ACADEMIC SEXUAL INTIMACY VIOLATIONS - ETHICALITY AND OCCURRENCE REPORTS FROM UNDERGRADUATES

Students at a state university (N = 583) and a nearby community colleg e (N = 229) in a Southeastern state rated the ethicality and reported the occurrence of 15 behaviors related to student-faculty sexual intim acy. The overt, covert, and ambiguous sexual behaviors were phrased in . a nonpersonalized or a personalized manner. Students from both schoo ls offered similar ethicality ratings and occurrence reports. The wome n's reports of personal sexual involvement with faculty members were c onsistent with previously reported incidence rates. However the men's reports of such involvement were considerably higher than those report ed in the literature. Limited participant gender differences were foun d in the ethicality ratings and the occurrence reports. Both ethicalit y ratings and occurrence reports were significantly related to the man ner of questioning. An ethicality hierarchy for student-faculty sexual intimacy was found, with overt behaviors perceived as most ethically inappropriate and ambiguous behaviors as least ethically inappropriate . The results have serious implications for both students and faculty and learning opportunities.