UNC system Board of Governors Chairman Sam Neill announced last week he would ask the board to adopt policies designed to ensure faculty and staff members do not engage in improper relationships with students.
Neill called for the policies after reports of alleged sexual misconduct by two professors at the N.C. School of the Arts, which surfaced last week, and by Carolina English Professor Jim Williams, who resigned in July.
"The policy will establish the grounds for disciplining faculty and staff who have improper relationships with students," Neill said. "The University Code provides for the discharge or suspension of faculty for, among other things, `misconduct of such a nature as to indicate that the individual is unfit to continue as a member of the faculty.'
"I will ask the board to supplement this by developing clear, specific and firm policies with respect to misconduct in relationships with students."
To develop these policies, the board will seek advice from faculty and the campus's board of trustees, Neill said.
Carolina in April adopted a policy that barred amorous or sexual relationships between faculty members or other instructional staff and students they evaluate or supervise. The policy had been under discussion for more than a year.
Neill also said he would appoint a commission to investigate the situation at the School of the Arts. Two professors at the school who had been accused of seducing students resigned last week.
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