While working on a doctorate in the sciences, I've been taking advantage of the opportunity to attend a few seminars / programs intended to teach teaching. (Perhaps its paid off - I picked up a TA award for this past semester).
The first workshop I attended, which was billed as a general "how to TA" program could be summed up in one sentence: sex with your students is a bad idea. 'Duh!', I thought, wondering why I bothered to stick around the full three hours. (There is another place on campus that offers better, more informative stuff).
If you're wondering why policies tend to be way overcomplicated, you can blame people like this guy:
Lethbridge college is developing a policy on student-teacher relationships after being ordered to reinstate an instructor who admitted to having sex with three of his female students.
Greg Bird, a psychology teacher and general studies program leader, was fired by Lethbridge College in February, 2006, after an internal investigation found him guilty of "inappropriate relationships with students." Bird fought his dismissal by taking the case to a board made up of an arbitrator and one representative each from the college and its faculty association. After a series of hearings throughout 2007, the board ruled last December that Mr. Bird be reinstated by May 1.
One of Mr. Bird's main arguments during the hearings was that the college's lack of policy on instructor-student relationships meant he was being fired for violating a rule that didn't exist. The arbitrator agreed. (HT: Macleans)
