Robert Ammon Jr., former Professor at Slippery Rock University , lost his appeal by a 2-1 vote regarding his dismissal from the University because of his sexual discussions with students during a spring break trip he was leading.
At the time of his dismissal, Ammon was a tenured full professor and chair of the sports management department at the Slippery Rock University.
Back in 2010, he led 19 students on a spring break trip to Spain.
Inside Higher Ed reported that:
“A student complained about a night Ammon accompanied students to a bar, asked each student how many sexual partners they had had, and said that he had had 100 partners, five of them after he was married.
“Also that night, a student asked Ammon to name his favorite student, and he reportedly said that one of the female students in the group would be his favorite ‘if she sucked his d*ck.’ ”
At the time, Ammon had admitted that his comments where unprofessional but also said that he was “intoxicated, and characterized his comments as ‘trash talk,’ not harassment.”
The student who filed the complaint didn’t agree, and Ammon was dismissed for “‘unprofessional conduct’ — for being intoxicated with students and for ‘making inappropriate sexual comments to and about students.’ ”
After Ammon’s dismissal, The Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculty, the union, challenged the dismissal, stating that Ammon had never received a formal statement of a complaint.
Inside Higher Ed reported that:
“The appeals court rejected the arbitrator’s finding that Ammon didn’t get notification of the charges against him. The court also ruled that the case involved serious obligations of Slippery Rock to protect its students.
“Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972,” the decision said, “requires Slippery Rock to prevent where possible, and deal with, sexual harassment of students.”
The decision continues on to say that:
The Commonwealth and United States have a long-standing and well-defined public policy against sexual discrimination, and [Ammon]s conduct clearly implicates and violates this public policy,” and that by restoring him [Ammon] to his job “poses a substantial risk of undermining this public policy.”
As msnNOW reporter, Michaela Gianotti wrote, “But, come on, he was just trying to hang with the kids! Talk a little trash, you know?”
“Talking trash” and trying to be “the cool professor” doesn’t seem to be a part of the teacher’s role, even at a University level. Professionalism plays a key part in student-teacher relationships. It’s a key part of the trust that is built between instructors and students.
It would seem there are mixed feelings as to Professor Ammon’s dismissal; just check out some of the comments left on Social News/Media Site Gawkers Facebook page :
Because students at the University level are considered adults, do you believe that sexual or otherwise “adult” discussions such as the one Professor Robert Ammon Jr. had with his students are appropriate?
[Images via Gawkers Facebook page and Shutterstock/ NotarYES