+1 and agree with situational awareness, however nitpicking: handshakes may not be ok. First, there is the gender-cultural angle to consider. Second, handshakes can be suggestive (search "handshake flirting").

@bishop: I'm not sure there is any human behavior that is guaranteed to be acceptable in every possible social context, but you can find a lot of literature that lists handshakes as the single clear exception to "unwanted touching" in the workplace. A part of this is the mutually voluntarily nature of a handshake: it doesn't happen until both parties put their hands out. (Also, anything can be suggestive. Saying someone's name can be suggestive...but obviously it is okay to say people's names.)

@bishop see academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28676/…

I appreciated the tone of this response, and especially the on-point assessment about physical contact (handshakes vs tapping on shoulder vs beyond).

"Most of all, being fearful of being falsely accused of sexual harassment suggests a certain lack of empathy with your female students." -- Being in your thirties means that your female friends are also in their thirties, and likely have many stories to tell about wanted and unwanted advances from men. Talk to them about their perspectives of things. Ask them about situations they have encountered and would most definitely have liked not to happen. Gain a perspective of what women think constitutes harassment. You will likely gain an entirely new perspective.

+1, especially for "you make yourself much less appealing target for students to make up stories" I once had a situation where stories began circulating that I was drunk in class once. Fortunately, pretty much anyone who knows me knows that I've never had even a sip of an alcoholic drink in my life. (I have a certain family member to thank for being a "role model" in this.)

Thanks for the comments. I know of my own shortcomings and I have worked hard, through training and own self-reprogramming to fix them. I will accept your criticism and suggestions without the flair of drama that enshrines them.

@PeteL.Clark it's pretty obvious why he thinks that way: from the news and from it happening to his own friend. It's totally justified and reasonable.

Excellent answer, but the following statement seems unfair: "Most of all, being fearful of being falsely accused of sexual harassment suggests a certain lack of empathy with your female students" The OP's worry is not about an entire population of female students, but about a tiny fraction of that population who might behave maliciously, however, with potentially disastrous consequences. By no means does this worry implicate a lack of empathy for the majority of female students, too many of which face actual harassment.

«I don't really agree. Such allegations are treated confidentially at first, and if they are totally without merit they need not go public. » It seems that you're sugar-coating a lot...

If in doubt, there's always "The Rock Test": huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/…

This answer seems very condescending and lacks any actual content that OP is asking for. "Don't harass students" obviously. "Don't appear like you are sexually harassing people", right, this is what OP is trying to do. OP already said he leaves his door open, but wants to know if he can do more. "Don't be worried about a problem because there are bigger problems", why even answer? You clearly want to discuss social issues outside the scope of the question. The question isn't about the % of sexual harassment cases that are real, it's about protecting oneself from the small % that are made up.

As long as you tell people, there is nothing wrong with continuously recording audio in your office, as Nixon once did in the White House. You can even claim to be recording to analyze your time usage, or to supplement a poor memory. An actual camera would be creepy, as would recording without telling anyone.

@Abra: I am not saying that it is impossible for a faculty member to be falsely accused of sexual harassment: it does happen sometimes. There are many terrible things that could happen with small probability. I firmly believe, and could marshal supporting statistics accordingly, that a faculty member at my university is much more likely to be seriously injured in an automobile accident than falsely accused of sexual harassment. So there are relative levels of worry....

...(Sorry, I was interrupted by a student in my office!!) The OP is sufficiently worried to consider videotaping his office visitors and refusing to meet with female students. (To be sure, it seems clear that he knows better than to do any of these things.) What I meant is that I'm not sure why he is that worried about the situation...enough to potentially deform / inhibit his professional life. In terms of seat belts: yes, he should absolutely take appropriate precautions. I outlined several in my answer. I sincerely believe that if he does these, he'll be as safe as possible.

This answer should be distributed as a memo to all faculty, because it's a memo an awful lot of them seem not to have gotten yet.

@PeteL.Clark Thank you for taking the time to answer. You have indeed put some nice suggestions in your answer. However, you spent 3/4 of the answer belittling my fears in a condescending and slightly sarcastic tone. You took my question and used it as a platform for a social debate, which I believe is not the purpose of this website. I don't necessarily disagree with what you said, I simply believe it's an inappropriate place. Such behaviour will lead to people being afraid to ask questions to avoid the (in your own words) "What the what?!?" treatment.

@PeteL.Clark I know you like comments and wish they would stick around. I am going to continue to delete them, so please use chat and not comments.

@electrique: I am in the same professional situation as you, and I gave you the advice that I follow and that makes me confident enough not to worry about being accused of sexual harassment. I also tried to explain that consideration of the larger social context is part of the strategy.

If you don't think that understanding the circumstances and issues surrounding true sexual harassment is relevant to false sexual harassment, that's your right, but for my part I do think it's highly relevant.

@JBentley please bring the discussion here and don't use the comments.

@PeteL.Clark I think I asked a similar question

The jump from the current news to false accusations is shocking for me.

Nor was it my intention to belittle your fears. I don't share them, and I explained why, but that's not the same thing. One of the things that the internet provides best is straight talk from people who don't know you personally. That's the spirit of my answer.

If "What the what?!?" is a conversation stopper: sorry, that was not my intention. But indeed you're still replying and indicating that you read everything I wrote. Truly I am trying to help you, not put you down.

@PeteL.Clark As I said, I do agree with many of your comments. I disagree with the way you spent 3/4 of the answer to dissect my question and made assumptions about my background. I have gotten many nice suggestions, some (constructive and destructive) criticism to reflect upon, and a reminder that one should be very careful in formulating their thoughts in writting.

@electrique to be fair, and I am not trying to attack you, it was more like a 1/3 of the answer was dissecting your question as most of the "volume" were quotes.

or not. I see the bottom part of the answer now. I forgot about that part.

@PeteL.Clark I did read everything in detail, and as @ElizabethHenning said, I will use it as a memo to fix my mistakes. It doesn't change the fact that (I believe) it wasn't the place for this. BTW, I'm actually a big fan of your answers on this platform.

@StrongBad: Thank you for your arithmetic defense; I agree. Just now I went back and removed the last paragraph of my answer. I do think it's relevant but it's not essential: any interested party can investigate cases like this at their own university.

By the way, if there is some news story about a faculty member who manifestly did nothing wrong and got publicly accused of sexual harassment anyway...I really missed it. Could someone provide a link?

@PeteL.Clark I don't think so, if so I missed it also and my wife would not let that happen. I think it is the #metoo and hollywood stuff

The part I didn't like in your answer was the bullet list at the end. That is why I stole the quote from you (and then the green tick).