Professor-student relationships, like any other relationships, are the source of endless gossip and rumor, with some stories proving more innovative and unusual than others but all maintaining the allure of something seemingly forbidden.

But are there regulations for this kind of pseudo employee-employer relationship? This was what I set out to learn.

My goal was purely academic. I had been curious about this subject and I demanded a solution. I was curious as to what sort of policy Whitman would adopt: would it be open-minded or conservative on the matter?

While I expected the former, you never can be sure about what archaic policy can exist within an institution as old as this one when what it addresses simply does not come up often.

I asked as to whether sanctions existed regarding relationships within a classroom and, generally, whether any restrictions of any sort existed in regard to this. Upon searching the Whitman website, emailing professors and deans, and asking around, I came up with…nothing.

At first I was a little surprised such a policy did not exist. What if somebody was in a relationship with a professor they took a class from? Wouldn’t it pay to eliminate the potential biases and awkward situations this could generate?

My first inclination was that it was somewhat silly not to have a policy in this regard, and that these issues could raise problems in a classroom environment that could prove detrimental to student and professor alike.

What I came to realize however was that maybe the lack of a policy or the haziness surrounding the issue is a good thing after all. The questions just raised need not be issues if people conduct themselves in a responsible and mature way. The lack of a policy comes across as recognition of the ability of college students and employees to behave in a way in which they are responsible and maintain the integrity of their schoolwork in doing so.

Indeed, it became apparent to me in the pursuit of this topic that an official policy could perhaps come across as somewhat insulting. The notion that a professor would favor a student with whom he or she was involved is somewhat believable. But at the same time, there still exists an integrity hopefully possessed by professors here that would make this a moot point in reality.

I feel now that, were a truly specific and demanding policy to exist, the entire notion of relationship would be sullied and cheapened; professors and students are both old enough and mature enough to make their own decisions regarding their personal lives and to restrict that would be an imposition.

An open-minded and responsible community has clearly emerged here where this is a non-issue.  This kind of freedom in this lack of policy demonstrates the kind of trust Whitman College has in its professors, the kind of respect Whitman College has in its students, and the kind of overall respect for people’s personal lives that you would expect from a good employer.

For this I am glad that my search proved fruitless as it yielded a truth contingent with what I have witnessed in other aspects of policy and conduct at Whitman College: a sense of open-mindedness and respect for individuals that is rare in an institution worth millions of dollars. From what I gathered, in regards to this policy, or lack thereof, less is in fact more.