Student/Professor Relations .......

[eagle1]

Hey guys.

I'm trying to find out some info about this topic for one of my classes.
Question is, what do you think of student/professor relationships?
SHould they be allowed?
Should they be banned?
Can you include reports and news and stuff?
Maybe even talk about the law (if there's any?!?).

Personally, I think it should be allowed just because of the sexual nature of us humans because the "normal" thing for us is to be attracted to someone without any boundaries it doesn't matter if it is male w female, male w male, etc. or if you are a professor and you like the student, etc...
And if a professor/student relationship is not allowed then why are graduate students (teaching assistants) and student relationship are allowed?
Isn't this basically the same? (in regards to power, etc.).


Thanks in advanced for your comments.!

[samwichse]

Humans are humans, however, the reason it's not allowed (IMO) is that a professor has a certain "power" which can influence the younger, less experienced student. Even if it's subconcious, the teacher for this reason shouldn't ever become the lover.

And if the professor is teaching classes the student is in, well then that just brings up all sorts of conflicts of interest and can easily end up down the road of bribing/blackmail.

Sam

[osprey4]

Many colleges and universities have written policies on this topic. It shouldn't be too hard to find some.

My personal feeling is, it's no worse than a guy running off with his secretary. Just ruins the guy's family, integrity and career, but other than that, it's fine.

[M_Six]

I went to college in my 30s. There were professors my age at that college. I didn't have relationships with any of them, but I wouldn't have had any moral issues with it had the opportunity presented itself.

However, in instances where a considerable age difference exists, the authority pressure can come into play and can be very inappropriate. So I guess it all depends on the situation. I wouldn't want anyone telling me who I could or could not date, but we've seen that even at the very highest levels of government there are people with very poor judgment, so leaving it up to the individuals involved doesn't always work either.

Tough choice.

[Theophylact]

When I was young, it was absolutely forbidden (although, of course, it did happen). The professors didn't always get fired -- sometimes they were too prominent for that -- but it was always scandalous. When James D. Watson (of double-helix fame) married one of his Radcliffe students, it caused quite a stir.

It's always a bad idea. Even if the student and professor are in different departments, the inequality of power and the possibilities for conflict of interest are dangerous.

In a similar vein, the military recognizes the problem and has stringent rules (although, again, lots of high-rank officers get away with it).

[eagle1]

But what about attraction and desire ... and maybe even .... LOVE?!?
When our minds set themselves onto something, they don't let go...
It's for my psyc class so I have to check everything.!

[Scott Tiger]

Hmm.. I'm sure each school has thier own rules dealing with this issue I can't help but think this would vary from school to school.

I just turned 30 in July and go to a moderately sized community college at night. Given that some of the professors there are about my age I would have no trouble dating any of them so long as I was not enrolled in any of thier classes.

I'd have no problems asking out the woman that teaches my Monday night class (if she were single) next semester assuming she's not teaching anything I'm taking then. The only problem I forsee is she's married, so that's out of the question.

[eagle1]

I think I'm going to get in contact with some university Psic. Professors and ask them a couple of things.!
Maybe they'll get back to me.!

[originel]

i'm not really certain what the policy is here...but there are some questions i have to ask.

What exactly do you mean when you say "Professor"? is that just tenured full-time Profs, asst.-profs as well, TA's, etc?

Personally i don't think it should happen a) if the student is in the prof's class and b) if there is a large age-gap, but other than that i don't have a problem with it (the former because of favoritism, the latter cause it's just not a good idea and IMO applies to all relationships).

[eagle1]

What exactly do you mean when you say "Professor"? is that just tenured full-time Profs, asst.-profs as well, TA's, etc?

Full-time profs.!


But I think that if it applies for profs, it should apply for everyone in the school (even a secretary and a student). I don't think you can't mess with what people feel like doing.!