Whenever I hear “essay,” I immediately think of academic essays that are written for a class. Those sometimes aren’t the most interesting works to read, so when I was assigned to read three essays from “The Best American Essays” by Jonathan Franzen, I was not exactly thrilled.
But I was pleasantly surprised.
The three essays I read were “Names” by Paul Crenshaw, “Sexual Paranoia” by Laura Kipnis and “Bastards” by Lee Martin. Out of those, I enjoyed “Sexual Paranoia” the most.
Kipnis‘ essay discussed the evolution of romantic relationships between students and professors on college campuses. In her essay she said, “When I was in college, hooking up with professors was more or less part of the curriculum.” That is unheard of nowadays. If a professor would date a student today, they would be accused of abusing his or her power, and the student would be a victim. Although Kipnis, a professor in the Department of Radio/TV/Film at Northwestern University, said she doesn’t want to date students now, she sees the appeal of dating a student and is against the ban on faculty-student relationships.
“Lastly: the new codes sweeping American campuses aren’t just a striking abridgment of everyone’s freedom, they’re also intellectually embarrassing. Sexual paranoia reigns; students are trauma cases waiting to happen. If you wanted to produce a pacified, cowering citizenry, this would be the method. And in that sense, we’re all the victims.”
– Larua Kipnis, “Sexual Paranoia”
Being such a controversial topic and considering her stance on it, her essay created some fury on the Northwestern campus. Students voiced concerns about her facts not being right and her refusal to correct them. Eventually, the Chronicle added a few corrections to Kipnis’ original piece after students contacted the publication.
I hadn’t really thought about relationships between professors and students because I haven’t heard about any in the two and a half years I’ve been in college. Kipnis’ essay made me think about some complications it could cause. Professors could favor his or her significant other in class and give them a better grade than they deserve, making it an unfair learning environment for the other students. Also, the student could feel pressured to enter into a relationship if a superior shows interest in them.
However, college students can make their own decisions. They are adults and old enough to choose who they want to date. As long as the relationship is consensual, a university should not have the power to forbid a student and faculty member from dating one another.
Nicole Hilder 