MASSACHUSETTS: teacher fired over web posting about student A former sports columnist for The Boston Herald was fired from a teaching job at Boston University after officials discovered he had posted comments about a female student on an Internet site. The former columnist, Michael Gee, who was hired to teach an introductory journalism class, was fired last Wednesday, the day officials learned of the posting, said Robert Zelnick, chairman of the university's journalism department. On July 5, Mr. Gee wrote on sportsjournalist.com, "of my six students, one (the smartest, wouldn't you know it) is incredibly hot" and, in another posting, wrote of the student's "to-die-for eyes," according to bostonsportsmedia.com.It seems to me that "hot" has become a pretty tame, generic term for "attractive." But, in fact, I think that posting even lame little compliments singling out an individual student is wrong. I think just observing that one of your students is the smartest is wrong.
July 20, 2005
"Incredibly hot."
Is this a firing offense?
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27 comments:
It seems a bit jarring to hear a man speak of a woman's "to-die-for eyes" much less write about it for public consumption. I've don't think most men speak like that much less notice a woman's eyes.
What are they doing hiring a *sports* writer to teach anyway? haha just kidding. sort of.
It's a university, so the student's over 18. That makes it less creepy.
But it was an awfully public statement and agree that singling out a student for praise is unprofessional and a little cruel to the others.
Gross stupidity should always be a firing offense.
I think the call to dismiss him--he was a part-time adjunct, which is about as unprotected as you can be--was correct. I think this example is a fairly clear distinction from instances where academics or other employees have faced trouble from online comments on social issues, politics and so forth. What he said was dumb, and while it wouldn't have had any fallout had he said it in a conversation with friends, by posting it publically he created a bad situation for all his students, not just the one in question.
As an instructor, I encounter plenty of similar comments from my peers; with most I know there's no effect on how they treat their students in the classroom, while with others I have observed a sort of juvenile inability to create appropriate boundaries. Most of that drama takes place out of the students' view, but when it doesn't, a trust has been breached.
To me "hot" is a 6 digit income with a generous attitude. He deserved the axe he got.
If he'd have shared his sentiments in private, I'd have no beef with him. But to share it in a public forum? Not good.
Rats -- I suppose this means that "ratemystudent.com" is out of the question. (In my defense, on ratemyprofessor.com, the chili pepper icon was going to be replaced with the drama face, coffin, and alarm clock icons.)
Here was his full quote:
Of my six students, one (the smartest, wouldn’t you know it?) is incredibly hot. If you’ve ever been to Israel, she’s got the sloe eyes and bitchin’ bod of the true Sabra. It was all I could do to remember the other five students. I sense danger, Will Robinson.
I think that's laughably inappropriate. Can you imagine how embarassed you would be if you were that girl? I wouldn't be able to look the other five students in the face without blushing.
Let me try again, in English. I'd be dangerous if I learned how to type...
I am not as concerned about the language as the public discussion of students merits (academic or ...cough... other).
See, where I really have a problem: tha appearance of favoritism / impropriety.
Were I in that class, i would be concerned about whether I would get a fair shake or not.
What the teacher did was (in my former employers terms) 'Prejudicial to Good Order and Conduct' and was termed Fraternization. Whether the subordinate aquiesced, or even particpated does not change the fact that the person in a position of authority made a situation basically ungovernable.
Stupid comment to make in a public forum, though I believe more faculty talk about the attractiveness of their students - college on down through middle school - than we'd like to think.
I'm curious - has that posting been verified as truly coming from the adjunct? And, does the school have a policy in place about banning faculty/student relationships? While I would classify them as "icky," if it's not a specific violation of a contract, I can envision a lawyer arguing where calling a woman "smart" and "attractive" is not the worst thing in the world, as long as it didn't affect the grades.
Howard, I'm guessing you're much younger than I am. Honest, there comes a time when your eyes get above a girl's collarbone.
On the general topic, though, I don't think we're addressing Ann's (who's also kinda hot, btw) question: was it inappropriate? Perhaps. Is it a firing offense? If so, then what's the appropriate punishment for the occasional professor who sleeps with a grad student? Execution?
I think a sense of proportion is in order.
He admitted that he posted it.
They came to a severance agreement and basically bought out his contract, so I don't think he'll fight it.
