Posted on 10/12/2004 8:23:32 AM PDT by johnnyb325
I would like to begin this week's column with a question: Have you ever heard of a group called "Consenting Academics for Sexual Equity?"
Most likely you have not. It's not a famous organization. I wouldn't know it existed if I hadn't read about it in Ben Shapiro's book "Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth." It's a small, obscure group with few members. But it is important that we, especially the young women among us, know about it because it illustrates a larger problem in academia today.
Consenting Academics for Sexual Equity is an organization founded by University of California at Long Beach professor Barry Dank. Its goal is to remove any and all restrictions on sexual relationships between students and faculty. I know it sounds like he's a dirty old man, but he's really not. He's only thinking of women's rights, as he says that university rules outlawing professor/student sex are "an attack on young women." What a selfless fellow he is.
I'll state the obvious here: This group exists to help horny old men and women get laid - nothing more, nothing less. I did a little research on this club, but I was unable to determine if there were any members on the UT faculty. I strongly suspect there are at least one or two, though.
A few professors feel that it is their duty to educate their students about sex, particularly "inexperienced" students. Some of them do it in a very, ahem, "hands-on" sort of way. A course taught at Wesleyan University featured a unique final assignment: "Just create your own work of pornography." One student videotaped a man's eyes while he masturbated. This work earned her an "A." I'm sure John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, would be proud to have his name attached to this school.
Classes that explore pornography are becoming more common across the nation. Kansas University, New York University and Arizona State University all offer classes on "adult entertainment." One of my professors claims that porn is an "art form." Maybe so, but when I think of art, I tend to think of, you know, actual art (not necessarily as defined by the National Endowment for the Arts). Next they will be telling us "hooking up" is also a form of art.
Speaking of "hooking up" (defined as "no strings attached sexual encounters ranging from kissing to sex"), some professors think it is an important virtue for students as well. "That's what they are supposed to be doing, experimenting and risking and finding out who they are," said Cal State-Chico professor Lyndall Ellington. I guess Professor Ellington never heard of unwanted consequences, like pregnancies and venereal diseases. He's not the only one. Ten percent of respondents to a recent survey reported that they had had sexual relations with a professor. Think it doesn't happen at UT?
I want to make it clear that I am not a prude. What consenting adults do behind closed doors is their own business. I am a bit offended, however, when university faculty members, who are supposed to be professionals, behave in such ways. Call me old school, but shouldn't professors be role models? Some of my greatest heroes are college professors; in fact my mother is one. Obviously, most professors are abhorred by actions such as these, but a vocal minority are not. Instead, they defend and even encourage them.
When Kansas University fell under investigation by the state legislature for using tax dollars to fund classes dedicated to porn, 37 associate deans rushed to the defense of the professor in question. One would think that these deans would be interested in upholding the academic integrity of the university, and would want the professor responsible fired more than anyone. Apparently not. Maybe they are just a little kinky. Or maybe they just don't care that the taxpayers don't like having their money spent on items they find immoral.
Young women at universities are often out on their own for the first time, and sometimes are naive. They are often vulnerable to charming and charismatic professors, and easily taken advantage of. Most professors would never dream of taking advantage of their students, but as in all professions, there are a few bad apples that do. It is our responsibility as decent people to weed out these sick and twisted individuals before they do any irreversible damage to unsuspecting victims.
- John Brown [www.johnnorrisbrown.com] is a senior in political science. He can be reached at jbrown44@utk.edu
No picutres, please.
Another example of the liberal mantra, "Me, Me, Me. What can I do for Me!"
"What did you study at the University, Jim?"
"I majored in lewd conduct with minor in debauchery..."
Another "shining" example of what liberalism touches, turns to s#$%. The Excrement Touch. Academia protects these liberal deviates...most of them never have to venture outside the PROTECTION OF THE ACADEMIC SYSTEM to feed themselves. Their entire life is a re-written history book and philosophical utopia, in a disasterous mixture that has ruined our K thru 12 school systems with outcome based "education" , and continues to fester and grow in our university systems. I am old enough to have seen the REAL CALIFORNIA before the liberals infested it, and destoyed it. The education system was one of the first to die...from top in the nation, straight to the bottom. Matter of fact.
