Based on this article. Focus: Sex between undergrads (18 or older) and professors? Good, bad, nobody's business? Alt Focus: Ever slept with a professor when you were an undergrad? Ever slept with an undergrad while you're a professor?
I think it is an abuse of power. That being said.... The only professor I would have ever done was, like, so cool, man. He had gone completely grey but had a ponytail and an earring. He probably smoked weed in his office and banged his way through his female biology students. Humps and a bump.
Over 18? It's fair game. They're only going to be your professor for 3 months max. Also, I've heard WAY more female students talk about banging teachers and seen flirt with teachers than I've seen male students do the same. Graduate students is still permitted though? I think that's a way more dangerous dynamic because at that point, that teacher can directly be your boss and do little untraceable things to fuck you and prevent PhD status.
Focus: I always assumed that things like this were already banned, just not strictly enforced. I'd like to get on the podium and say things along the lines of this is an unfair way to get a degree/not get a degree but let's be honest, this is just teaching real life lessons to younger people. There's more than one way to get ahead in the world and honestly, ass kissing or this sort of thing, is probably more important than being smart and good at what you do.
Focus: As long it's all consensual and not manipulative (goes for both parties, and it's a big "as long as" too), I don't see how it would really harm me. If a student was pressured into it, or was trying to fuck their way to a grade, etc, all bets are off. According to the article, Harvard is basing their decision on these relationships being "of unequal status" in the first place but I think people can make their own mistakes if they want to. Alt-focus: My ex that became a stripper was seriously contemplating a sexual proposition to our math professor in exchange for a passing grade on the final ("Great idea, honey!"). I can recall having only one or two female professors/TAs that I was actually attracted to, so it wasn't really a factor for me.
Focus: Sex between undergrads (18 or older) and professors? Good, bad, nobody's business? I tend to agree with this: Only because it just seems wrong. I would think that a professor could easily take advantage of an impressionable college student, and could manipulate them into thinking it was consensual, when it really wasn't. Alt Focus: Ever slept with a professor when you were an undergrad? Oh, God know. I am not into dudes, especially older dudes. I only had about 3-4 female professors during my 7+ years of college, and - shudder - not even remotely would I have considered that. Ever slept with an undergrad while you're a professor? While I was a TA, does that count? Although, I was already sleeping with her before she took my class. And, I refused to let her slide on one of her assignments that she wanted to get out of doing in exchange for sexy time. (Made her do the work; got sexy time anyway. Ha!)
Maybe a third of my professors were women, and most were older or singularly unattractive. Sleeping with any of them never even crossed my mind. There was, however, a Dominican professor in our department who was hot, had a great accent, and flirted with her male students. I never had her as a prof, but knew her. I would have seriously considered it. One of my chemistry professors was this weasely little dude who had reputation for hitting on his female students. He taught himself to play guitar, hoping that would help his cause, and frequently invited students to hang out at his apartment. It was mostly the guys who took him up on the invite, because he would offer to teach them how to make X, meth, and other shit - minus one key ingredient/step that they could figure out on their own. Coincidentally this professor lives near me, and i see him around every now and then - always alone, and looking more pathetic every year.
I really don't care who fucks who, providing "who" isn't achild who can't think properly for themselves. If not then by all means become a living cliche, it's your right.
My buddy had one of his female professors hanging out with him for a while, but he managed to fuck it up and never sealed the deal. She was 24 and smoking hot. I wouldn't have hesitated to hook up with her, but the whole time those two were messing around I couldn't help but think of how extremely unprofessional it was for her to be doing this, and if I were her boss I wouldn't be impressed. Side note: He was actually older than she was, so it's not like she was corrupting him or anything.
I think I had one professor who was remotely attractive because she was thick as hell. Her face was plain homely, passable with make-up but wouldn't notice her in a crowd without it. I had equal amounts female/male professors, it's just not one of them was even worth moving a B to a A. But apparently most of the male teachers under 55 were killing it at my school.
