For reasons I can't explain here, today I spent some time going through an unofficial message board dedicated to my institution. I was reading about the student code of conduct, and what type of behavior can get a student in trouble. From what I could gather, there are rules in the code of conduct that are still in the book but are not enforced because they are outdated (remember I work at a religious institution).
One commentator said: "For example, when I was a student, there were rules against pre-marital sex. I doubt it is enforced nowadays"
That comment was immediately follow by this one:
"Are you kidding me? I don't know now, but fifteen years ago I was put on probation for a year for exactly that reason. The specific charge was 'having sex without love'. Can you believe it?"
"Having sex without love"!!! Who on earth came with the phrasing? Assuming it was consensual, I wonder: how was this former student caught? If his (the nickname used seem to indicate it was a man) parents were not extremely conservative, how did they react to it? What do you say when your son is put on probation because he was "having sex without love"?
If I had been the mother and have some disposable income, I would have hired a bright Philosophy/English graduate student to write an appeal, tracing the changing meanings of "love" from the Greeks until our era. Just for the sake of the argument, since my institution is so proud of the Classical humanistic component of the education we offer ( a huge core curriculum with, among other things, 9 mandatory credits of philosophy, 9 of theology, and many more). And I would pay to see the puzzled face of those in the administration.
How would you have reacted?
""Having sex without love"!!! Who on earth came with the phrasing? Assuming it was consensual, I wonder: how was this former student caught?"
ReplyDelete- I'd guess s/he refused to keep seeing the person after sleeping with him/her. I have to say I'm glad this rule was not imposed at any of my universities because I wouldn't have graduated for the next 100 years. :-) :-)
I'm very glad you are back to blogging actively! The blogosphere has missed you. :-)
Thanks!!! It was an exhausting summer at times. I never imagined that writing a general survey on Latin America crime fiction could be so difficult considering that the research was minimal, but finding a strutucture and keeping the intended audience in mind was a struggle. Back now I'm back, ready to become a neurotic Jewish stereotype the closer to the end of October we get (my deadline to turn in my tenure file).
DeleteI think I would have survived American academia with those rules (at least from an Argentine point of view). If they had been in place during my college years in Buenos Aires, I think the graduation rate of the whole university would have been close to zero.