Intimate relationships between instructors and their students has been a subject of constant debate, particularly on American university campuses. The initiators of such discussion are usually opposed to potential conflict of interests in the classroom, imbalance of power in the personal relationship, and situations of sexual harassment. Often this debate is spurred by the presupposition that a student is either the willing or intimidated victim of an instructor's advances. Another argument simply states intimate relationships between instructors and students are inappropriate, whether the romance is consensual or not. Current considerations include policies on relationships between professors and the students they supervise, professors and non-supervisory students, and on relationships between faculty members.
Permissiveness may nourish a few successful relationships, but it will surely enable more cases of emotional abuse and sexual harassment. If a professor and her student are bound for a successful and fulfilling relationship, it is their responsibility to terminate their social and professional positions on that campus.
If a student or a professor is considered an adult in every manner except her romantic life, an injustice is committed. What a crime it would be if every individual's love life was regulated by what an outsider deemed inappropriate, particularly since many a successful marriage have been created between students and their former instructors. In the case that a student or an instructor makes unwelcome advances, it is the recipient's responsibility to deny the advances and to consider reporting them to the proper authorities.