But Chopper is going to fight Doc Q for sure . <| sep |> there is a policy against conflict of interest , however . if a prof has an academic or financial conflict of interest eg . they assess the student ' s work , or are in charge of decisions re hiring as a TA , or grad funding , etc , then such relationships must be disclosed to a higher level of admininstation and a management plan put in place to remove the conflict of interest i . e . , have someone else grade the student . In his position as Head of Creative Writing , SG must have had a conflict of interest in both the academic and the financial aspects of this , and should have reported the relationship to the Dean of Arts as the next step up from him . It seems that this was not done , which means he was in breach of UBC ' s policies . tldr you can date a student who you are not teaching , grading , or employing . see p 4 and 5 of this doc