[POLITICO] Three groups of college Democrats in Massachusetts disinvited left-wing congressional primary challenger and Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse from all future events alleging that he showed a pattern of using "his platform and taking advantage of his position of power for romantic or sexual gain, specifically toward young students."The email, sent on Thursday and signed by College Democrats of Massachusetts, U-Mass.-Amherst Democrats, and Amherst College Democrats alleged that Morse, who is challenging House Ways and Means Chairman Richie Neal, had "sexual contact" with students at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where he was a lecturer on political science."Numerous incidents over the course of several years have shown that it is no longer appropriate to encourage interaction between College Democrats and Alex Morse," they wrote.
In a letter sent back to the groups on Thursday and obtained by POLITICO, Morse wrote, "I want to be clear that every relationship I’ve had has been consensual.
| Does this mean “Nice GPA ya got there, kid. Be a shame if anything happened to it...” or “Hey, Joe — I hear Professor Morse will raise the grade of students who volunteer to be his extra-special assistants”? |
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money...
I also recognize that I have to be cognizant of my position of power." He continued: "Navigating life as both a young gay man and an elected official can be difficult, but that doesn’t excuse poor judgment."
In a statement, Morse acknowledged relationships with college students and said the relationships were consensual. Asked if the allegations of "sexual contact" were with students at the college where he taught, Morse’s campaign did not respond.
The letter was first reported by The Massachusetts Daily Collegian.
The university announced on Saturday afternoon that it would launch a review into the allegations to determine whether Morse's behavior violated university policy or federal Title IX law. The school says it was previously unaware of the allegations against Morse.
"The university’s policy on consensual relationships between faculty and students notes that dating or sexual relationships between faculty and students or post-docs are inherently problematic because of the unequal power dynamic between the parties to the relationship," spokesperson Ed Blaguszewski said in a statement. "Therefore, faculty are prohibited from entering into a sexual relationship with any student or postdoc for whom the faculty member has any responsibility for supervision, evaluation, grading, advising, employment, or other instructional or supervisory activity."
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