Whether feminists claiming a lot of professors are using their position of power to sexually harass students or the more positive consideration that students often have a particular attraction to their teachers, there seems to be this notion that there is a lot of sexual interaction between professors and students. Apparently that isn’t true. There just aren’t that many relationships between students and faculty.
In a recently completed study at the University of Massachusetts on consensual sexual relationships between female undergraduates and the University of Massachusetts employees, only 1 out of 521 students surveyed indicated she had had a relationship with a professor.
I don’t know whether the rate of these relationships increases when there are vastly more women than men on campus.
The CBS show Swingtown illustrates a relationship between a 24 year old teacher and his 17 year old student and it is a little hard to argue that it comes off as exploitative, and that is probably realistic. A power imbalance does not imply abuse. This seems even more true in college where both are adults. Policies must be in place to prevent conflict of interest or quid pro quo, but it may not make sense to ban. Indeed, social stigma and rules may do more to prevent legitimate, student-teacher relationships than abusive ones. And as someone who taught three semesters in college, I am going to blame that for the lack of propositions.
- VWI
August 16, 2008 at 6:04 pm |
I have a feeling that a relationship with a professor is something that is going to be underreported, but I agree it is not widespread. By banning relationships it only makes it hotter. Plus, we know how well bans have worked during American history. My university has a better policy: if there is a relationship between a professor and a student, it must be reported to the university. The professor has no grading power over the student for the next 7 years, even if the two break up. That’s a much more pragmatic approach.