Harvard tells professors: No more sex with undergrads

[GummyBearz]

Harvard tells professors: No more sex with undergrads

I don't know where to begin with this headline... can someone entertain me with a good one-liner about how the rich-but-not-so-academically-inclined kid's GPAs are going to drop a point?


http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/06/us/harvard-bans-professor-student-sex/index.html

[BubbaFett]

1. most of my professors

way back when practically considered that a job perk.

[MineralMan]

2. They're just now doing that? Really?

While stuff like that has probably always gone on, most schools made rules against it long ago. People in positions of authority shouldn't be having sex with those under that authority. Period. It's a simple enough thing to understand.

[pnwmom]

10. Apparently Harvard profs thought such petty little rules shouldn't apply to them. n/t

[MineralMan]

12. I guess. I taught some Freshman composition classes

as a grad student. That rule was in place then, and that was in 1972. I did get propositioned a couple of times by female students, but was a happily married guy and wasn't at all interested. Apparently, it's pretty easy for teachers at any level to find students who will do pretty much anything for a decent grade.

I suppose for some, it's an opportunity. For me, it was a nuisance. It complicated the job I was trying to do.

[GP6971]

3. So post grads

Masters, PHDs are OK?

[DrDan]

4. graduate students are fair-game

[mike_c]

5. I've been a university professor for 20 years...

...and that has been the rule at every institution where I've worked. Even the appearance of impropriety with students is usually enough to get you shit canned, or at least reprimanded.

[petronius]

11. I was surprised to find that the rules are a bit more lax at my institution - romantic relationships

are prohibited between staff/faculty and students that they supervise in some way, but not otherwise. I was even more surprised to find that being a faculty member in a student's department was not sufficient to count as supervision - it had to be something more formal like class enrollment...

[NightWatcher]

6. The only time a professor ever screwed me

was when they would make us buy their own books even though we never needed them in class. Then they'd "update" them ever year to a new edition so that we couldn't sell back our useless texts. Sometimes I would've preferred a glass of wine and a backrub over that hosing.

[TM99]

7. Seriously!?

About damned time! My parents taught for over 35 years at a small college in the south and that was a rule from day one.

I remember a big scandal when I was about 8 years old when a professor was caught having sex with one of his students. He was fired without hesitation even though he was a tenured veteran professor at the time.

Nice to see Harvard catching up!

[hunter]

8. Wow. Did Harvard administrators just wake up from a forty year nap?

[LittleBlue]

9. Harvard becomes the bedroom police

America continues the tradition of sexual repression

Seriously though, I can understand why it's banned between professors and their students. But why would it make a difference with professors and students who aren't even in their class?

[mythology]

13. That's what the rule used to be

Apparently they feel it's no longer sufficient.

[RobinA]

14. Great, Because

prohibiting relationships has always been so successful.

[GummyBearz]

15. When I taught a college class

When I was 28 and just finished my PhD it was pretty successful.

University rule: If you have intercourse with students, you lose your job.

My response: Quickly decline female students that asked to meet up at odd places, such as the bars nearby. Yes it did happen, and one of them was pretty clear that she was interested in more than going over the midterm.

I would think that anyone who has EVER been a student past high school would see why such a rule is important. You know, academic honesty and all...