ABSTRACT
A prominent concern often overshadowing academics of American universities during the past decade has been dealing with issues surrounding sexual harassment. This came to the forefront of university attention in 1993 when the Committee on Women's Concerns at the University of Virginia proposed a university-wide ban on all sexual fraternization between undergraduates and professors. This article critiques the intellectual underpinnings of the banning movement and explores the underlying psychosocial dynamics that have propelled the movement forward. Given the prevalent caricaturing of student-faculty romances, such relationships give the impression of professorial abuse, thus presenting problems for university administrators concerned with public relations. The freedom to decline or resist intimate associations is inextricably bound up with the freedom to form desirable intimate associations. A strong and effective university policy against sexual harassment together with the recognition of the right to privacy of faculty members and students will serve the interests of both the university and the individual.
