationships with at least six students, according to UC investigators' report.

That is, some students might have willingly gotten romantically involved with him.

Consensual relationships don't violate the rules at many universities, including UC, but some music professionals and experts consider them unethical.

“If you’re the teacher thinking about pursuing a relationship with a student, 10 times out of 10 times the answer should be no, don’t do it,” said Leah Stevens, a faculty member at the American Music Institute and People’s Music School in Chicago. “There’s no gray area for me.”

On one hand, college students are adults. On the other, can they make a decision of their own free will when the other person has all of the power?

Regulating such romances is complicated for colleges.

Power complicates consent

The issue came to the forefront earlier this month, when The Enquirer reported on UC's investigation into world-renowned flutist and longtime professor Bradley Garner. Nine women and another former professor told investigators Garner kissed and inappropriately touched College-Conservatory of Music students and others. UC tried to fire Garner after the investigators' report found evidence of "persistent and pervasive" sexual harassment, but he retired before the disciplinary process ended.

During interviews, former adjunct professor Randy Bowman and a 2017 CCM graduate both told UC investigators they knew of at least six students who had a sexual relationship with Garner, who’s married. They both described those relationships as "an abuse of power." However, Bowman said he never reported the behavior because he thought the relationships were consensual. And UC doesn't have a rule against that.

Professor/student romances should never happen because of the power dynamic, Stevens said.

"How can you do something like that and break a student’s trust?"

Stevens, who earned a master's in music in 2015 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said students are always told their success will come from “how we practice and what opportunities we take, but it is also about who we know.”

The pressure to get approval from a distinguished professor in the industry complicates consent.

"Some young women think, 'If I say no, my career is going to be jeopardized,’” Stevens said. “You’re that scared that he could destroy it.”

Jennifer J. Freyd, a psychologist at the University of Oregon, agreed that professors who pursue students put the students in a “terrible bind.”

“It’s hard for them to have the freedom to say no,” Freyd said.

She said it’s hard to know, even for the person in the relationship, whether they want it or they're feeling pressured into it.

The relationship can affect not just the student involved with the professor but the entire class, said Keren Schweitzer, who studied with Garner in the 1990s.

“It’s not only harmful to her, but it’s a toxic environment for the entire studio,” Schweitzer said. “That shouldn’t be allowed.”

Local colleges' rules on professor/student relationships

In addition to UC, Miami University, Northern Kentucky University, Ohio State University and the University of Kentucky all allow faculty/student dating under certain conditions, according to an Enquirer review of their policies.

The only two area schools that don't are Xavier University and Thomas More College – both private Catholic schools. Thomas More officials say their ban has been "long-standing policy." Xavier has a process to request permission for an exception in rare circumstances.

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Administrators are in a difficult spot when it comes to policymaking in this area, experts say.

"The days of reckoning are arriving for these types of behaviors," said Daniel Prywes, a Washington-based lawyer who specializes in academic human resource issues. "But on the other hand, under no circumstances can consenting adults be absolutely prohibited from having a romantic relationship."

Students are adults, and professors – especially at a public school – may claim a ban is a violation of their civil rights, he said.

More common are policies such as those at Miami University, which bans faculty or supervisors from having relationships with students they have "academic oversight" over or directly supervise. Relationships are allowed if the student is not in a professor's class or department.

OSU has a similar partial ban on relationships involving anyone who might supervise, teach or coach a student or subordinate.

Mount St. Joseph University discourages professor/student relationships, school officials say. But if one occurs, the school "requires that the participants in such a relationship act immediately to remove the conflict of interest; and that the instructor report it to the Provost to ensure that all such conflicts of interest have been adequately addressed," school spokeswoman Kathleen Cardwell wrote in a statement.

Prywes counsels those in academia to stay away from the practice of dating students, even if there are plenty of examples of professors who are happily married to their former graduate students.

"For every time there is a positive result, there are 20 bad endings," he said. "It's like playing with fire."