Hawaii lawmakers push to ban professors from dating students
JAMM AQUINO / AUG. 2011
Students make their way around campus during the first day of the 2011 fall semester at UH Manoa.
Right now, there’s no policy that bans University of Hawaii professors from dating their students.
In recent years, there’s been a national trend among universities, including Harvard, Yale and Arizona State University, to ban professors from dating their students. Many universities have made new policies as they’ve been urged to boost efforts to prevent sexual assault and rape on campus.
Hawaii lawmakers are pushing a bill to ban romantic relationships between University of Hawaii professors and students. The bill would also make rules to prevent sexual assault on campus, for example, by educating professors and students on sexual assault and domestic violence.
The University of Hawaii system has 10 campuses statewide that enroll 57,000 students. It came under fire two years ago when it was among dozens of schools nationwide that the U.S. Department of Education started investigating because of the way it handled sexual assault allegations.
Right now, the University of Hawaii says it’s planning to implement a new policy to prohibit faculty and students from dating. Most of the faculty and staff are unionized, so the university is in the midst of discussing the policy with unions, said Dan Meisenzahl, a spokesman for the university.
Last year, the university adopted interim rules to crack down on sexual assault, but the rules don’t explicitly address consensual relationships between students and professors. Previously, university policy discouraged faculty and students from dating, but didn’t prohibit it.
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“It’s a problem that we’ve known about for decades,” said Meda Chesney-Lind, a women’s study professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. “The problem with the policy is that says, ‘it’s not a good idea.’ It may sound strong, but you can drive a truck through that loophole.”
Chesney-Lind, who sat on a committee to draft new rules for consensual relationships, said romantic relationships between students are professors do happen, and they’re a “big problem” at the flagship Manoa campus.
“It just creates and odd environment that certainly isn’t conducive towards the learning environment,” she said, adding that student-professor relationships may start out consensually, but can lead to sexual harassment when students feel pressured to keep grades up.
Women’s groups supported the bill, but the University of Hawaii opposed it. They said there’s a task force currently working to crack down on sexual harassment and assault, but its final review won’t be done until 2017.
In the past, many U.S. colleges didn’t have formal policies addressing romantic relationships between faculty and students. Yet in recent years, many schools have made new policies ranging from banning all romantic relationships between students and faculty to prohibiting them only when a professor might be grading a student.
70 responses to “Hawaii lawmakers push to ban professors from dating students”
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Hey! How’s a kid supposed to get a good grade? I got all A’s in French, but I would have never passed Spanish…
You should have slept with the Spanish teacher too, knucklehead.
That’s what I said. That’s how I got the “C”. After 8 years of French, I simply couldn’t pronounce the Spanish words without Spanish sounding like French. I’m over that now.
Wee Wee!
Banning the time honored tradition of hot young co-eds trading a little nooky for a passing grade? There goes the incentive for dudes to become college professors. What’s next? Playboy magazine going nudity free?
It already is, if u r talking only about the centerfold.
As an attractive UH student, I don’t think being “hot” has anything to do with it. This should be a UH condition of employment policy and not a matter for the legislature to intercede in. Goodness.
Agree.
How do you fit through doorways?
Ok I will concede that guys can be called “attractive”.
attractive people don’t have to seek attention trolling comment boards. repulsive seems more likely.
Attractive!…Prove it!
Do you not know that Allie is a male?
Where is Velma Ko when we really need her?
Happy long lasting relationships started this way.
Given that it is far more common for younger women to marry older men, it does not surprise me that certain women’s groups find this to be a popular problem.
Following a standard bit of (ill)logic, you find a few bad cases, fabricate a generalization from it, and then force the generalization on everybody.
Linking this to sexual assault and rape seems unlikely, unless you redefine rape to include such a relationship.
A compromise might be to disallow such relationships between professors and students in their classes.
It would be a little fuzzy, since reference is made to “romantic” relationships. Sexual might be easier to define?
As for the pronouncement that it is a “big problem” it might be for Chesney-Lind, but perhaps not for the people actually involved.
It looks more like nepotism to me, as it would — and should — to others who share Prof. Babe’s classroom.
Also, by crossing that line prof is trashing the student’s academic worth in that class. There’d be no way to grade this student fairly. None. Even if the student’s work were to be scored 100% mathematically, well, sorry, he or she would be dating the ultimate tutor.
Like trying to outlaw fornication? How smart/enforcible is that?
Not the act itself, cojef. The choice of individuals involved has always had associated laws . What I like about this particular one is the fact that this would put the onus on the ones in charge to keep things fair. Or else.
