Maybe. Maybe not. An easier way to handle it is just to say, "I offer all my students a chance to work with me in office hours or the opportunity to make appointments to work on their problems. I think your friend should stop by and get some help. Usually I'm able to help someone get past whatever hurdles they're…

Your example was someone from a different department, so that's what I was imagining. But, in the instance you describe, if it were someone from my own department, I might say, "Hold on. You're banging an 18 year old in my class, and you're coming here to ask for a favor for him/her, and you think I'm the one that…

No. But those studies are going to be based on survey data of undergraduates who are filling out that data thinking about their professors, not professors as some abstract, Platonic universal. Of course there's a power differential between me and my students. But, it's between me and my students. That's why every…

I'm so glad to learn what 61 undergraduates at UCLA think about power in a large state university system. Another winner from behavioral "science"!

The professor probably can't just say "oh, conflict of interest, you'll have to take HOF 101 from my colleague instead" or "oops, someone I banged is in this class, I now can't teach it at all" or "sorry, I'm the only one teaching this class so now you can't take it and your graduation plans are screwed!"

The professor probably can't just say "oh, conflict of interest, you'll have to take HOF 101 from my colleague instead" or "oops, someone I banged is in this class, I now can't teach it at all" or "sorry, I'm the only one teaching this class so now you can't take it and your graduation plans are screwed!"

The professor probably can't just say "oh, conflict of interest, you'll have to take HOF 101 from my colleague instead" or "oops, someone I banged is in this class, I now can't teach it at all" or "sorry, I'm the only one teaching this class so now you can't take it and your graduation plans are screwed!"

Honestly, if a colleague ever came to me and advocated for an undergraduate who was having a hard time, and wanted me to go easier on them because they were bone bros, I think I'd laugh them out off the office. First, don't involve yourself in my class. Second, get your personal life under control. That'd be the end…

Your statement implies that power only flows in one direction.

Thanks for your reply and for your perspective, and sorry for your loss.

I can't imagine what I'd do if my wife died, but I do know that I sure as fuck wouldn't be on a game show trying to score a new wife only 18 months later. I know people process grief differently, but I genuinely don't get it.

There are so many smart, nice, talented people in Kentucky. Shame all the national politicians are such dipshits.

Yeah, but the Seahawks have sucked for a long time (no post-season win in 20 years, and before that only two good years, back to back, since they started), so there's never really been much to like. It isn't like they are up and down and fans abandon them in off-years. They've fucking blown for decades. I don't grudge…

Dead eyes. She just seems so flat to me. No story in her face or pictures.

Everything else aside, it's strange you can only see one shoe. Don't most ads for shoes feature two feet clad in the item for sale?

I'm just trying to imagine Brian Williams working hard to avoid this gif. Careful what you click on, Bri-Wi!

Toy Story, Heat, and 12 Monkeys? That was a good weekend. Except for the Cowboys winning.

Marathon runners and the like do it all the time. Has to be a body stress thing. Or maybe he went apeshit at the buffet the night before.

Holy shit that was funny.

Yeah, you're probably right. He left one of the best jobs in the business for an uncertain future, although honestly, I think Oregon came out ahead in the end.