The governing board for the University of Connecticut is expected to consider changes to its policies that would prohibit “romantic relationships” between faculty and any undergraduate or graduate student over whom they have authority.

“The University’s rationale is that it’s very difficult to gauge consent when there’s a power imbalance,” a spokeswoman said.

This announcement that the board will consider this change at either its August or September meeting follows university officials announcing yesterday that an allegation has been made that a music professor has a history of visiting the freshman dorms, providing drugs to students and having sex with students.

This same professor is accused of having had inappropriate relations with four boys ages 10 and 13 at his home in Mansfield.

Jacqueline was CT Mirror’s Education and Housing Reporter, and an original member of the CT Mirror staff, joining shortly before our January 2010 launch. Her awards include the best-of-show Theodore A. Driscoll Investigative Award from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists in 2019 for reporting on inadequate inmate health care, first-place for investigative reporting from the New England Newspaper and Press Association in 2020 for reporting on housing segregation, and two first-place awards from the National Education Writers Association in 2012. She was selected for a prestigious, year-long Propublica Local Reporting Network grant in 2019, exploring a range of affordable and low-income housing issues. Before joining CT Mirror, Jacqueline was a reporter, online editor and website developer for The Washington Post Co.’s Maryland newspaper chains. Jacqueline received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in public policy from Trinity College.

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