I had a "professor" in grad school who was actually adjunct faculty. She had been a hot shot research analyst at a few notable banks, and ran a hedge fund for a few years. She was also into Crossfit. She wasn't a complete smokeshow, but from the top of a lecture hall, she looked pretty damn attractive. Other than her, I can only think of one English prof I had in college who was ok. I ran into an old Psych TA at a bar when I was a junior and we made out, but that was after our class in common had ended.
I agree that while a professor sleeping with a student may not be a horribly awful and unethical idea, a professor sleeping with one of his/her current or former students most definitely is. I can see why Harvard would make this decision. It's an Ivy League school; in some people's opinion, professors fucking around with any student could lower the credibility and esteem of the professor and maybe the institution. Alt Focus: Nope. All of mine were middle aged or elderly and not attractive by any stretch of my imagination.
I am in the same boat as most people, who gives a fuck if they aren't your current student. I only had one female professor that I could remember she was an older Russian lady, nope.
Pffft, that seals it. I will never teach at Harvard. I had one attractive professor. Intro To Media Studies. She was 32 and pronounced library as, "lie-berry." There you have it, folks. I'm of the same mind as everyone else. If they aren't your current student, who cares? If I was the boss, though, I would be none too pleased with any fraternizing. That just seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen. One of my journalism profs invited everyone out for beers after the final. We threw back a couple, got into a discussion about his weed days. Nothing mind blowing. That's probably a pretty standard interaction. Nods in agreement:
Yes, but not just "out." I had one professor who had a hot tub party at his house at the end of each quarter. I took several classes from him, including my senior project. Another professor had a rule, that you couldn't bring beer to extra study sessions unless you brought him one, too. That lead to discussions about beer drinking, which lead to gatherings at his house. Gross, no way I'd bang her.
See, this reminds me of Philip Roth's The Dying Animal (great movie adaptation with Ben Kingsley called Eulogy). David Kepish is an aging lothario who throws a cocktail party at the end of every semester so he can bang his students; held at his place especially since administration put the rape hotline number outside his door on the corkboard. Kepish is a thinly veiled version of Roth, who himself taught at Princeton and University of Penn until 1991. Probably just so he could continue to fuck students. World renowned author, writer of at least one modern classic, there's no way he didn't clean up on that campus.
Oh good gracious. I was a young, naive 19, he was...I don't know, probably 76 or something. He looked like John McCain and had the anger of a much younger man, like someone who turned 65 and found out they don't qualify for retirement. His curmudgeony way of telling us we were all a bunch of idiots who couldn't find a philosophical idea if it was the broadside of a barn we were standing up against before he put a bullet through our heads for being so dumb was just magical. It started with Intro to Philosophy. Then I realized he taught the philosophy of America classes that were basically just cowboy stories, and I probably had to replace every pair of pants I owned. It was about that time I took to wearing dresses. We discussed the movie Shane in his office. I made him patently uncomfortable by sitting in the front row of every class and turning bright red every time he asked a question. I imagined wonderful scenarios where I'd sit at his feet and he'd throw knowledge all over me and then I would have sex with him. My friend told me to stop doing so many drugs, but being high all the time is what prevented me from trying to bone him, because, you know, lack of ambition and whatnot. I never did actually bone him. I did get an A in every class though, which apparently no girls ever got. So...yay!
Does this need to be a rule? At fucking Harvard? I can see this being a problem at the graduate level, where the degrees of separation between faculty and PhD candidates are kind of slimmer. But, if you need to be told "don't bang a 19-year old you met in your classroom", you shouldn't be teaching at Harvard. Ugh, this seems like an HR thing so they can fire you for doing something legal but morally questionable. This is part of trying to solve the "campus rape problem", which is a difficult beast to tackle for any university, much less...that one. With that said, the ass around Cambridge that I saw was nothing short of...prestigious. I never fucked any of my students, nor will I ever...while they're a student.