Delivery Is No Excuse
Dear friends of women in science,
Someone asked about this issue in a comment and I looked into it and found it quite disturbing. On the Thus Spake Zuska blog, she said Edward Feldman DVM, Chair of the Dept of Med & Epidemiology at UC Davis School of Vet Medicine invited his students to vote on the grade that should be given to, in Zuska's parlance, "a knocked up harlot." His choices included A, B, C, but not failure, which Zuska urged him to include in order to better compete for the 2011 St. K3rn Medal. This professor is highly regarded and has won the Norden Distinguished Teaching Award. Evidently he still has a few things to learn about proper treatment of women.
Isis, whose blog has been featured here before, had covered the event (see her comments here.) According to another student who emailed to Isis, the professor asked the class to participate in the poll below when the student in question was IN CLASS, and he ignored her when she said it would not be a problem since she was not absent. She later stated that the professor had not consulted her before starting this poll.
Isis received email from a vet student who transmitted to her the note from the class presidents with news from the professor, saying in part that since a classmate gave birth and would not be in class for a while, she might miss an unknown number of quizzes in VMD444. The options the professor provided for the vote were:
a) automatic A final grade
b) automatic B final grade
c) automatic C final grade
d) graded the same as everyone else: best 6 quiz scores out of a possible 7 quiz scores (each quiz only given only once in class with no repeats)
e) just take a % of quiz scores (for example: your classmate takes 4 quizzes, averages 9/10 points = 90% = A)
f) give that student a single final exam at the end of the quarter (however this option is only available to this one student, all others are graded on the best 6 quiz scores and the % that results)
What do you think about this situation?
A The professor needlessly embarrassed her in front of her peers and should be disciplined, up to and including salary reduction.
B The professor should have decided the issue himself. His only mistake was involving the other students in the matter. They should not be deciding grades for their peers.
C This matter is no one's business but the professor's and his students'.
Hi Laura and others,
I agree that the culture needs to change at Wikipedia, and I think it could with some pressure and encouragement from women who have something to say. Maybe we all need to try again a couple of times, in hopes of avoiding flame wars. It may be that they appear with certain subjects but not every subject.
MKS
I'd like to give him a C! But A is the choice I like best here, if only we had the power to make it happen. Losing a few perks could get his attention. My nominee for the most revolting part of the story is where he refuses to listen to her saying she won't miss the quizzes. "My mind is made up to punish you (stoning is too good) so don't bother me with the facts!"
Dear Mad Dog,
It might have been C at one time in this country, but today professors are expected to respect their female students. Even full professors are sometimes sent to sensitivity training when they do things like this. It's definitely not according to today's teaching norms, sorry.
Sincerely,
Laura
Got to say it's C. A professor has a right to decide how his students are graded, up to and including having the class give input on it.
Hi Helen and Ilona,
Helen, my bad, I meant to make it clear that it was Zuska and not the prof who said that phrase about the harlot. He didn't say anything like that from what I've read. But the vote speaks for itself, as you've implied Ilona. Really antiquated but no worse, really, than the House attempt to redefine rape so it does not include date rape or intercourse with a woman who says "no" because she doesn't know her own mind (if any) of course.
cheers,
Laura
Sounds like typical backlash to me. It's the attitude of someone imposing a "democratic" judgement (really just for performance sake) when the ultimate goal is shame, enbarassment, and degradation for the student. This type of teaching "leadership" is based on the sadly-held belief that women who give birth are getting away with something when they miss class or other duties. He is asking the class to help him make a "decision" on the grade, but it's a distraction from his predetermined conviction that she is a failure and deserves punishment. Whether nor not she was in the class when the vote was taken, and whether or not he used the words he did to describe her, it's abhorrent, antiquated, and misogynistic behavior.
A. He should have known better with all his years of experience that he is the grade decider and grading is not performed through democracy! He should have consulted with the student in question and made the decision he thought best. She could then appeal if she felt it appropriate. And his choice of words is repugnant..."knocked up harlot"?!!! What is this Victorian England?
B. I think he might have not noticed what she said, perhaps, or if it's a large class, didn't realize she was the person in question. But in any case, it's none of his other students' business what she should get, even if he grades on the curve. That's why they pay him the big bucks, he's the grade decider!
I can't believe this professor won a teaching award. I have to go with A here. Although it sounds pretty mild to me compared to how he made her feel, probably.
Horrible. To think that he wouldn't listen to the woman about it is even worse than his doing it to begin with. How could he think this kind of behavior is acceptable? It could only come from a strongly sexist context, but I haven't heard that about UC Davis before. Strange and disturbing.
