I’m beginning a new research project about professor-on-student sexual harassment and sexual assault on university and college campuses. Since the publication of Billie Wright Dziech and Linda Weiner’s excellent book The Lecherous Professor in 1984—30 years ago—discouragingly little has changed. Sexual harassment and sexual assault remain prevalent at universities and colleges, and students who are taken advantage of are reluctant to report violations. Many students don’t even consider themselves harassed, but, instead, see themselves as consenting adults. As they continue to mature into adulthood, however, their view may change; instead of idolizing and idealizing a professor, the student who once felt fortunate to be singled out may interpret the professor’s behavior as inappropriate at best and, at worst, as indefensibly selfish, arrogant, and more about exercising power than about affection, respect, or love. [Read more…]