“Effort” Grade Considered Sexual Harassment At CUNY Brooklyn

Boston Max8 years ago

I was always a decent student, but I had God-given talents. I wasn’t a gym rat, I didn’t have grit, and I wasn’t a hustle player. I just had talent. I could sit in the back of the class watching GirlsDoPorn dot com, then read the books and end up right in the meaty part of the curve. Not showing off, not falling behind.

But I never had a class that gave an “effort” grade. There were no brownie points for trying hard. Maybe if I did I would have participated more in class. I don’t hate the move if a participation grade is an option. There’s nothing wrong with padding the grades of a C- student with an “effort” grade to bump them up a little.

Apparently, though, not everyone thinks an effort grade is kosher. One professor at City University of New York – Brooklyn was told that a participation grade in his syllabus had to be removed because it preluded sexual harassment.

From The Week:

A professor at the City University of New York’s Brooklyn College reports he was asked to change a class syllabus by school administrators worried a participation grade could be misunderstood as a request for sexual favors.

Prof. David Seidemann wrote at Minding the Campus, a higher ed watchdog site, that his syllabus included a notice that grading would consider “Class deportment, effort etc……. 10% (applied only to select students when appropriate).” In an email to Reason about the resulting reprimand, Seidemann said his department chair told him that statement “could be construed as a prelude to sexual harassment” and should be immediately excised. The administrator also said Seidemann must remove an announcement that his classroom would welcome “all constitutionally protected speech” without censorship of unpopular viewpoints.

The investigation was reportedly initiated not by any student complaints but by the school’s director of diversity investigations and Title IX enforcement. When Seidemann, who is tenured and thus cannot simply be fired for refusing to edit his syllabus, insisted further discussion of the participation grade happen exclusively over email so there would be a written record of the conversation, the investigation was dropped.

Seidemann, you old sailor, you! “Applied only to select individuals when appropriate” is some ballsy language. You have to respect the move from the professor. Just so cocky to basically put in the syllabus that he’ll boost your grade 10% for a blow job. Cocky, but also dumb. He must be new to this whole professor thing, because it’s implied that sexual favors for the professor is an instant boost of a whole letter grade. You have to expect that in exchange for an inflated cock you’ll have to inflate a grade. Fair trade, even stevens movie. Sexual favors is easily 75% of why you even become a professor in the first place.

And has CUNY Brooklyn lost their damn mind? Hey, CUNY Brooklyn, I know you like to think your shit don’t stink, but wake the fuck up and smell the obvious. It’s college. Whether it’s explicitly written in the damn syllabus or not, just the pure act of giving a grade opens the door for sexual activity between professor or TA and student. It’s just the facts of life. Even without a grade, just the whole power dynamic between professor and student is enough to end the drought in California. Panty slushies erywhere.

P.S. what kinda school has a director of diversity investigations and Title IX enforcement? That’s insanity. How is that a job that takes 40 hours per week. Makes no sense. Enforcing Title IX takes two seconds: Got enough women’s sports teams? Check. Cut the wrestling team to save money? Check. Boom, I just enforced Title IX.

P.P.S. How is it even legal for CUNY Brooklyn to remove the reminder that students have constitutional rights to free speech? That’s bananas in pajamas.

[via The Week]