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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1986)
What Price Romance? Love affairs between students and teachers can be a risky business It’s taboo,” says a recent University of Massachusetts graduate, "almost like incest.” Pepperdine University adjunct Prof Allen Weiner agrees: "Students are forbidden fruit." There you have it, from both sides. Teacher, thou shalt not sleep with thy students; students, thou shalt not seduce thy teachers. So go the proscriptions—yet student teacher sex remains a troublesome reality It’s perhaps only natural that true love often runs its course in the wake of pas sionate intellectual exchange; in an ideal world, it shouldn't really matter, as long as both parties consent But can there be a truly consensual relationship when one party holds most of the power? At the very least, asks J. Claude Evans, assistant pro fessor of philosophy of Washington Univer sity in St I>ouis, "How could you grade somebody you're involved with?" Given the surreptitious nature of stu dent-teacher romances, it’s difficult toesti mate just how often they occur But there are a few scattered indications that it may be more frequent than generally thought A University of Missouri, Columbia, study published in 1986 found that male profes sors had made passes at nearly one-third of the female psychology grad students. One in six students said she had had sex with a faculty member, who was usually a re search adviser; in 28 percent of those rela tionships. the student felt coerced The frequency of homosexual relationships, meanwhile, can only be surmised—but some gay teachers, sensitive about fears they will convert the young to their sexual preference, say they’re extremely cautious about involvement with students Now that sexual harassment has be come a more actionable complaint (boxi, some schools are trying to outlaw student teacher sex For the most part their efforts hi\ve fizzled Lust spring the University of California system rejected a bun thut would have forbidden faculty from "en gaging in a romantic or sexuul relation ship with a student under circumstances which compromise student-faculty rela tionships.” Another failed attempt, at the University of Texas, Arlington, would have made any romantic involvement w ith a student a "serious breach of profes sional ethics for faculty." In the view of Robert King, dean of the College of Liberal ILLUSTRATION BY HARNKTT R(X)T Almost like Incost’: The extracurricular taboo Arts at Texas, Austin, adopting such pro hibitions "would be about as effective as having a policy against sin." Folks view the matter differently in the City of Brotherly Ixive At the University of Pennsylvania, the faculty adopted sweep ing measures in 1985 to curtail student teacher dating. Sexuul relations between student and teacher were deemed "inap propriate." The policy second-guesses the lovers: "What might appear to be consensu al, even to the parties involved, may in fact not be so.” If teacher and student have sexual relations while the faculty member is teaching the student, any com plaint of sexual harassment will be pre sumed valid. The statement condudesomi nously: "any teacher enters at peril into sexual relations with a student.” Like a wormy apple, the official respon sibility for intrascholastic love affairs most often lands on the teacher’s desk Students, younger and presumably less experienced, may be immensely flattered by attention from a respected author ity figure and unable to differenti ate gratitude from attraction. On the oth er side of the lectern, professors argue that they, too, can be manipulated. Peter Fa varo, who teaches psy chology and computer science at New York's Hofstra University, says he's propositioned about once a year by females who say they would "do anything for an A." Jennifer admits to flirting first. "I'd always been intrigued by the idea of dating a profes sor,” she says. Jennifer, a recent graduate of UT, Austin, was fond of her liberal-arts profes sor’s "sexy” voice and even his paunch. She be gan smiling at him across the room, and he smiled back. They finally went out for drinks with another student-faculty pair. That night they kissed. After 10 minutes, the professor broke off theembrace—and the re lationship. Recalls Jen nifer: "He said, 'The first thing is, I don’t know you very well. The second thing is, you’re a student. I’d be too influ enced . I ha ve to give you a grade at the end of the semester’.” Dirty old protossor': Whether an adventure lasts 10 minutes or one term, social pres sure can be tremendous. "I fear hearing, 'That dirty old professor, he’s out dating students’,” says a University of Houston professor. Kathleen Kupper, a UCLA grad uate who married her thesis adviser, re members her mortification in front of her peers: "You get downcast eyes and giggles.” The professional penalties can be far more severe. Jonathan Hird, wom en’s cross-country coach at Brown, says he was "not rehired” for a part-time posi tion at the school apparently because he dated one of his athletes. Three years later, after she married him and graduat ed, Hird was offered a full-time position. "The athletic director as much as told me that he was happier when she and I got married," says Hird. Sometimes love does find a way, but the Hirdsare probably lucky exceptions. Steve Brackney, a student at Houston who mar ried his Spanish instructor, says, "It’s not
