By Alan Marrs
BOWLING GREEN – Recent news of former coaches having inappropriate relationships with their students raises the issue of the professional boundary between faculty members and students at the collegiate level.
Former University of Toledo cross country coach Kevin Hadsell resigned in late January over an investigation into an inappropriate relationship with a runner and other inappropriate behavior with other runners, according to an article in the Toledo Blade.
Fast forward to late February and former Bowling Green State University women’s basketball assistant coach Ali Mann resigned citing “personal reasons.” Mann later admitted to allegations of a relationship with someone involved in the program, according to an article in the BG News.
Students in Bowling Green say these incidents are a lot more common than what many people perceive.
“You hear stories about it all the time. So, I assume it occurs quite frequently,” Elizabeth Bellman, a senior studying communication sciences and disorders from Cincinnati, Ohio, said.
The use of social media in the classroom is on the rise and this gives an added layer of personal communication between instructors and students. The use of such technology is beneficial in giving instructors another way of interacting with their students during the learning process. The increased communication possibilities through social may or may not be needed when many colleges and universities have established avenues of communication between faculty members and students in the form of email, Blackboard, Canvas or other official classroom organizing applications.
Patrick Lisk, a second-year graduate student studying public administration from Waterville, Ohio, said the use of social media as communication is dependent on the preferences of the student.
“Campus updates and Blackboard messages get ignored by some students,” Lisk said. “Facebook and Twitter and other social media sites may be the only way to communicate with them effectively. I think that we shouldn’t restrict channels of communication.”
Lisk also stressed the content of the communication is more important in this situation than the form of communication used.
BGSU established a precedent in 2007 for disciplinary action with the Consensual Amorous Relationship Policy. The policy defines that a faculty member cannot have a professional relationship with a student or employee with whom he or she currently or already had an amorous relationship. The solution of the policy is removing one or both individuals appropriately, eliminating the professional relationship.
The level of disciplinary action deserving of the actions varies among students.
Spencer Coile, a sophomore studying theatre from Bloomington, Ill., believes termination of a faculty member should not occur unless absolutely needed and steps should be taken, as in the case of BGSU policy, to restrict the influences of the professional relationship.
Jamie B., a freshman with an undecided major from Ottawa, Ohio, stresses the responsibility of the instructor in the situation to not involve himself or herself with a student and termination would be the appropriate punishment for the situation.
Ashley Hendricks, a junior studying telecommunications from Canton, Ohio, is firm in the idea of terminating a faculty member that is a part of an inappropriate teacher-student relationship, even if she was in the position of said faculty member.
“I would make sure they have taken the steps to be terminated from their position,” Hendricks said.