Do what they do in Saudi Arabia! Cut off their penises and stone the women!
LOL. Knew it was only a matter of time before you showed up. I hope you don’t drop that ridiculous story here yet again.
How about a bill that would outlaw politicians and interns.
This article sounds like it’s about Allie.
giggle….
Slurp.
Oh my.
No dude – this is about female coeds, not male coeds. Have you not figured out that Allie is a male?
Are you serious? I thought Allie was a girl all this time.
Nope – its some dude who has been pretending to be female for some time now. It takes a while to figure this out – 2-3 times a few months back there was a dead giveaway in his posts.
We can end this personal debacle in a heartbeat. Just as schools have Zero Tolerance policies on what students can or cannot do, so we should for UH staff & teachers. Very simply a Zero Tolerance on any staff or teaching faculty dating / romantic relationship with any enrolled student.
The minute it is confirmed they have violated this Zero Tolerance policy they are fired, never to work for the state again in their current profession. UH Staff and teaching faculty will have no problem following the policy as they feel it works on students, know it is only fair to have one work on them.
Let’s git’r done now.
Yes!
Do not forget those famous words: “I never had relations with that woman.” What’s going to prevent normal mingling? Stay at home like a hermit crab.
“I want you to listen to me. I’m going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman,”
I thought this was a family show so the word “sexual” was not allowed. Apparently the word is allowed. Tyvm.
How enforceable will this policy be if the relationship is off campus during non school hours….it should be interesting to see if the disciplinary action will be sustainable when the case goes into arbitration……
We see how and where the minds of our legislators waste their time. It all starts at the very top and the name is Governor David Ige. Dave u had your chance: get the heck out of office. You are a Gentleman, we need an Officer. You are not an Officer.
Knew of one popular art professor who put the hit on an Asian girl. When she rebuffed his amorous advances, he accordingly gave her bad grades and harassed her verbally in class. Understand that this was his SOP. So, for the male wolves above who like the idea, it shows where you **** is.
She should have made a complaint. Nowadays, she can just got the social media route and post up on Twitter and Facebook. Vids of class “discussions” would really help her cause along.
UH allows their Teachers to date students??? Just another example of how the public worker unions have taken over both policy and operations in most state government departments. Union members have to literally commit a felony on the job before they can be fired for cause in this state. That’s what you get when one party controls everything for 50 years, the special interest groups actually control everything, all they need to do is fund the campaigns of the corrupt politicians and keep them in office.
we’re all adults here..ain’t nothing wrong with having some nookie on the side
truth in that. But to be fair, very few professors would act unprofessionally. It is a small number indeed who would dare to act on their impulses, whether women or men.
What this is really about is the unethical manipulation of less powerful individuals by those in positions of power and authority. The other side of that coin is when a person in a position of trust and authority becomes vulnerable, through unethical behavior, to catastrophically career ending accusations. Better all around to just leave it alone and behave ethically, responsibly and professionally.
The same reason that this is generally not allowed in the workplace. If the person who is subordinate does well, there is suspicion, if the person who is subordinate does not do well, there is suspicion. Profs, whatever happens will be richly deserved.
Would be interesting to know how the feminists at UH reacted to Bill Clinton’s serial womanizing before, during and after his presidency and his wife actively participating in the cover-ups. After all it’s a “big problem” they have “known about for decades”
Rubio and Cruz are quite the womanizers we are told.
What do you offer as evidence for either Rubio or Cruz being known as womanizers?
The void in the part of the GI system from whence the factoid was extracted.
Allie, deflection is not becoming. Further, the comment was as much, or more, about the wife of Bill attacking the bimbos, er, victims in his case.
Who’s we? LOL I love what pops out of your head. Clinton and Kennedy were the biggest womanizers ever. I am not saying this because I like Rubio or Cruz cause I can’t stand either one.
Allie, that’s racist. Being Latino doesn’t make you a womanizer.
Am watching Irrational Man with Juaquin Phoenix and Something Wonderful with Pierce Brosnan. Will let you know if they have happy endings.
Such an important hot topic…meanwhile they’ll squeak the automobile registration hikes through without anyone knowing because of THIS petty diversion…
Absolutely necessary! But it is implicit in the faculty handbook. When we were going up for tenure Beverly McCreery showed up a part of the handbook that said that moral considerations were implicit in tenure! This should be true of administrators carrying on w staff! Vroman has taken the stand that an administrator’s private life is personal. But when it nvlves a staff member and state property it is no lager personal, even if you then a couple of years later capitulate under the pressure of the bullying staff member and marry! First item of business should be to ban sex on Zhawaii Hall tables, use of government issued cell phones for texting mistresses and if bosses you have the hits for! Now of course the Beijng bulldog nsists that the philanderers bye loyal to her! And that he should make her an honest woman! Well how can you make an honest woman out f a dishonest one, one that cheated n her husband and brought a strange man to sleep n her hsband’s bed in front of her 5 year old! These have been UH shenanigans! The example set to faculty n the grounds that in Hawaii no ne cares!
