The Naughty Professors

I suppose every university has certain, problematic professors. One would expect that of a large, urban university with thousands of students and the necessary professors to teach all of them. But the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, though urban, is not that enormous. It’s even short professors, which is why the students of now three departments are maintaining the occupancy of the main buildings of their departments twenty-four hours a day. But there are, so far, three disturbing stories of professors acting abusively or discriminatorily that have at some time hit the news.

The first one was reported about three years ago. A professor in the Education Department related homosexuality to child molestation, and affirmed that homosexuality was contagious and possibly congenital (where the logic is in that, I'm not sure). Apparently he was replying to a student’s question about child molestation just before beginning a class. The student complained to the dean. But the professor claimed that his comment had been “objective”. He was even obliging his students to study a handbook he had written, along with passing an exam on it, in which he explained his questionable theories as true and proven. His students started a signature campaign to have him expelled from the University. He was investigated by the University, and suspended without pay from the end of November, 2013 until the end of January, 2014, though he didn’t return to finish the school year. But next September he was back. Though he was not allowed to use his handbook in class. This is a professor who teaches young people to become kindergarten teachers.

Last month an Economics student denounced one of her professors for a sexist comment on her décolletage. The professor complained that her low neckline was distracting him and asked her to wear a higher neckline. When she and other students complained, saying the professor had no call in telling any of them what to wear, he answered that with that neckline, she should sit in the last row. The neckline in question was a normal neckline; it didn’t show anything it shouldn’t. Some of the students, as well as the alluded student, complained, saying he was acting chauvinistically. The professor replied that if he were to act chauvinistically, that would mean he would have to hit her. The girl and five other students then walked out of class and went to denounce him. At the moment this case is under investigation, and it hasn’t been decided yet what to do with the professor, if anything.

The last incident to come to light is that of a professor in Philology. Apparently, in the second semester of 2015, he threatened another professor with taking out a gun on  him. The investigation began then and it still hasn’t been closed, because it’s apparently a complicated case. There are various people denouncing him and it goes back to a long standing argument. The accused professor is on a sabbatical year and has been denied access to the campus for the duration. 

And there are probably more cases that haven't come to light or have been kept under wraps as much as possible. One would think that the hallowed halls of learning would have instructors who would show a little bit more wisdom and common sense. At least some students learn to look out for their own interests and seek real knowledge, not some biased handbook written by an antiquated professor who would be more at home in Inquisitional Spain rather than the open-minded society that has evolved.