Italy: Prof probed for 'sexual harrassment' on Facebook

Milan, 7 June (AKI) - A history teacher at a northern Italian technical college was suspended after being reported to police by a number of his female students who accuse him of trying to seduce them on Facebook in exchange for good marks.

"When we go out together we won't talk about history but about us," and "How's your jealous boyfriend" were almong the messages the 40-year-old temporary teacher sent to students.

The teacher is now being investigated for suspected abuse of office and "private violence", according to prosecutors in the northern city of Milan who are probing the students' claims.

Between the end April and the end of May, the teacher contacted all the female students in his class via Facebook before he was suspended by the institute's president.

He sent a message to one 18-year-old girl in his class, saying: "Your photos are beautiful. I'd like give you an excellent mark - you're the only person I am saying that to."

A total 23 students told prosecutors the teacher had made passes at them on Facebook.

"You're really special. It's not the first time a professor has fallen in love with a student," he allegedly wrote to one student. Together with several other students she took print-outs of all his messages to the institute's head, who contacted the police.

Teach ‘em, not breach ‘em - the basis of any legitimate teacher/student relationship.

Students compete for grades, therefore any possibility that sex entered into the grading destabilizes and delegitimizes the education process.

While student in college are old enough to enter into consensual sexual relationships, and most so do, the faculty/student anti-miscegenation rule is in place to remove any aura of unfair bias in grading.

As for offering sex for grades, that falls under a number of well established violations of the civil and criminal codes. I can’t say for societies other than America, though. But I suspect Europe has had to deal with this far longer than has America, and has therefore developed mechanisms for dealing with it.

As any employer can tell you, not all hires are what they seemed.

Time to fire that one.

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