All those new college rules about sex and consent sometimes apply to employees too.

Colleen Flaherty reports at Inside Higher Ed.

Dating the Dean

With the changing scope of federal regulations and increased scrutiny regarding sexual assault and harassment on college campuses, more and more institutions are strongly discouraging and even banning consensual romantic relationships between students and faculty members. But what about faculty-faculty relationships, or faculty-administrator relationships?

An ongoing legal case resulting in a dean’s resignation from Stanford University raises questions about what policies or best practices govern employee romance. Experts say that while these relationships tend to be too specific and fluid to fall under any general policy, involved parties should proceed with caution and avoid pairings that may be or even appear to be exploitative or allow for favoritism.

Earlier this week, Garth Saloner, dean of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, announced he was resigning, due in part to a lawsuit against the university brought by a former professor — one who happened to be the estranged husband of the woman the dean is dating, another professor at the business school.

James Phills, who was let go from Stanford this year, alleges discriminatory treatment by the university due to his entanglement in the dean’s love life. Stanford denies the claim, saying that Phills — who had been a nontenured faculty member since 2003, several years after his wife was appointed to a tenured position — was terminated for failing to return after multiple leaves of absence to work in Silicon Valley. The university in a statement said those leaves were “beyond what is normally allowed by university policy,” and that Phills “ultimately chose to continue his more lucrative employment at Apple.”

Citing increased media attention surrounding the suit, and its potential to distract from the business school’s mission, however, Saloner announced he’s stepping down at the end of the academic year.