America can do so much more

Now that finals week is nearing, many of us are seeking ways to wrangle extra credit from our professors. After we have exhausted all our optional PowerPoint presentation opportunities, the back of our minds beckon us to delve deeper into the pits of fantasy. Perhaps our instructor is unhappy with his or her marriage? Perhaps those hours consumed by research could be briefly relieved by composing a short Nabokov-ian role playing exercise? Or perhaps, the power of his or her insights during lectures has truly and utterly captured your heart, and your responses have led the instructor to develop a mutual admiration. Can Cupid's arrows pierce the hard-cover backing of academia? \nLove knows no bounds, but it must obey the rules -- at least in the classroom. And thus emerges the latest source of controversy amongst university administrators: UC Berkeley's proposition to ban faculty-student relationships all together. \nIs this a new movement? Haven't they been frowned upon for ages?\nFrowned upon: yes. Explicitly banned? No. \nAfter a scandal involving a student and the former dean of Berkeley's Boalt Law School Jim Dwyer last January, Berkeley and many other universities are taking steps to make sure that it is crystal clear: oral presentations are to be conducted only during the scheduled lecture hour.\nGayle Binion, chair of UC's Academic Senate told The Associated Press that written rules are expressly desired. "Even though the vast majority already live by an ethical norm, you still need to … show that the institution has a position," she said.\nIndeed you do, for it can be difficult to punish transgressions without precedence. It seems obvious that there would be some sense of abuse or unfairness with even consensual relationships between faculty and students who work together in the same class. The IU code of Professional Conduct and Communications makes that abundantly evident. However, should consensual relationships be banned all together? What about student-faculty dalliances occurring outside of the "Instructional Context"?\nWell, IU's rules thankfully appear a little vague, as they not only apply to professors, but to librarians, graduate instructors and lecturers among others. It states that concerning relationships between faculty and students not related though academic avenues, "A faculty member should be careful to distance himself or herself from any decisions that may reward or penalize a student with whom he or she has or has had an amorous or sexual relationship, even outside the instructional context, especially when the faculty member and student are in the same academic unit or in units that are allied academically." \nWhat kind of "distance" do we mean here? Emotional, physical or narrative psychic distance? What are "decisions that may reward or penalize a student…"? Are we obstructing an educator's right to enjoy an evening of S&M? What about a business school professor and a student of religious studies? Are they in the same "academic unit?" If not, can they make one of their own? This could be a great opportunity to promote the individualized major program.\nAnd since we are committed to higher learning, isn't there something to be said of the educational power of amore? Emerson writes in his essay "Love," that it knows not " … person, nor partiality, but seeks virtue and wisdom everywhere, to the end of increasing virtue and wisdom." \nCan't we just let lovers lie? I could use the extra motivation to do my online assignments, and it could finally get students excited about group projects. As a member of the Bloomington Faculty Council who wished to remain anonymous told me, "People should just be respectful of one another." \nIf there's no harm, call no foul. And if you don't ask, I won't tell.