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Should marital infidelity end your career?

Isn't the question more of should it end your job? Most of these people that we hear about that get canned for fooling around transition fairly easily into new areas of life. So their careers don't really end. No, it shouldn't end your ability to earn a living. I don't know exactly how I feel because I do like the public humiliation aspect of it. Cheating is big deal, that behavior should be something that everybody wants to correct, and some people need that kind of therapy where everyone has their eyes on you. But at the same time, I don't personally give a rip. I don't think I've ever clicked on one of those stories. Would I have canned David Paterus? Yes. Bill Clinton? Yes. There are simply some positions that the risk of blackmail or extraction of things better left unknown is a problem. The college teacher? Probably not unless the whole situation starting being too much baggage where she wasn't satisfying the criteria of the job anymore. If she did again? Definitely.
 
It all depends on the circumstances. If it's a teacher banging a student, of course. If it's a Naval officer using his power to bang some enlisted chick, yes. If it's the head of the CIA getting it on with his secretary, I say yes. If it's two co-workers in some multi-million dollar company, no.
 
bigb said:
It all depends on the circumstances. If it's a teacher banging a student, of course. If it's a Naval officer using his power to bang some enlisted chick, yes. If it's the head of the CIA getting it on with his secretary, I say yes. If it's two co-workers in some multi-million dollar company, no.
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Why should a university professor be fired for having a consensual sexual relationship with a student but who is not his/her student? The problems of having a relationship with a student in one of your classes seem evident, but if the student is not taking a class from you, and is not likely to take a class from you in the future, frankly I don't see the big deal. In the latter case, the same type of power dynamics, and potential for abuse of power, are absent. Firing a professor for having sex with someone who is not his/her student strikes me as an unnecessary overreaction.
 
I think everyone is hung up on the teacher/student thing because it represents the direct misuse of a position of authority. Consensual or not, it is unethical and improper, if not an outright violation of the rules.

If you're messing around with someone you have no academic or professional influence over, it's a completely different animal.
 
Bronco70 said:
I think everyone is hung up on the teacher/student thing because it represents the direct misuse of a position of authority. Consensual or not, it is unethical and improper, if not an outright violation of the rules.

If you're messing around with someone you have no academic or professional influence over, it's a completely different animal.
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I don't disagree at all. What's interesting though in talking to people much older than me in education is how much times have changed. 30 years ago such relationships were probably more commonplace. And it makes me wonder. Do we create our society or does our society create us? This, our hip-hop culture, and what seems to be a rash of gun violence and the desensitization to violence makes me wonder. As a teenager, I would have laughed it off and simply said we create our society. As I've gotten older, I swing a bit more the other way.
 
jimmy eat jazz said:
Why should a university professor be fired for having a consensual sexual relationship with a student but who is not his/her student? The problems of having a relationship with a student in one of your classes seem evident, but if the student is not taking a class from you, and is not likely to take a class from you in the future, frankly I don't see the big deal. In the latter case, the same type of power dynamics, and potential for abuse of power, are absent. Firing a professor for having sex with someone who is not his/her student strikes me as an unnecessary overreaction.
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My post was directed more towards a "teacher" than a "professor". What you described here was totally different than the scenario I had in my head.
It could be argued that a professor shouldn't be having sex with a student at that school, regardless of the likelihood of that student taking the professor's class. There is still the possibility of there being some use of a position of power. Granted, the likelihood drops significantly.
 
jimmy eat jazz said:
Why should a university professor be fired for having a consensual sexual relationship with a student but who is not his/her student? The problems of having a relationship with a student in one of your classes seem evident, but if the student is not taking a class from you, and is not likely to take a class from you in the future, frankly I don't see the big deal. In the latter case, the same type of power dynamics, and potential for abuse of power, are absent. Firing a professor for having sex with someone who is not his/her student strikes me as an unnecessary overreaction.
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I'm guessing the case could be made that even a teacher who doesn't have a direct impact on the student's grade could have an indirect impact (ie the teacher could influence another teacher that's a friend to treat the student better in a class that he/she is in or would know how to use the school's channels to the student's benefit).

On a more general note should an accountant get fired fro his job because he is cheating on his wife? I don't believe so, and I've never been a fan of the "well if he cheated on his wife, A SACRED VOW!!!, he'll cheat on ANYTHING INCLUDING YOUR TAXES!!" sort of argument. It almost makes me wonder if the people who make that argument don't understand what a powerful attraction sex is, particularly sex with a woman that isn't the same woman you've been having sex with for the past 10 or whatever years.
 
The OP plot thickens

A head coach at Texas since 1993, Kearney is held in great esteem in the track world. She led the Longhorns to six national titles and was inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2007.She is widely admired for her gritty resolve to walk again after she was partially paralyzed in an auto accident.
But things turned sour for Kearney last year when the university learned of an affair in 2002 with a female student. The revelation came at just about the same time Kearney was discussing a pay raise and a contract extension.
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https://www.cnn.com/2013/01/08/us/texas-track-coach-resigns/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
 
Nate505 said:
I'm guessing the case could be made that even a teacher who doesn't have a direct impact on the student's grade could have an indirect impact (ie the teacher could influence another teacher that's a friend to treat the student better in a class that he/she is in or would know how to use the school's channels to the student's benefit).

On a more general note should an accountant get fired fro his job because he is cheating on his wife? I don't believe so, and I've never been a fan of the "well if he cheated on his wife, A SACRED VOW!!!, he'll cheat on ANYTHING INCLUDING YOUR TAXES!!" sort of argument. It almost makes me wonder if the people who make that argument don't understand what a powerful attraction sex is, particularly sex with a woman that isn't the same woman you've been having sex with for the past 10 or whatever years.
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I think that the odds of the above scenario are remote--so remote that I still don't see any problem with a teacher (college level) sleeping with a student who is not his/her student.

In any case, I 100% agree with your second paragraph, particularly the oft heard argument 'well, if he cheats as this, he can't be trusted with anything else.' People are morally complex. Someone may well cheat on his wife but abhor the idea of cheating on taxes, or always treat his customers fairly, or treat other people kindly, etc. etc.
 
Gyp Rosetti said:
No, that's ridiculous and this and the original article aren't remotely fair comparisons..
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this. posting the story in the OP and the topic asked to discuss by OP are completely different. kinda makes it seem like OP is trying to justify it by trying to confuse/complicate/merge 2 very different issues. shame on you OP. shame on you. shame.
 
HeavenHarris said:
this. posting the story in the OP and the topic asked to discuss by OP are completely different. kinda makes it seem like OP is trying to justify it by trying to confuse/complicate/merge 2 very different issues. shame on you OP. shame on you. shame.
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...OH.. you're back from being banned?
 
HeavenHarris said:
this. posting the story in the OP and the topic asked to discuss by OP are completely different. kinda makes it seem like OP is trying to justify it by trying to confuse/complicate/merge 2 very different issues. shame on you OP. shame on you. shame.
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Does it make a difference that the relationship with the student happened 11 years ago and she's only being fired now in the midst of her negotiating for a raise?
 
Gameface said:
The coach is a female. But yeah, let's get past this particular example. What if it was a school principal who had sex with his next door neighbor and it got splashed all over the news. Call for his head?
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If the neighbor has a kid in his school, yes. Otherwise no.
 
jimmy eat jazz said:
... but if the student is not taking a class from you, and is not likely to take a class from you in the future, frankly I don't see the big deal.
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Students often think of the faculty as a close-knit group, and are often not wrong. Even if the student is not in your class, there is still a power imbalance in the relationship.
 
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