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7.14 Improper Sexual or Romantic
Relationships
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I. Purpose
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Central Piedmont Community College employees are supported in
carrying out the mission of the College through an atmosphere of
professionalism, academic integrity, trust, and respect. Professionalism,
academic integrity, trust, and respect are diminished when those in
positions of power abuse their power. Actions of faculty members,
supervising administrators, other employees, or students which harm the
College's atmosphere of trust and respect undermine professionalism, damage
the academic integrity of the College, and hinder the fulfillment of the
College's educational mission.
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Relationships between faculty members and students and between
supervising administrators and employees they advise, counsel, supervise,
or evaluate impose a special burden of responsibility and accountability.
The same is true for clerical, secretarial, maintenance,
technical/paraprofessionals, professional staff, students, and
administrators when acting in an advisory, counseling, instructional,
supervisory, or evaluative role with respect to students or employees.
There are substantial risks for faculty members engaging in sexual or romantic relationships with
students they teach or, in the case of supervising administrators, with
employees they supervise or evaluate.
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II. Definitions
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A. Faculty Member - any person
employed by, or whose activities are supervised by, the College and who
engages in advisory, counseling, instructional, or evaluative activities
relative to any student who is enrolled in a course being taught by that
individual or whose academic work is being supervised or evaluated by that
individual. Students and non-faculty employees, when performing
official College advisory, counseling, instructional, or evaluative roles
with respect to students, are considered faculty for the purpose of this
policy.
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B. Supervising Administrator - all
individuals who have responsibility for specific employees and their
activities and who are classified as management. These specifically include
the president, vice presidents, deans, managers, division directors,
supervising administrators, coordinators, and all other supervisors.
Non-administrative and classified employees, when performing assigned
advisory, counseling, supervisory, or evaluative roles with respect to
other employees, are considered supervising administrators for the purpose
of this policy.
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C. Improper Sexual or Romantic Relationships - (1) any sexual or romantic relationship between a faculty
member or employee who engages in advisory, counseling, instructional, or evaluative
activities and any student who is enrolled in a course being taught by that
person or whose academic work is being supervised or evaluated by that
person; (2) any sexual or romantic relationship between a supervising
administrator and someone the supervising administrator advises, counsels,
evaluates, or directly or indirectly supervises in any way; and (3) any
sexual or romantic relationship between any College employee and any
student or employee who is less than 18 years of age.
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No faculty member or supervising administrator shall initiate,
pursue, or be involved in an improper sexual or romantic relationship with
any employee or student who is advised, counseled, evaluated by, or
supervised directly or indirectly or whose job performance is reviewed or
evaluated by that person. The same is true for clerical, secretarial,
maintenance, technical, paraprofessionals, professional staff, students,
and administrators when acting in an advisory,
counseling, instructional, supervisory, or evaluative role with respect to
students or employees supervised directly or indirectly by that person.
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Friendships or mentoring relationships are not affected by
this policy, nor is it the intent of this policy that such non-romantic
relationships be discouraged or limited in any way.
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IV. Procedures for Reporting and Investigating Improper Sexual
or Romantic Relationships or Suspected Improper Sexual or Romantic Relationships
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A. Any supervising administrator who receives an improper
sexual or romantic relationship complaint, or who has knowledge of such a
relationship, shall inform his/her immediate supervisor and the Director of
Equal Opportunity. The Director of Equal Opportunity will investigate all
improper sexual or romantic relationship complaints.
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B. Any College employee may report an improper sexual or
romantic relationship, or alleged improper sexual or romantic relationship,
to his/her immediate supervisor. If the relationship involves the immediate
supervisor, or if the employee prefers, the employee may report the
relationship to the next level of management or to the Director of Equal
Opportunity.
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C. Any College student may report an improper sexual or
romantic relationship or suspected improper sexual or romantic relationship
to the appropriate department head. If the relationship involves the
department head, or if the student prefers, the student may report the
relationship to the appropriate dean or to the Director of Equal
Opportunity.
