CAMPUS COURTING: PROVOST DISCOURAGES FACULTY-STUDENT DATING

In academe, love may not be a many splendored thing at least when it comes to faculty members dating students.

Charles Kupchella, Southeast Missouri State University's provost, says faculty-student dating should be discouraged.

"It skirts too close to the edge of the danger of mixing up personal and professional relationships," he said. "We have no business encouraging it, obviously."

But he said Southeast, like many other universities, has no official policy on the issue. "Most institutions have discouraged it, but have pulled up short of an outright ban."

Kupchella said the real debate "is between the use and abuse of power that a teacher has over a student and the personal freedom that people have, on the other hand."

He questioned if such a prohibition would hold up in any legal challenge.

While it has not been a major issue at Southeast, some colleges around the country now are considering prohibiting professors from dating their students.

The whole issue has prompted debate over whether faculty members at the nation's schools are violating professional ethics or colleges are legislating love.

The University of Iowa prohibits professors from dating students they teach or supervise.

A faculty committee at the University of Virginia recently proposed a complete ban on dating between professors and undergraduates. Ultimately a modified policy similar to that of the University of Iowa was approved.

"Too many teachers consider the availability of young sex partners to be a perquisite of a job with mediocre pay and slow advancement," Richmond, Va., lawyer Eileen N. Wagner wrote in the May 26 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, a professional newspaper.

Wagner pointed out, however, that "nearly every observant academic admits that most teacher-student liaisons are temporary and that few end on an upbeat note."

One relationship that did work out involved a Southeast Missouri State University faculty member. He ended up marrying a former student of his.

John, not his real name, was teaching at another institution a small, private Midwestern college in 1980. He was introduced to Jane, not her real name, by a fellow faculty member.

"We hit it off," recalled John.

Jane, who was finishing her senior year, took a creative writing class taught by John. She said she deliberately enrolled in the class because of her personal interest in the teacher.

She graduated that spring with an education degree, but returned in the fall to do her student teaching.

At that time, the two began dating. They did so discreetly, often driving to other towns for their dates. "We didn't date on campus," he explained.

"We just didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable," said Jane, adding that she was also concerned that John might be fired if the relationship was disclosed.

"That was the first student I ever had truck with," said John. "I had never dated a student before."

But he stressed he did not even attempt to date her while she was a student in his class.

Jane said they didn't need a written policy in that regard. "We had a moral code written inside ourselves."

John added, "It wasn't just a dating situation where we were having a fling."

Jane subsequently moved away, but the relationship continued, fueled by numerous long-distance telephone calls. In 1982, John and Jane got married.

Although considerably younger than her husband, Jane said, "We have a lot in common."

John said he believes there's a reason why larger universities are focusing on faculty-student relationships: They often have huge graduate schools.

"I don't know that abuse takes place so much between faculty and undergraduates, but faculty and graduate students," he observed.

John said he wouldn't object to a policy like that of the University of Iowa.

But with more non-traditional students attending college these days, he said, there are many students who are about the same age as their professors.

"I would resent somebody telling me I couldn't date somebody my age just because I was a student," said John.

Jane suggested that educating people about sexual harassment issues might offer a better solution than adopting a policy restricting relationships.

Kupchella said faculty-student dating is not new. "I don't think it is any more of a problem than it has ever been."

But he said the issue may be out in the open more now because colleges and universities are facing increasing public scrutiny.

Max Drake, professor of sociology and anthropology and a former member of Southeast's Faculty Senate, said he's not aware of faculty-student dating having been an issue at the university.

But he said the issue has surfaced nationally because of changing gender roles and sexual harassment concerns.

"It is much more a broad political issue now than it was 20 or 30 years ago," said Drake, who has been an educator for 30 years 10 of them at Southeast.

He said he's personally opposed to the idea of faculty members dating students. "It's a terrible idea. In my personal view, academics are academics and you have to divorce yourself from any kind of personal feelings for a student.

"You have the broad issue of sexual harassment," he pointed out.

He also noted that on some occasions female students have "come on" to faculty members. "I one time turned in a female student for propositioning me."

Said Drake, "My personal view is that it is absolutely off limits."