Staff fear call to log their love interests

Amorous staff at the University of Bradford could be asked to inform bosses of their romances under a revised code of practice, writes Harriet Swain.

The university is discussing extending the existing code covering relations between staff and students to include relations between members of staff.

Members of the local Association of University Teachers branch have condemned the clauses, saying they fail to define what a relationship is and question staff professionalism.

Adrian Pierce, Bradford president of the AUT, said: "There is no need for consenting adults and more importantly responsible, intelligent adults to have a code of practice telling them how to behave."

The code, which would encourage people to declare any relationships with colleagues who were in a position to influence their work or career, would cover not only romantic liaisons but particular friendships.

The guidelines have been welcomed by service union Unison. Linda Broadley, chair of the local association, said: "It is not for the university to interfere but there are certain codes of conduct they would expect to see."

A spokeswoman for the university said the code "builds on current guidelines that cover staff/student relations and that were supported by AUT".

She said they were still to go through formal consultation with unions and students.

Nosecret_xy social class. He said: "I would be concerned if the data was used to provide incentives for those (institutions) who were not doing so well at recruiting people from less well-off backgrounds."