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D. In the event of an improper sexual or romantic relationship
complaint, the following procedures will be followed:
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1. An Improper Sexual or Romantic Relationship Complaint Form
(ISRR 1) will be completed in detail and signed by both the complainant and
the Director of Equal Opportunity.
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2. Each improper sexual or romantic relationship complaint
shall be investigated by the Director of Equal Opportunity, and a
determination of the facts shall be made. The complainant and the
respondent may expect a response to a complaint within thirty working days
following the filing of a formal Improper Sexual or Romantic Relationship
Complaint. The President or his designee may extend the response
period if any investigation requires additional time to gather facts.
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3. The Director of Equal Opportunity shall investigate the
complaint by separately interviewing the individual(s) against whom the
complaint is filed and potential witnesses. The appropriate Improper Sexual
or Romantic Relationship report form (ISRR2 for the accused or ISRR3 for
witnesses) will be completed during each interview. Copies of completed
forms will be retained by the Director of Equal Opportunity. While an effective investigation cannot
promise complete confidentiality of information provided by complainants or
witnesses, the Director of Equal Opportunity will deep such information and
identities confidential to the extent possible.
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4. Any employee involved in the investigation of an improper
sexual or romantic relationship complaint must treat all information gained
from the complainant(s) or witness(es) during the investigation as
confidential and disclose such information only on a 'need-to-know' basis.
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5. In extraordinary circumstances, the President
or his designee may at any time during or after an investigation of an
improper sexual or romantic complaint place the employee against whom a complaint
has been filed on administrative leave per Policy
4.28 Administrative Leave.
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6. Following the investigation of the complaint, the immediate
supervisor of the accused, the unit vice president (or designee), and the Director
of Equal Opportunity will determine the validity of the complaint and
recommend appropriate action to the president.
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E. In the event that an improper sexual or romantic
relationship complaint is made directly to the Director of Equal
Opportunity, the Director shall report the complaint to the immediate
supervisor of the employee against whom the complaint is filed and
the unit vice president.
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F. Any employee who fails to act promptly and in accordance
with established procedures in response to an improper sexual or romantic relationship
complaint is in violation of this policy and will be subject to
disciplinary action as described in this policy. (See V., Disciplinary
Action)
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V. Disciplinary Action
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CPCC will not tolerate improper sexual or romantic
relationships nor will it tolerate any form of retaliation against any
employee or student who has brought good faith concerns to the attention of
the College or who has properly participated in the investigation or
resolution of such concerns. A faculty member, supervising
administrator, or other employee acting in an advisory, counseling, supervisory,
or evaluative role with respect to employees or students who is involved in
an improper sexual or romantic relationship or in any retaliatory activity
will be deemed to have engaged in serious misconduct as defined in Policy 4.07 Administrator Contract Policy,
III. B. 2. and Policy 4.08
Non-administrator Contract Policy, III. B. 2., and will be subject to
discipline up to and including dismissal. While disciplinary
action taken against an employee or faculty member as a result of a
complaint of an improper sexual or romantic relationship may be the
subject of a grievance under Policy 4.21
Grievance Process, the Director of Equal Opportunity's investigation
conclusions, or alleged lack of conclusions, shall not be subject to the
grievance process.
The College recognizes that romantic relationships may
develop between employees or faculty members that if undisclosed would
lead to situations in violation of this policy. In such
circumstances, the College encourages the employees or faculty members
involved in such a relationship to disclose its existence to the Director
of Equal Opportunity. In circumstances where such early, voluntary
disclosure is made the college shall have the option of waiving the
investigation and disciplinary procedures contained in this policy and
addressing the new relationship through other means, including
reassignment. While no right of reassignment or continuing employment
of one or both parties to the relationship is guaranteed, the College will,
when appropriate, seek a resolution where no violation of this policy would
result. This option is not available in the event of any improper
sexual or romantic relationship involving a student.
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Updates approved by Cabinet on Jan. 25, 2005;
June 5, 2006
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