Liberalism is a killer desease. Whatever it touches....
If they're that horny, they can screw each other and leave the students alone. There is a dichotomy in the way college students are viewed; they are supposed to be and have all the freedom of adults, but Dad and Mom are still supposed to pay the bills. Well, I don't think most Dads and Moms want their hard earned money spent to pay people to prey sexually on their kids.
Au contraire, mon frere. Pictures would remove all doubt as to why this is considered desireable. I doubt very much that any of the proponents are "hotties".
A young woman I once dated recounted how she'd slept with one (married) sociology professor a few times and was then essentially passed around the department. Once, a professor she did not know showed up at her apartment (where she, a divorce, lived with her small son) and insisted on coming in for sex, as one of the other professors had told him she was available and a 'good lay'.
Several of the TAs I knew slept with their current students, although most of us did not -- at least insisting any relationship wait until they were not taking a class with us.
In other cases, there were many notorious affairs between married professors and female graduate students, sometimes even with the wife's consent and connivance (I remember one case where both the wife and the graduate student girlfriend were photographed in the buff cavorting with the professor in his hot tub) Other cases were sadder, with families broken up when pretty, spoiled, bright and rich young things seduced middle-aged professors, who then left their wives and families, only to be unceremoniously dumped when sweetie was tired of them, or had gotten her tenure track job.
Overall, given the power relationships involved and what I saw in academia, I don't think faculty student sex is a good idea.
A young woman I once dated recounted how she'd slept with one (married) sociology professor a few times and was then essentially passed around the department. Once, a professor she did not know showed up at her apartment (where she, a divorce, lived with her small son) and insisted on coming in for sex, as one of the other professors had told him she was available and a 'good lay'.
Several of the TAs I knew slept with their current students, although most of us did not -- at least insisting any relationship wait until they were not taking a class with us.
In other cases, there were many notorious affairs between married professors and female graduate students, sometimes even with the wife's consent and connivance (I remember one case where both the wife and the graduate student girlfriend were photographed in the buff cavorting with the professor in his hot tub) Other cases were sadder, with families broken up when pretty, spoiled, bright and rich young things seduced middle-aged professors, who then left their wives and families, only to be unceremoniously dumped when sweetie was tired of them, or had gotten her tenure track job.
Overall, given the power relationships involved and what I saw in academia, I don't think faculty student sex is a good idea.
A "never would have gotten within 10 feet of any of my profs" ping.
"No more teacher's dirty looks?"
It's California State University at Long Beach: Cal-State Long Beach (CSLB), not UCLB.
I find this statement profoundly ignorant. I mean, its "glittering jewel of colossal ignorance". And to think that this is a dominant theme being shoved in the faces of young people who ought to be taught better by their professors.
Screwing for grades is not a question of mutual consent, unfair advantage, or exploitation. It's a question of fairness to other students who struggle to earn their grades. It's also a question of grade integrity. About the only people whose diplomas are not suspicious are straight white males and ugly white females.
"Strange that this article doesn't touch upon the real reason behind faculty/student sex restrictions: the trading of grades for sex. Perversion and taste aren't the issue; academic integrity is."
Hmm....thinking back to my long-ago college days (late 60s-early 70s), this doesn't wash. I knew lots of young women who were having sex with instructors and professors, never mind teaching assistants. I never knew one who did it for grades.
Typically, they were overawed by these people, and susceptible to seduction, as are many young women (thank goodness). They slept with the staff people because they wanted to.
Even a lowly tutor, a job I had in graduate school, often led to sexual invitations. Of the 6 freshmen women I tutored in one semester, three made it clear that they wouldn't mind getting sexually involved. I turned them all down, since I was a married guy. But there was no question, and it wasn't anything I was doing, other than helping them improve their writing.
Personally, I think it's a very bad idea.
I guess the middle aged professors just can't stand the fact that all those nubile coeds are off limits.
Ping
The profs at PSU were not exactly eye candy from a female point of view. Although I did have one interesting Journ prof who had worked at the Christian Science Monitor.
He wore blue/white seersucker suits and a tie every day and had this wild orange hair that rivaled Bozo the clown. Good teacher though.
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