Wabash Thinks Dramatically

How else can I put it? Simply put and simply realized, Wabash is prone to the dramatic side of life. Today there was a student who wore a Depauw Tigers shirt to class and, when asked about it, responded that he felt we've deteriorated to the level of our despised rivals. This in itself is a bit ridiculous, but the point remains that he is unhappy with what Wabash has become.

The backstory follows. There was a faculty dinner where a few members of the faculty - at some point during the course of the evening - went with a student back to his room and engaged in illegal activities. The group of men decided that smoking pot was an appropriate end to the evening. This act led to the members of faculty being asked to resign. I'm not quite sure if there was indeed a termination or if it was more of a "Quit or we'll fire you" scenario. In either case, the faculty members will be leaving the college at the conclusion of this year. So Wabash finds itself split over what is happening here on our campus. For the past few weeks this has been brought up in a few of my classes and mulled over.

I think it's time for me to solidify my thoughts on the matter. Again, the facts are: Faculty dinner --> student's room --> pot smoking --> faculty leaving the college. My understanding is that the dean asked the professor to resign and he did without a fight. The biggest complaint raised has been that the student faculty relationship has been ruined forever. I think that this assertion in itself is a problem. By saying that relationships have been ruined, you are asserting that the only relationship that existed was when students and faculty members gathered to engage in illegal activity. I would bet money that 99% of interactions that students have with faculty members is in the classroom and that this particular instance represents less than that remaining 1%. I, at least, know of many of my friends - myself included - have not engaged in illegal activities with professors. So how have relationships been damaged? Professors will no longer smoke pot with students? Well good riddance!

Another issue was raised in my English class this morning. Were I to go to a professor's house for dinner I would never be invited to the bedroom. Of course we would be in community in the living room and dining room, but by no means would I ever be invited to the immensely private space that is the bedroom. I think that it is worth pointing out that the faculty members would obviously not have been fired for visiting a student's room but they would be fired for smoking pot with a student wherever it may be. And that's where my position on the issue has made it's stand. Fact 1: pot is illegal. Fact 2: faculty members get fired for illegal activity, regardless of whether or not a student was present. This brings up my final point. My professor mentioned that he, as well as the other adults that facilitate my education, are expected to be role models on campus. Stance on the matter of marijuana legalization aside, the leaders of our campus are expected to act as role models and are clearly looked up to as role models and that means that they are expected to be upstanding citizens. I'm not judging the moral fiber of people who smoke pot or those that vilify it. I am judging whether or not those faculty members were modeling behavior that students should imitate. I'm sure we've all heard of the grandmother test: if you wouldn't do/say something you wouldn't want your grandmother to hear/ know about, then don't do it. Relating that to Wabash, a college that uses the behavior of students and faculty to advertise ourselves to potential students merits the "media test,"- if you don't want it to be advertised to incoming students, don't do it. I don't think that anyone can argue that they want incoming students to know about the pot smoking or, more generally, about illegal activity occurring on campus.

I think that it's easy to taint our views based on how we feel about legalization of marijuana but the facts as I see them point not to what the activity itself was but the activity's nature. Professors aren't being fired because of the drug use, they are being fired because they engaged in illegal activities. I would also argue that these professors could have even done this in the privacy of their own home with no repercussions and would bet they have and will. The reason that Wabash must distance themselves from these professors is that they crossed the line when they did it with students. Mark the firings up to an overreaction to someone corrupting the "innocence" of the youth or whatever you want but the fact remains that you can't engage in illegal activity expecting to get off scott free - especially not with your FREAKING STUDENTS! You're our professors, not our friends, no matter how much we want you to be.