Harvard bans professors from having sex with undergraduates

Associated Press ^ | Feb 5, 2015 7:01 PM EST

[Gaffer]

True. However you are talking about ethics and morals. From what I’ve seen of Harvard, that’s not even a consideration. There are none.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I’ve withdrawn my application for a faculty position at Harvard.

I dunno. If you've ever walked through Harvard Yard, this may be more an issue of hygiene than morals.

[GladesGuru]

America’s oldest theological training facility has grown a bit in thete intervening centuries, and, I regret to say, acquired many of the sins Cotton Mather hoped Harvard graduates would preach against.

Interestingly, the faculty/student anti-misegenation rule traces back many centuries. As students compete for grades, to allow even the appearance of favoritism based upon sexual favors was considered unacceptable.

I must also note that today’s “Academented” seem totally free of such ethical behavior. “Guys, gals, or goats” are all grist for the Liberals in the self serving world of the Academented.

BAH! HUMBUGGERY!

[oblomov]

I was using the term metaphorically (thus my formulation “more abstract form of pederasty”). The pattern of seducing young people to bad, unworkable, destructive ideas is similar to the process whereby a pederast seduces his prey. A softening of resistance, blurring of boundaries, small suggestions that “necessitate” what the seducer was aiming for all along. Behind it is a form of mental illness, a manifestation of a psychopathic urge to dominate others.

[Morpheus2009]

If people know that she is your wife, there isn’t much of a problem. She also knows that they’re watching as well, so there’s not much of a problem.

[a fool in paradise]

Well, there goes my plans to be a Harvard professor.

If Harvard won't let you lecture there anymore, do what Timothy Leary did when they told him the same, start an LSD cult...

[ExTxMarine]

Really? You've attended Harvard and know this to be a fact?

First off, no, I haven't been to Harvard; however, I do know several Harvard graduates. And from listening to their stories, I figure Harvard is pretty much like any other college - there is a great deal of quid pro quo that occurs.

However, do I know this is a fact? Since I never did it, then it would be impossible for me to know that it is a "fact."

But, most importantly, excuse me, for your failure to read the hyperbole in that statement.

[Savage Beast]

A gasp as American academia sinks inexorably into the quicksand of decadence.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Carl Sagan made quite the name for himself at Harvard before being caught and fired.

I believe you once told me that you were an undergraduate student of Sagan's at Cornell. Your story has that Se non è vero, è molto ben trovato quality to it. I suppose is might even be vero. I worked with a Cornell PhD a few years behind Sagan, who knew Sagan when they were both graduate students, and who had done a post-doc at Arecibo. My colleague, hardly a rumor monger, recalled that Sagan would fly into Aricebo, drink some rum and Coke and play volleyball with the coeds. Such are the toils of those in the groves of Academe.

[grania]

Back in the 1960s....an undergrad in my class had an affair with a professor. She was expelled. He wasn't fired until the facts became common knowledge. This was an all-girls Catholic school back then.

What's my point? These problems are not new.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Never despair, there is always Yale.

[redfreedom]

‘I foresee a sharp drop in GPA’s.’

I believe it. I once worked with a botanist that was both dumb as a fence post and extremely incompetent at her job. However this married lady would have sex with anyone regardless of age or sex. Her favorite stories were those about her and her professors back and the U.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

She would need a degree in Botany to replenish her supply of lost flowers.

[Thunder90]

I bet that there are provisions for those over 22 years old (nontraditional students).

[catnipman]

[<1/1,000,000th%]

And it’s first graduating class included Sir George Downing. Downing Street in the UK is named for him.

[catnipman]

“I foresee a sharp drop in GPA’s.”

Yeah, when I was a TA in graduate school, a chick boldy propositioned to screw me if I’d give her an “A”. I declined and she moved along. What I didn’t tell her, though, was she only looked like a “D” student to me. She had that Debbie W-S mayonnaise-hair look and otherwise was about as attractive as DWS. The decision would have been MUCH more difficult if she had actually looked like an “A” student.

[from occupied ga]

But, most importantly, excuse me, for your failure to read the hyperbole in that statement

So in other words you're just spreading BS.

[CommerceComet]

Yup...really should be ALL students.

I once sat on a committee at a university which examined this issue. The university had no explicit policy against professors dating students. We recommended that none be enacted. This was based on a few factors.

First, there was no evidence that this problem was common. There had only been a handful of reported incidents over a couple decades.

Second, there were already university policies concerning conflicts of interest and abuse of power which in the opinion of the university attorney were sufficiently broad to cover these situations. That opinion was supported by the previously reported incidents which used the already-existing provisions to punish wayward professors where punishment was deemed appropriate.

Third, some administrators wanted a uniform policy across the campus while others wanted different policies for undergraduates and graduates. This disagreement got heated and our committee did not want to get in the middle. So we did what all administrators do in that situation: we took the path of least resistance.

In our early discussions about the policy, the one issue that kept coming up was the age difference and relatedly, the maturity and social status of the student. In a typical undergraduate class, the professor is usually substantially older than the undergraduates with more maturity and social status. In a graduate class, it was not uncommon to have students as old or older than the professors with substantial careers already started. In my discipline, it was not uncommon for someone to graduate, work for a few years earning a high salary and respected credentials, and then come back for a graduate degree. In such a situation, the power imbalance is much less because the social statuses are much more equal and the maturity level of the student much higher. I can think of half a dozen professors who met their spouses when the spouse was a student in their class. In none of those cases, did it appear anything improper was being undertaken.

None of that affected me personally - Mrs. CommerceComet has a much more stringent policy on this than any university but she only has jurisdiction over one professor.

[CommerceComet]

For clarification, in all the cases that I am personally aware of, the professors who met their spouses while the spouse was a student, the classes were all graduate classes and the students graduate students.