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The case I am referring to had dozens and dozens of freepers on a large number of threads specifically attacking the student for not staying faithfully married to the teacher.

Well, we've got a choice here: either acknowledge that an 18-year-old girl, who is a legal adult and has the right to vote, is an adult capable of making her own decisions and being held accountable for them, or go back to the days when women were considered the property, or at least, the wards, of men, fathers,husbands, etc., and thus were not responsible for their own decisions. Giving these young women full rights in some areas but treating them like children in others will not work.

Having said that, I have no doubt that this naive girl was easy pickings for this older guy and was vulnerable to manipulation. However, if she should choose to marry him, her naivete, in itself, is not grounds to toss away all standards for the sanctity of marriage. After all, there are plenty of older people, both men and women, who fall prey to manipulation and pressure in relationships, and we don't excuse them either.

I don’t think it helps the sanctity of marriage, by putting a girl, or young man, in a position of having been manipulated into marriage, and forcing them to have to live with that decision for the rest of their lives with no way out.