[OCcardinal]

Lythcott-Haims was the Dean of Freshmen, which Stanford described as follows: "The Freshman Dean's Office welcomes and integrates freshmen into Stanford from acceptance of admission through the end of the first undergraduate year. It addresses students' individual transitional needs, connects students to resources and opportunities, and cultivates an understanding of Stanford's history and traditions." Sounds like a glorified Orientation volunteer. How much power does such person really have over a 22 year old Stanford senior?

To me this seems less about power dynamics and more about two people in the same community hooking up.  I support Stanford's current policy - it should be straightforward that all deans are barred from relationships with students - but this doesn't seem like a particularly egregious example of a power imbalance (age gap aside).

What bothers me more about this than the power imbalance is that even after Stanford asked Lythcott-Haims to leave (and let her pretend it was a personal choice), she chose to fully leverage her role as a former dean to launch her new career as a writer.  She wrote a NY Times best-selling book about how she learned as a Stanford dean that parents need to stay out of their college kids' lives.  And she did this knowing that Stanford had learned of her improper behavior from a student's parents. I've read that book and there is some decent advice in it, but I can't help think that the whole exercise was really about her being angry that a Stanford student's parents ratted her out.

[OCcardinal]

Lythcott-Haims was the Dean of Freshmen, which Stanford described as follows: "The Freshman Dean's Office welcomes and integrates freshmen into Stanford from acceptance of admission through the end of the first undergraduate year. It addresses students' individual transitional needs, connects students to resources and opportunities, and cultivates an understanding of Stanford's history and traditions." Sounds like a glorified Orientation volunteer. How much power does such person really have over a 22 year old Stanford senior?

To me this seems less about power dynamics and more about two people in the same community hooking up.  I support Stanford's current policy - it should be straightforward that all deans are barred from relationships with students - but this doesn't seem like a particularly egregious example of a power imbalance (age gap aside).

What bothers me more about this than the power imbalance is that even after Stanford asked Lythcott-Haims to leave (and let her pretend it was a personal choice), she chose to fully leverage her role as a former dean to launch her new career as a writer.  She wrote a NY Times best-selling book about how she learned as a Stanford dean that parents need to stay out of their college kids' lives.  And she did this knowing that Stanford had learned of her improper behavior from a student's parents. I've read that book and there is some decent advice in it, but I can't help think that the whole exercise was really about her being angry that a Stanford student's parents ratted her out.