Heh. There’s a lot to be said about sex on Hawaii Hall tables.
You know, a long time ago KTUH was in that Hall. Oddly, when they moved, the tables at Hemmingway Hall got more usage…
This ban should have been in place prior to hiring June Jones as head football coach back in 1999. 17 years too late
Would this cover him? He wasn’t issuing grades or doing the big nasty with any of his “students”.
Did it ever occurred some women are looking for that pedigree to create athletic off springs.
“Chesney-Lind, who sat on a committee to draft new rules for consensual relationships, said romantic relationships between students are professors do happen, and they’re a “big problem” at the flagship Manoa campus.”
Evidence?
So how will this be policed? Virginity tests? Panty checks? Bed checks? And if it takes place off campus?
If the Leg was serious about young people, then maybe they would address why so many have to leave the islands and why so many people in there islands don’t have homes?
Yeah, I’d like to see her evidence and numbers. I think we would find them lacking, or at least our definitions of “big problem” don’t match.
How about a rule that Hawaii lawmakers can’t date their staff, or one another?
I thought Hawaii lawmakers were exempt from any kind of ethics?
Good thing there’s nothing going on in this State that needs immediate attention.
Make a law that says politicians are not allowed to spawn under the penalty of death.
“but can lead to sexual harassment when students feel pressured to keep grades up.”
Attention dunce, err “professor” Meda Chesney-Lind, most students in real departments, studying real subjects, feel pressure to keep their grades up because they are looking to be hired by someone when they graduate, not just go back to school as an instructor or to get an even more useless master or PhD degree in a “studies” program.
Why would a professor challenging you to do better with your grades turn into “sexual harassment”? Are you saying the student will make a false claim? Did the ADULT student decide to have sex with the professor thinking it would improve their grade and now that it isn’t, decide to make a “complaint”?
With this kind of attitude now, I can hardly wait to see how students will act when the Bern’s plan for free college comes about. It will make a college degree as worthless as today’s public high school diploma.
In this type of relationship, yes, because of the disparity in stature between student and prof there’s always the possibility that it can be or become an abuse of power. Students do deserve to have some protection against that. Yet at the same time, human nature is what it is, love can’t be legislated out of existence, and not all such relationships are necessarily de facto abusive.
The corporate world often bans relationships between bosses and subordinates. Relationships where one of the parties is a direct report to the other, or supervised by the other, obviously do hold the seeds of abuse of power. Cases where a student is in the prof’s class, or the prof sits on the student’s thesis committee or is in a similar position of power, are clearly similar and there’s logic behind prohibiting those.
But I favor a middle-ground approach rather than a scorched-earth policy. The latter flies in the face of human nature and is not only unjust but also unlikely to succeed.
As long as the parties involved are of a consenting age, the government should mind their own business. Stop trying to legislate morality.
I agree. The only thing they could do is put it in their job description any/or Code of Conduct.
What about asking the politicians to do the same?
It makes sense only if the bill simultaneously bans legislators from taking bribes and so called campaign contributions.
Eliminate super-packs! The tide may be turning, as there is a rebellion is going on currently. The Washington insiders who have called the shots for too long are feeling the brunt of this uprising. Their favorite son, Bush, has been eliminated so they begged Romney to do Trump in yesterday to no avail. In fact it made Romney look silly and a loser. Republican voters who were sick and tired and have not voted in the past several elections although small in numbers are now showing up to support Trump, thus Trump cannot get over the 50% margin. The diehard are still supporting the Washington insiders. If this continues Hillary will be a shoo-in come November.
This is good policy, and it follows what is already in place in many corporate environments in terms of not working for someone or in the same department or division. I knew one profession and graduate student who started dating about 3 decades ago, and the professor thought it was prudent to transfer to a different campus within the UH system, which was the responsible thing to do.
Which is greater in having sex with their students, male or female professors? Dating for lack of a better word, come on.
By 3 years, there should be a reputation of any professor who is doing this. When proven this is the habitual ways of a professor, show them the door. Be written into their contractual agreements so that they can be released.
Students should lose their credits for the course if proven and must take the course over. If not they are getting fraudulent degrees.