On Rumors

“Professor Vyse: The Myth, The Man, The Legend”

Two weeks ago, this is what I found nestled amongst a plethora of Yaks. Usual Yak fair generally includes skunks, broken heating and Netflix. All of them are meant to be lighthearted; some of them miss the mark. It’s anonymous. It’s a joke. But this gave me pause.

It gave me pause because that is not a joke. I have written editorials about other things I have not found funny or cute in the past. But this one takes the cake.

By this time in the semester, a large portion of the campus is aware of the allegations against Professor Vyse for having an inappropriate relationship with a student. At the beginning of the semester, his advisees were sent an email announcing that Professor Vyse had gone on personal leave for the semester, and they would all be reassigned advisers in the department. Since this initial email, the circumstances surrounding this personal leave of absence have been expanded further and further until they have, apparently, begun to resemble some elaborate joke rather than a serious matter.

An affair with a student is not funny. It is not an opportunity for other students to manufacture a great farce that can be called upon any time they worry about failing an exam or doing poorly on an assignment. It is no more okay to joke about sleeping with a professor for an A than it is to joke about being “raped” by a test. It devalues the seriousness of the allegation and the situation overall.

It is not funny because it brings into question issues of power dynamics between people in power and their subordinate students. It brings to question issues of consent. It brings to question issues of trust within our community. It brings to question a lot of things.

The nature of this professor/student relationship itself makes me uncomfortable, but that is not what I take issue with. What I take issue with is that this “joke” has been allowed to get out of hand without a word from the administration. What makes me angry is that this is something that people will ask one another about with raised eyebrows and lowered voices. The relationship has been picked apart, and the pieces have been disseminated in something akin to the Big Bang. Of course, how unexpected can this be? We all live on a small campus where the line between the academic and the social and personal is blurred to the point of complete obscurity.

In a recent meeting of students in the Psychology Department, it became evident that the faculty had no idea how much information, false or otherwise, students had gained access to concerning Professor Vyse’s departure. On one level, I can believe that in the face of strict instructions to not say anything to students, there was a hope that the event was contained. As far as I know, there is no “how-to” book on talking about illicit affairs held between your colleague and your student’s teacher. It is undoubtedly an impossible conversation. On the other, I have a hard time believing that the administration is completely oblivious to the fact that this is something that students are talking about in such an inappropriate way.

This isn’t to say that all conversations about the affair are as disgustingly masochistic as I have made them sound. Some of them are genuinely curious and concerned. The fact that a trusted and esteemed member of our community, a professor that students both past and present looked up to, is complicit in such an act is something that affects more than tenure tracks and faculty relationships. It affects our students–our entire community.

One student said that she had no idea that these types of professor/student relationships existed anywhere but movies. That is upsetting. It means that the awareness of the possibility of student and professor relationships has been pushed so far out of the question by a standing narrative of an environment that fosters trust and openness that people don’t even know where to look for them. Students have a right to protect themselves if they feel as though they are being preyed upon by someone in power. Students have a right to know that people can and have violated these rules, and they can say something about it.

The longer the administration stays silent on the issue, the more wild the rumors will become, the more commonplace these jokes will be. By allowing jokes to be made, the administration is saying that it is “okay.” No part of this is okay.

I want to make it clear that the staff of The College Voice is painfully aware of how difficult it is to talk about these things. In the process of gathering information and perspectives, we realized how little the information we receive can be depended on, regardless of whether the source is well-intentioned. It is bordering on impossible to find solid ground. When we initially set out to write this piece, it was an article. Due to the lack of accurate information, we converted it to an editorial. Then, we didn’t know what the hell to do. We were being slammed by advice from all sides, all of it conflicting, none of it cohesive.

How do we talk about these things in a way that respects those who need to be respected and disparages the ones who don’t? How do we talk about this issue in a constructive way that helps build trust instead of further demolishing it? How do we talk about these things without any policy or protocol from the administration that tells us what is acceptable? How do we talk about this diplomatically?

We don’t. We can’t. We say what needs to be said, and hope it does something. Eventually, it is the job of someone more qualified, more responsible and possibly less angry and confused to tell us what to do.

– Ayla, Dana and Hallie