My college roommate asked her TA if she could skip an exam and do "something" for him instead, and after he said no, she filed a complaint and got him in a lot of trouble. She knew perfectly well what she was doing.
It is just such situations (among others) that non-fraternalization policies are intended to avoid. They are in place to protect faculty as much as students. (You didn't say what the substance of her complaint was, but I assume she accused the TA of sexual harassment?) As much as some profs come on to students, so do some students come on to their profs. Non-fraternalization policies officially put prof/student relationships off the table.
I see your point, but the catch in this situation is that the faculty member said no, presumably out of personal ethics, so a non-fraternization policy wouldn't have changed anything. He'd have still said no, and he'd still have faced a complaint because she'd have been angry.
This is maybe a little off topic, but I was shocked by how the complaint was investigated. I was called in, but I wasn't asked to make a sworn statement or anything. Were I not an honest person, I could have made up all sorts of stories. Even my roommate wasn't under oath, so I know she lied, which supported her whole agenda to punish the professor for saying no.
The questions the investigator asked were crazy, too. Lots of "Your roommate was really young and inexperienced, right?" and "You could see it in his eyes, right?" Leading, suggestive, awful questions that I felt were designed to find every way possible to support my roommate's story, rather than getting to the truth.
You can see probably why my views have formed like they have. All that professor did was make a good ethical decision, and his reward was an eight-month interrogation into every aspect of his life, with whatever stresses that brings, etc.
I'm sure there are some sleazy old men out there, just like the stereotypes suggest, but there are lots of women like my roommate out there, too, who take advantage of the paternalism and know full well what they're doing.
I believe so strongly that the best policy is no policy. Let adults be adults. If someone crosses the line, then there's always a sexual harassment complaint process, but I sure recommend the outside process (i.e. hire a lawyer and file a complaint) rather than the ridiculous institutional process, which is at best a kangaroo court.
So I want recourse through the legal system for people who have genuinely been wronged, but I don't want campus policies controlling adults' off-campus interactions.
Ash
