The University of Michigan has announced a new policy which will affect students and faculty members at its Ann Arbor, Flint, and Dearborn campuses. Beginning in January of 2019, faculty will be prohibited from engaging in relationships with students that are either romantic or sexual in nature.

In the past, U of M has discouraged relationships between faculty and students, requiring disclosure of said relationships. Now it is prohibiting those relationships and saying that violations could result in disciplinary action or termination.

"The faculty-student relationship is really special," Rick Fitzgerald, from U of M public affairs tells WDIV. "There's a lot of mentoring and instruction -- in some cases one-on-one -- and we want to be clear about what the boundaries are for those relationships."

The policy also applies to graduate students and post-doctoral fellows and the students who they may be teaching or grading.

The policy goes into effect in January on all three U of M campuses.

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