DankProfessor Responds to Student-Faculty Relationships at Middlebury

News of Middlebury’s developing policy on student-faculty relationships has made its way to Arizona. DankProfessor, a blog written by Barry Dank, emeritus professor of sociology at California State University, Long Beach, focuses on sexual politics, especially those concerning student-faculty relationships. It goes without saying that Dank approves of student-faculty relationships. According to Dank, he “openly engaged in propinquitous dating, dating students and having many wonderful friendships with many of my students and their families” during his 35 years as a professor. He currently lives in southern Arizona with his wife– a former student.

 On his blog, Dank responds to Tracy Himmel-Isham and Jon Isham’s Middlebury Campus op-ed on the matter. I’ll leave it to you to read his point-by-point arguments, but he concludes by writing, ” Relationships between students and professors are not a “privileged expression”; they are expressive of basic rights of adults.  One can dismiss children, but not adults.  Those who take away such rights, no matter for what principles, end up demonizing others, infantilizing students and turning over the private lives of students and professors to administrators who are free of sexual biases and prejudices, who gain no gratification from controlling the sexual lives of others.  Getting beyond this fantasy thinking, it is more likely that professors and students who simply wanted to be left alone are now put in the hands of Big Brother and Big Sister administrators who simply are into power and control in the name of protecting the integrity of Middlebury.”

 Midd Blog wants to know: Do you agree with Dank? Would a policy prohibiting student-faculty relationships violate their rights to freedom of association, speech, and privacy? Or, do you agree with Tracy Himmel-Isham and Jon Isham? Hit the comments.