The father of Sophie Elliott, the Dunedin student who was murdered by her tutor, wants all universities to ban relationships between staff and students.
Now in a New Zealand first, intimate relationships at Wellington's Victoria University have been banned among staff who have direct responsibilities with students - but there are calls for other universities to follow suit.
Photos of Sophie Elliott have fuelled her father's fire to fight for a ban on staff and student relationships for more than a decade.
She was killed in 2008 by her then-tutor Clayton Weatherston, who she was in a relationship with while studying at the University of Otago.
Now, those types of relationships are banned at Wellington's Victoria University and Sophie's father has a message for other tertiary institutions.
"I think they should follow suit, as soon as possible," Gil Elliott said.
Victoria University is the first in New Zealand to introduce the policy.
"If there is a professional relationship, it is not appropriate that there is also a personal relationship like any other professional relationship, doctor, client," Provost Professor Victoria University of Wellington Wendy Larner said.
Other universities discourage relationships, but Gil wants them to go a step further.
"Discouraged is a bit of an iffy sort of word to be perfectly honest. People might say to themselves, 'Oh well, they discourage but who cares, I'm still going to do it'," he said.
The Universities of Otago, Waikato, Massey, Auckland and Canterbury all confirmed their policies are under general review.
Lincoln said its policy is under constant review.
Meanwhile, Auckland University of Technology is looking at Victoria's approach to see if there are ways it can improve its own processes.
The Education Minister has backed the policy change.
"That's ultimately a matter for the universities. They have institutional autonomy around how they approach that. I think the policy that Victoria University has set out though is a very sensible one," Chris Hipkins said.
"I think it’s time universities caught up, and Victoria is definitely doing that," Gil said.
Hoping to eliminate any power imbalance in and out of the classroom.
