Academic sexual intimacy violations: Ethicality and occurrence reports from undergraduates

Students at a state university (N = 583) and a nearby community college (N = 229) in a Southeastern state rated the ethicality and reported the occurrence of 15 behaviors related to student‐faculty sexual intimacy. The overt, covert, and ambiguous sexual behaviors were phrased in a nonpersonalized or a personalized manner. Students from both schools offered similar ethicality ratings and occurrence reports. The women's reports of personal sexual involvement with faculty members were consistent with previously reported incidence rates. However, the men's reports of such involvement were considerably higher than those reported in the literature. Limited participant gender differences were found in the ethicality ratings and the occurrence reports. Both ethicality ratings and occurrence reports were significantly related to the manner 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.