I also get very exercised about faculty sleeping with students, so I don't want to give anyone the impression that I condone it! In the cases I know personally, the faculty were fired. (The students caught lots of heat—from fellow students, some of whom blamed them for the firings. It wasn't fair at all, but it's what happened.) I am aware of others, however. I'm also aware of rumors whose truth I simply don't know. I don't repeat those rumors. Such rumors always hurt the students; they do not always hurt the faculty members. I agree with you strongly about the abuse of power: not only is there always an implied threat to the student's grades or recommendation, but students are much inclined to look up to faculty and even idealize us a little. Crushes are not uncommon. To sleep with a student is to take emotional advantage, even if by some miracle the student hasn't thought at all about potential impact on grades or other forms of evaluation.
I did think that the writers on the show didn't get how serious Helen's abuse of power was (or even that it was her abuse of power), or at least the characters didn't get it. I can understand Nick reacting the way he did initially, but not his ongoing bullheadedness. Abby's response to Stephen only makes sense to me if I think it springs partly from her interest in Stephen—and her terrible disappointment to find out that when he asked her out (while believing he would die) he already had a girlfriend. I'm trying to strike a balance, keeping the characters true to what we saw on the show as far as I can while trying to make them consistent and believable beyond what we saw in the show (because they had some serious failures there, especially with Stephen).
I don't actually watch Numb3rs (might someday but I haven't had time), but I saw an article where they talked to one of the mathematicians who acted as a consultant for the show. He (? I think it was, but I'm not sure if I remember correctly) said he not only gave them actual formulas and equations but advised them on academic matters. At one point, they had written a faculty member dating a graduate student, with no apparent idea that that was wrong! He disabused them of that. Then again, the fact that writers who probably all had college degrees thought that scenario was perfectly acceptable shows that at least some people don't see it as an issue. Those people are as likely to blame the student as the professor, I fear.
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Date: 2010-07-08 09:54 pm (UTC)I did think that the writers on the show didn't get how serious Helen's abuse of power was (or even that it was her abuse of power), or at least the characters didn't get it. I can understand Nick reacting the way he did initially, but not his ongoing bullheadedness. Abby's response to Stephen only makes sense to me if I think it springs partly from her interest in Stephen—and her terrible disappointment to find out that when he asked her out (while believing he would die) he already had a girlfriend. I'm trying to strike a balance, keeping the characters true to what we saw on the show as far as I can while trying to make them consistent and believable beyond what we saw in the show (because they had some serious failures there, especially with Stephen).
I don't actually watch Numb3rs (might someday but I haven't had time), but I saw an article where they talked to one of the mathematicians who acted as a consultant for the show. He (? I think it was, but I'm not sure if I remember correctly) said he not only gave them actual formulas and equations but advised them on academic matters. At one point, they had written a faculty member dating a graduate student, with no apparent idea that that was wrong! He disabused them of that. Then again, the fact that writers who probably all had college degrees thought that scenario was perfectly acceptable shows that at least some people don't see it as an issue. Those people are as likely to blame the student as the professor, I fear.