Whether it is in the corridors of power or those of academia, what is wrong with romance blossoming between two colleagues? author Mark Griffiths asked.
In Zimbabwe, research has it that at least about that 40% of female students at universities or other academic colleges have had an affair or romance with a male lecturer.
Whether the statistics would be any different for academics is anybodys guess, but latest findings are not surprising, yet most male lecturers or tutors in tertiary institutions have been pouncing on wanting students.
In an interview with a number of students from various universities and colleges spread across the country, most girls, it emerges, offer sex to lecturers for them to get good marks.
Its very hard to pass an exam without bribing a lecturer. This bribe goes in two forms, either money or sexual favours. Male students usually go for money while female students opt for sex. I know of a lecturer who has slept with almost half of the students in my class, and all those who slept with him made it, said a student from Midlands State University.
A lecturer at a local college in Harare, according to one of his students who begged for anonymity as she is still being tutored by the randy lecturer, has tasted the forbidden fruit of almost all his students, especially those who are afraid of carrying over his course.
His strategy is usually deliberately fail any of his students, whom he has interest in, after which he tries to negotiate with them for sex in order to reverse the failing mark, depending on the prowess of such student in his bed during sex.
One wonders why none of the students has been able to muster courage to report to the relevant authority. According to students, most of the victims have known what it takes to score high marks in his course and do not bother to attend his lectures.
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Some of the girls in his department who are known to be wild, even go on to advise others to simply visit the lecturer if they have a problem with his course, as he is almost the easiest lecturer to deal with in the entire school.
A student revealed the lecturer who takes pleasure in having his female students grace his bed, has in the course of doing so impregnated about five of his students, most of whom he always gives money to have them terminate pregnancy, while intimidating them with failing scores if they refuse to heed his advice.
Some who are said to have refused his advances are also known to have had carry-overs in his course, and equally pressured until they accepted his offer.
I know four or five of the girls who were impregnated, she said.
Rutendo, a student studying secretarial at a local college, said she was a victim.
I failed the course twice until one of the students advised me to cool off the lecturer. I did it and I passed. I did not liked it, but I had no option. That was the only way to go, she said.
In an interview, a local university lecturer who declined to be named, blamed it all on the female students.
Female students are more interested in abs than in labs, more interested in pecs than specs, more interested in triceps than tripos. They abjure their lecturers for the company of their peers, but nonetheless, most male lecturers know that, most years, there will be a girl in class who flashes her admiration and who asks for advice on her essays. What to do? Enjoy her. She is a perk, said the lecturer.
Another lecturer known as Gilbert said the adage No one fails at university level is doing a lot in triggering the lecturer-student relationship.
Most students believe that failing at university level is taboo. Because of this some students resort to bribes and those without money use other means.
This forces female students to offer their lecturers sex in order to pass, he said.
Sociologist Darlington Nyabiko had this to say: The main reasons are familiarity (such as seeing people on a regular basis by sharing the same social space), reciprocity (liking somebody because you know they like you), similarity of attitudes (such as the sharing of political and religious views, cultural tastes, outside interests etc) and physical attractiveness.
Apart from physical attraction, all these other factors can in some ways be facilitated or stimulated by the environment. Being in the same enviroment for example, a university may be indicative of core values held by many like-minded individuals.
It is therefore not surprising that a lecturer ends up having a relationship with a student. Although there is a belief that opposites attract, in general people engage in relationships with like-minded people who share values and interests, he said.
Rudo a former student from Pretoria University, said she was chased out of campus after the affair became known.
Mixing work and pleasure can certainly be risky in some situations. When I was an undergraduate I had a four-year relationship with a member of staff in my department.
Our relationship was not a secret, but when it became serious we were told by university authorities to take (our) relationship off campus and not to be seen together in student bars, she said.
Some institutions appear to be accepting that such behaviour is common. For example, some places ask staff at the beginning of assessment boards for declarations of interest so that lecturers who are having relationships with students are not present when that students case is discussed.