I think it's actually more inappropriate than sleeping with a student. Sleeping together, while also totally inappropriate for a professor, is at least consensual. Having a professor post what are basically cat calls about you on a public forum is not. What a professor says about you to his friends or to you in private is one thing. If he's yelling the same things across campus, (something I see as equivalent to this) I think that's worse.
gs: In my experience with the use of the word, that interpretation is completely unwarranted.
And what would the "similar" student behaviour be? Do you mean to suggest students should be expelled for saying, without naming names, that one of the other students is very attractive? (Or for saying that he/she finds the teacher attractive?)
I can see some vague sort of grounds for doing so if an instructor makes such comments (issues of potential favoritism or bias), but students, of course, have no such power to abuse, so what's that rather extreme punishment for?
And what would the "similar" student behaviour be?
I would think that making comments of the same nature to the professor. It's not as much about power, in my opinion, as professionalism. Posting comments about a student's "bitchin' bod" on the Internet is totally unprofessional.
And I agree with others who have said that posting comments about the relative intelligence of one student as compared to others is pretty darn unprofessional as well. (Though, I think, a bit less in that the students' intelligence has at least some bearing on the task of teaching them.)
I believe more faculty talk about the attractiveness of their students - college on down through middle school - than we'd like to think.
I just now caught this: down through middle school?! /retch
Freeman: That's really the whole quote? Well, then the favoritism is terrible. And the ethnic stereotyping is also inappropriate. And "bitchin' bod" is just such a stupid thing to write -- ever -- about anybody. And inappropriate.
GS: Re "hot topic," people say "sexy topic" all the time. I once told I colleague I was writing about the death penalty and he said "That's a sexy topic." Really, even "sexy" isn't taken literally. "Hot" is very tame slang these days. Everything is called hot.
As to the suggestion that faculty talk about the attractiveness of their students: this has not been my experience at all. Maybe men do it when women aren't around, but in my experience, it just plain doesn't happen.
I'm just glad my boyfriend didn't mention anything about me being "hot" while I was a student in his class... by the way.. Amy at politixnprose sent me over here. Nice blog!
Here's a link to an article with the full comment:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000979953
And an extended blog post about it by some other guy (includes the to-die-for eyes comment):
http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/archives/shots/003013.php
GS, you make an interesting point, I think. Use of the current slang "hot" to denote attractive *may* have evolved from the use of the term "hot" to suggest "in heat." Think of the phrase "hot to trot," for instance. Whatever one thinks of the connotation/denotation of that particular word, however, the professor's comments in their entirety were inappropriate.
Brendan, please tell me you were quoting Woody Allen ironically and not approvingly.
What is sportjournalist.com? I tried entering in that address and it took me no where. The type of website really makes a difference. If this was his blog, he was making a pretty conspicuous display of his lust for the student; if it's an obscure message board, then he may have felt more anonymous, in which case it seems unfair to fire him over it. Either way, I can't help but look down on a man who talks about a teenage girl's "to-die-for eyes." What a nerdy way to describe someone!
I agree with Ann. "Hot" today is a fairly heavily used word for attractive. Guys are probably as often called hot as girls are. Indeed, I routinely have discussions with my 14 year old daughter about who she thinks is "hot" in school and in the popular culture. For example, she and many of her friends considered Orlando Bloom in LoR "way hot". In short, I think that the word has lost its original definition and has been broadened by popular usage to mean sexually attractive, regardless of sex or sexual orientation.
No, the problem was with his professionalism, or lack, thereof.
Christopher: He should have called them "to-get-fired-for eyes."
If he could picture dying for her eyes, maybe he should complain about the lesser penalty.
The more I think on this, the more this guy strikes me as utterly clueless. I'll make a "Six Feet Under" tie-in: this incident is a lot like the scene where Nate's old high school pal is waxing on about how hot his teenage daughter's friends are. His tone is as gushy as "to-die-for eyes" and put him at about the same emotional level as the teens he's ogling. Meanwhile, Nate, like those of us observing this story, is listening to him with his jaw dropping, and attempting to point out "uh Dude, this is totally uncool." This journalism teacher is not ogling post-pubescents, but he's beyond the pale of professionalism, and maturity.
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