The University of Pittsburgh does not come out looking too great in this article.
One in 10 female graduate students at major research institutions report being sexually harassed by a faculty member, according to a study by the Association of American Universities.
If it were up to me, universities would adopt non-fraternization policies between students and faculty or permanent staff.
I guess I was lucky. I went to a small engineering school, and the female population was low. I do not recall any harrassment, and I am pretty sure that is something I would have heard about. There was plenty of harrassment in the work place, but I didn’t experience it/wasn’t aware of it at school. We did party with some of our professors, but to my knowledge (and I was pretty plugged in), it didn’t go beyond hanging out in groups together.
1 in 10 may be an under-report. I was harassed by a prof in a nearby department, in grad school. My undergrad experience had been harassment-free. However, when I mentioned the harassment to a grad-school friend who had gone to one of the CC single initial schools, he was surprised that I had not experienced it as an undergrad.
I was not harassed by a professor. However, I was naive and it came as a shock to me to learn that one of my fellow students was sleeping with one of the professors in our department. It…just changed my outlook on things. It was a rude awakening, maybe?
The gossip mill got going, and students in the department grumbled about favoritism and fairness/unfairness. It definitely had a chilling effect, although I’m hard pressed to find words to express exactly why and how.