Teaching should be done by the book

ON THURSDAY, Peking University announced its decision to fire Feng Renjie, a teacher who was reported by his girlfriend as having sexual relationships with several female students. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

The claims that Feng took advantage of his position to seduce students remind us of another case exposed a few days ago.

On Monday, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics fired its associate professor Qian Fengsheng who is alleged to have molested a female student in his car.

There is at least one lesson to be drawn from the two cases, namely that power of academic staff, such as professors, is power too, and must be regulated.

When it comes to "power", most people associate the word with officials. However, the fact is that professors in colleges have power over the students they teach.

A professor has the power to decide how much work one student has to do in the class and how many points he or she gets in the course. Further, the professor can decide for whom to write a recommendation letter, and whom to introduce to a good intern position.

Both Feng and Qian have already been fired for abusing their power. But the two cases show that the regulations need to be strengthened on the one hand, to deter professors from abusing their power and take advantage of students, and on the other hand to deter students from seeking to gain an advantage by offering sexual favors.

Also, the campuses should open hotlines for students, so the students who feel they have not got justice from university authorities can report what happended to the police.

In certain universities with strict disciplines, some professors, in order to avoid any possible doubt about their reputation, even avoid being in a room alone with a student of the other gender. That might be a little inconvenient, but at least it stops anything untoward happening.