# Would YOU write a letter of apology to a professor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 22, 2017, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-write-a-letter-of-apology-to-a-professor/780503 "2017-02-22T20:02:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-write-a-letter-of-apology-to-a-professor/780503/221 "2017-03-12T02:03:13Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Very true! > > Ok, I agree: it’s important to determine if a classroom is a public space. I think the answer there is easy. Is the class open to the public? I assume it is only open to the students who have paid to be there, plus possibly any guests the teacher accepts. Assuming this, I don’t see how that’s any different from a private club where you pay for membership. That’s not to say I think it’s necessarily the best solution to outlaw recording. I personally am a big fan of single-party laws, because I find that it’s useful to deal with actual injustice. Ideally, there’s some sort of compromise that would allow publishing it in certain cases but not others, but I don’t know what they are. I do know that the results for the teacher were not good for society, so I’d hope there’d be a way to prevent that sort of thing. But, well, coming up with laws that do what’s right is complicated. The real problem I have is that people often seem to not consider what is right when coming up with laws. That’s why I have trouble with blindly following the law. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-write-a-letter-of-apology-to-a-professor/780503/222 "2017-03-12T02:08:40Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > You don’t get to be on the right wing, making fun of safe spaces, and then demand one for yourself. You do get to be right or left wing and expect to be treated professionally. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-write-a-letter-of-apology-to-a-professor/780503/223 "2017-03-12T03:09:08Z")
The U.S. version of the TV series _The Office_ used the line, “be professional”, against people who had no power, basically telling them to shut their mouths. Doublespeak. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-write-a-letter-of-apology-to-a-professor/780503/224 "2017-03-12T18:37:31Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Yes I know that. But just how the heck could a dean look into something when half the students are going to say different things or else not say anything and you have a tenured professor who’s backed up by a powerful union? Cone on. How many times has a dean really disciplined a tenured professor? > > Frankly only the public shame from being caught was the only thing she was going to listen to. > > Again, if the teacher had only apologized for making her outrageous statements and making the students feel uncomfortable this whole thing would have ended but no, she had to go make herself a martyr. The professor’s statements were not outrageous. And if a college professor, especially teaching a subject like Sex Education, doesn’t make their students feel uncomfortable from time to time, they’re not doing their job. A college/university education isn’t about reinforcing the stereotypes you are comfortable with it’s about trying students to think and that requires exposing them to new and different ideas. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-write-a-letter-of-apology-to-a-professor/780503/225 "2017-03-12T18:38:43Z")
> [@Beren\_Erchamion](#): > > What was outrageous about them? They didn’t agree with Urban Redneck’s opinions. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-write-a-letter-of-apology-to-a-professor/780503/226 "2017-03-12T18:40:43Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > There are, but what you describe is blatant racism, and that is not remotely acceptable. > > You are going way too far in saying professors can do what they want. They are still constrained by the same things normal people are. You still have to be a decent person. For example, if a professor said rape is okay, I would be 100% okay with them being fired. > > And, yeah, advocating violence against him is fucking horrible. If it can be done against him, then people who thought you were despicable could do it against you. That’s not okay. > > There are times when violence is necessary, but this is not remotely one of them. Blatant racism? Seriously BigT, future terrorists and menaces to society come from all colors, creeds, and religions. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-write-a-letter-of-apology-to-a-professor/780503/227 "2017-03-12T18:44:17Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > A university is no more immune from professional behavior than any other institution. “Professional behavior” does not have the same standards across every profession. From the days of Socrates hyperbole and even insults have been part of the process of training the student to think. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-write-a-letter-of-apology-to-a-professor/780503/228 "2017-03-29T19:43:14Z")
Update: [Cox Declared Faculty Member of the Year](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/03/28/she-called-trumps-election-an-act-of-terrorism-now-shes-faculty-member-of-the-year/?hpid=hp_no-name_hp-in-the-news%3Apage%2Fin-the-news&utm_term=.599c7c513a9d) > [@Washington Post](#): > > in a development that is sure to infuriate her critics, Cox has been named OCC’s Faculty Member of the Year. > > Considered the school’s top award, the winner is decided by a committee of faculty members, students and management who review applications, Rob Schneiderman told The Washington Post. Schneiderman is president of the Coast Federation of Educators/American Federation of Teachers Local 1911, which represents Cox. The award is meant to highlight dynamic teaching methods, innovation in the classroom and student success, he said. > … > At the website [RateMyProfessors.com](http://RateMyProfessors.com), which allows students to rate their professor’s performance, Cox has a 4.6 rating out a possible 5. > … > One of Cox’s teaching methods that stands out on campus, he said, is the panel discussions she leads in class. In the past, he said, panels have delved into topics such as sex work and issues affecting the LGBTQ community, often with members of those communities answering questions during lively classroom discussions. > > Cox did not immediately respond to a request for comment about her award. > > “Students love her class and the discussions that take place there and the information actually helps them,” Schneiderman said. “These are really important discussions.” > … > “I think the OCC faculty thought they couldn’t idly stand by while these militant students cyberbullied one of our senior faculty members,” he said. I’m on record not going all a-flutter when students, such as the kid at the center of this story, try to bully professors on-campus into toeing an ideological line. I think the school handled it correctly: when students try to engage in such bullying, they should be treated like the youth they are, taught where the boundaries of appropriate behavior are. Faculty should not let themselves be intimidated, nor should the rest of us freak out when kids act like kids. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-write-a-letter-of-apology-to-a-professor/780503/229 "2017-03-30T01:57:51Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > “Professional behavior” does not have the same standards across every profession. From the days of Socrates hyperbole and even insults have been part of the process of training the student to think. Training the student to think in this case means indoctrinating students to the professor’s political fantasy world. What the professor did was unprofessional and no attempt at rationalizing it on your part moves that line one micron. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-write-a-letter-of-apology-to-a-professor/780503/230 "2017-03-30T02:11:28Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Training the student to think in this case means indoctrinating students to the professor’s political fantasy world. An ironic statement, given that this claim is nothing more than a fantasy of politics. If you read about her class, and why students adore her, she does the opposite of indoctrination. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-write-a-letter-of-apology-to-a-professor/780503/231 "2017-03-30T02:28:50Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > An ironic statement, given that this claim is nothing more than a fantasy of politics. If you read about her class, and why students adore her, she does the opposite of indoctrination. The fantasy is that you think she is universally loved or that such a thing has any meaning as it’s applied to her unprofessional behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-write-a-letter-of-apology-to-a-professor/780503/232 "2017-03-30T02:31:48Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > The fantasy is that you think she is universally loved or that such a thing has any meaning as it’s applied to her unprofessional behavior. Technically, it is a fantasy that I think she is universally loved, but it’s a boring fantasy. If you’re going to make me part of a fantasy, can you at least give me superpowers? I’ve always wanted a spinny nose. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-write-a-letter-of-apology-to-a-professor/780503.md?page=11)