2008 Woodie Awards
op-ed: Professor-student relationship policy needed at Middlebury
Tracy Himmel-Isham and Jon Isham
Issue date: 10/18/07 Section: Opinions
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In a recent article in The Campus, ("Council Weighs Relationship Ban"), Faculty Council member Amy Morsman reports, "Faculty Council has been crafting a policy which would prohibit professors from having amorous relationships with students."
We say 'Bravo!' to Faculty Council for taking on this controversial issue, and we encourage them to take a strong stance. Hundreds of campuses across the United States have already adopted such a policy. Here's an example from University of Pennsylvania: "Consensual sexual relations between teacher and student can adversely affect the academic enterprise, distorting judgments or appearing to do so in the minds of others, and provide incentives or disincentives for student-faculty contact that are equally inappropriate. For these reasons, the University's policy prohibits sexual relations between a teacher and a student during the period of the teacher/student relationship." Furthermore, thousands of law firms, Fortune 500 companies and other organizations prohibit sexual relations between supervisor and supervisee. Like many members of our community, we believe Middlebury should adopt a comparable policy.
Consider the negative effects when a professor and a student whom s/he supervises are engaged in a romantic and/or sexual relationship. Multiple conflicts are bound to arise because of the power differential. Fellow students are justified in questioning, "What has happened to the mutual trust in this classroom?" Departmental colleagues of the professor should ask: "How will this relationship affect our professional reputation?" And if the College turns a blind eye, parents of Middlebury students have the right to demand "What kind of a community is this?!"
A good model for Middlebury is the "Statement on Consensual Relations" from Carleton College (adopted in 2002):
The well-being of the learning and teaching community at Carleton College depends upon the existence of a relationship of trust, respect, and fairness between the faculty and the students. Romantic and/or sexual relations, even if consensual, between faculty members and their students (those whom they currently teach, advise, supervise, coach, or evaluate in any way) violate the integrity of the student/teacher relationship as described above. Such relations are therefore prohibited by the College and constitute grounds for disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.
We say 'Bravo!' to Faculty Council for taking on this controversial issue, and we encourage them to take a strong stance. Hundreds of campuses across the United States have already adopted such a policy. Here's an example from University of Pennsylvania: "Consensual sexual relations between teacher and student can adversely affect the academic enterprise, distorting judgments or appearing to do so in the minds of others, and provide incentives or disincentives for student-faculty contact that are equally inappropriate. For these reasons, the University's policy prohibits sexual relations between a teacher and a student during the period of the teacher/student relationship." Furthermore, thousands of law firms, Fortune 500 companies and other organizations prohibit sexual relations between supervisor and supervisee. Like many members of our community, we believe Middlebury should adopt a comparable policy.
Consider the negative effects when a professor and a student whom s/he supervises are engaged in a romantic and/or sexual relationship. Multiple conflicts are bound to arise because of the power differential. Fellow students are justified in questioning, "What has happened to the mutual trust in this classroom?" Departmental colleagues of the professor should ask: "How will this relationship affect our professional reputation?" And if the College turns a blind eye, parents of Middlebury students have the right to demand "What kind of a community is this?!"
A good model for Middlebury is the "Statement on Consensual Relations" from Carleton College (adopted in 2002):
The well-being of the learning and teaching community at Carleton College depends upon the existence of a relationship of trust, respect, and fairness between the faculty and the students. Romantic and/or sexual relations, even if consensual, between faculty members and their students (those whom they currently teach, advise, supervise, coach, or evaluate in any way) violate the integrity of the student/teacher relationship as described above. Such relations are therefore prohibited by the College and constitute grounds for disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.
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Anonymous
posted 11/10/07 @ 10:59 AM EST
An essay reply by Barry M. Dank, emeritus professor of sociology at California State University, Long Beach.
http://dankprofessor.wordpress.com/2007/11/09/middlebury-college/
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