On Oct. 16, Carleton Today announced an update to Carleton College’s Statement on Consensual Relations. The statement, which refers to relationships between faculty or staff members and students, has been updated as of Oct. 9. The Carleton Today newsletter provided a revised statement that, according to the newsletter, clarified previously inconsistent language in the previous policy.
The statement primarily emphasizes that “romantic and/or sexual relations, even if consensual, between faculty or staff members and any student violate the integrity of the student/teacher or student/staff relationship,” which depends on “trust, respect and fairness,” according to the Campus Handbook.
“[The Statement on Consensual Relations] aims to protect students from potential power imbalances that may arise in such relationships,” said Vivian Agugo ’26, president of the Carleton Student Association (CSA), referring to relationships between faculty or staff and students –- regardless of whether they are consensual.
“A routine policy review over the summer showed that the wording of the existing Statement on Consensual Relations was not as clear as it could have been,” said Dina Zavala, Vice President for Inclusion, Equity, and Community, in a joint statement with Kari Hohn, the Interim Title IX Coordinator, and Austin Robinson-Coolidge, the Title IX Deputy. “It was possible to interpret [the statement] as having ambiguity as to the college’s intent.”
“I found that the previous policy lacked clear regulations regarding relationships between current students and fifth-year students,” said Agugo.
Fifth-year students are recent Carleton graduates employed as interns or workers in various college offices and institutions. After the policy review, the Title IX Lead Team and Vice President Zavala presented possible changes to the President’s cabinet, including a new stipulation regarding relationships between fifth-year students’ and current students.
“Some of the language in the statement was revised in order to more clearly state that any romantic or sexual relationship between a faculty or staff member and any student is prohibited,” Zavala, Hohn and Robinson-Coolidge said.
The College Council approved the update during its Sept. 22 meeting, and the Board of Trustees later gave final approval.
“I believe this statement establishes a precedent for relationships between fifth-year employees or similarly-aged individuals and current students,” Agugo said. “This statement has been updated to strengthen its position and to engage the middle-ground party, fifth-year students and language assistants.”
“Recognizing that alums hired as fifth-year interns sometimes have pre-existing long-term relationships with current students, an exception has been included to cover those cases,” said Zavala, Hohn and Robinson-Coolidge. According to the updated statement, relationships that began “when both parties were students may continue when one party is hired and the other party is still a student, as long as there is no supervisory relationship between the two parties.” Such relationships may be subject to review by the college.
“This update expresses that the college does not consider such relationships inappropriate, provided they began while the fifth-year student was still in college,” Agugo said.
“As we continue to have fifth-year positions and language assistants, it has become important to establish guidelines and rules for these roles and their interactions with students,” Agugo said. “This will help ensure safety and allow these student-aged employees to have a positive experience while working at Carleton.”
