Flirting with Faculty

Earlier, somebody suggested waiting until after the semester. I couldn’t agree more. Unless she is as obvious as the prof in TheKid’s story, I’d be very careful.

  1. How can you even be sure she is really into you? If she hasn’t shown any signs, then you could be putting her in a really awkward position. If one of my students hit on me, I’d be looking over my shoulder every time I grade that student’s work. I’d have a hard time grading that student fairly.

  2. You’re severely undermining her authority. She has spent years working for her PhD, and might be insulted by some horny college kid not taking her seriously. It would make classroom interaction incredibly uncomfortable. If she is uncomfortable, all the students suffer.

  3. If you two do hook up, you’ll be in for a very long semester. If you scorn her even slightly, she has TOTAL authority over your grade and other such institutional procedures. You piss her off, she fails you, you lodge a complaint, the university gets involved…nothing good can come from that. You’ve most certainly lost her, she has probably lost her job, and who knows what could happen to you?

  4. If another student (or factulty member) finds out, you had better hope that person did well in the class. Otherwise, they have some prime ammo for a grade grievance.

  5. There could be legal ramifications. If you two do hookup and things sour, there might be enough for a lawsuit. She doesn’t have tenure (and it might not even matter if she did, depending on what happens) so she’d probably lose her job. Obviously, you’d be SOL too. You’re a male undergrad; she is a female professor. Who do you think would win a he-said-she-said credibility battle?

IMHO, there are too many risks here (for both of you) that this couldn’t wait until after the semester. Otherwise, I just hope you know what you’re getting into.

Thanks for the heads-up, but it’s not really that serious. I will probably just continue to innocently flirt with her. I’m not out to ruin her career.

thats not what im sayin boss, just be yourself. she already sounds semi interested, why else would she tell you her situation? dont build it up in your mind so far that its hard to be “normal” around her. its pretty simple man, either shes diggin you or not. all you’ve possibly got to lose is pride, but you CAN gain a whole lot more. like the fuckin ad says man, JUST DO IT.

The Indestructable,
Or CMC and this professor could end up doing the “horizontal tango” like two jack-rabbits and live happily ever after. No sense in focusing on all the things could go wrong…;o) Stranger things have happened, right? I got your back CMC…haha

Although I will say, Indestructable does bring up alot of valid points

If I were you, I’d be careful. A friend of mine was a faculty member, and she was very slim and attractive. And the type she hated the most was the students hitting on her because it put her in a very awkward situation, and she didn’t appreciate that at all.

but then your prof may be diff from my friend so who knows. Just don’t get TOO aggressive.

Tony G,

I didn’t think I needed to elaborate on positives of CMC and his prof hooking up :wink:

I just wanted CMC to know that this situation needs to be handled a little differently. A relationship like this carries much more baggage than a traditional one.

The Indestructible,

your question about tenure brought back some memories.

one time when rickey henderson was playing with the padres (this is a story that tony gwynn told on the jim rome show) the traveling secretary said to the team “ok guys everyone with tenure needs to see me after practice to sign some paper work.” ( or something to that effect)

henderson responded with:
"ten-year? i got fifteen year!

that might be one of those “you had to be there” jokes.

“Thanks for the heads-up, but it’s not really that serious. I will probably just continue to innocently flirt with her. I’m not out to ruin her career.”

But you are out to ruin her in bed and rearrange her organs.

Hey good luck. While there’s a 98.6% chance that it will lead to utter humiliation, a lowered grade because she grades your papers harder for your acts, an awkward classroom situation, her being fired, or any one of a million other negative things, I’m sure that it will instead lead to this PhD’s infatuation with you, a 4.0 throughout school, and the hottest sex ever.

Yep…it’s only sunshine and happiness.

“I’m sure that it will instead lead to this PhD’s infatuation with you, a 4.0 throughout school, and the hottest sex ever.”

My thoughts exactly.

Thanks for your kind words, though.