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| Curvy students 'perk of the job' | Curvy students 'perk of the job' |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| A university leader has caused controversy by saying curvy female students are a "perk of the job". | A university leader has caused controversy by saying curvy female students are a "perk of the job". |
| Terence Kealey, of the University of Buckingham, said lecturers were aware of females who "flaunted their curves". | Terence Kealey, of the University of Buckingham, said lecturers were aware of females who "flaunted their curves". |
| In a tongue-in-cheek article for Times Education Higher Magazine on the seven deadly sins of academia, he advised academics to "look but not touch". | |
| The National Union of Students condemned the comments as insulting and disrespectful to women. | The National Union of Students condemned the comments as insulting and disrespectful to women. |
| Dr Kealey, a clinical bio-chemist and vice-chancellor of Buckingham University, likened the classroom to a lap dancing club and said admiring the curves of attractive students could help "spice up" marital sex. | |
| There will be a girl in class who flashes her admiration... Enjoy her! She's a perk. Dr Kealey | There will be a girl in class who flashes her admiration... Enjoy her! She's a perk. Dr Kealey |
| Dr Kealey wrote: "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's a perk." | "What to do? Enjoy her! She's a perk." |
| Referring to characters from Middlemarch by George Eliot and The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury, he added: "She doesn't yet know that you are only Casaubon to her Dorothea, Howard Kirk to her Felicity Phee, and she will flaunt you her curves. | |
| "Which you should admire daily to spice up your sex, nightly, with the wife." | |
| Dr Kealey bemoaned the days when sex between student and tutor for academic favours could go by unchecked. | Dr Kealey bemoaned the days when sex between student and tutor for academic favours could go by unchecked. |
| "Thanks to the accountability imposed by the Quality Assurance Agency [the university watchdog] and other intrusive bodies, the days are gone when a scholar could trade sex for upgrades." | "Thanks to the accountability imposed by the Quality Assurance Agency [the university watchdog] and other intrusive bodies, the days are gone when a scholar could trade sex for upgrades." |
| 'Appalled' | |
| Olivia Bailey, womens' officer for the NUS , said: "I am appalled that a university vice-chancellor should display such an astounding lack of respect for women. | Olivia Bailey, womens' officer for the NUS , said: "I am appalled that a university vice-chancellor should display such an astounding lack of respect for women. |
| "Regardless of whether this was an attempt at humour, it is completely unacceptable for someone in Terence Kealey's position to compare a lecture theatre to a lap dancing club, and I expect that many women studying at Buckingham University will be feeling extremely angry and insulted at these comments." | "Regardless of whether this was an attempt at humour, it is completely unacceptable for someone in Terence Kealey's position to compare a lecture theatre to a lap dancing club, and I expect that many women studying at Buckingham University will be feeling extremely angry and insulted at these comments." |
| His article has prompted a lively debate on the Times Higher Education website. | His article has prompted a lively debate on the Times Higher Education website. |
| "I'm amazed that Terence K has a position in any university, and I'll be damn sure never to apply for a job at Buckingham," said one reader. | "I'm amazed that Terence K has a position in any university, and I'll be damn sure never to apply for a job at Buckingham," said one reader. |
| Another added: "Any scholar, who assumes that female students who show interest in the subject and ask for help because they have a crush on you or hope to manipulate you with their sexual charms, is a reality-challenged idiot. | Another added: "Any scholar, who assumes that female students who show interest in the subject and ask for help because they have a crush on you or hope to manipulate you with their sexual charms, is a reality-challenged idiot. |
| "And anyone who thinks that female students are there in the classroom expressly as objects of the instructor's viewing pleasure needs to retire." | "And anyone who thinks that female students are there in the classroom expressly as objects of the instructor's viewing pleasure needs to retire." |
| But another said: "I'm appalled that everyone's so appalled! - it's just not that important, or offensive." | But another said: "I'm appalled that everyone's so appalled! - it's just not that important, or offensive." |
| Humour | |
| Adding his own voice to the online debate, Dr Kealey said his article was a "moral piece" which used humour to encourage people to exercise self-restraint. | Adding his own voice to the online debate, Dr Kealey said his article was a "moral piece" which used humour to encourage people to exercise self-restraint. |
| "Sex between academics and students is not funny, and should not be a source of humour," he wrote. | "Sex between academics and students is not funny, and should not be a source of humour," he wrote. |
| "But employing humour to highlight the ways by which people try to resolve the dissonance between what is publicly expected of them and how they actually feel - not just in this context - reaches back to origins of humour itself." | "But employing humour to highlight the ways by which people try to resolve the dissonance between what is publicly expected of them and how they actually feel - not just in this context - reaches back to origins of humour itself." |
| A spokesman for the University and College Union said: "Harassment is not something to be taken lightly and I would be surprised, and deeply concerned, if any university, or vice-chancellor, tried to laugh it off." | A spokesman for the University and College Union said: "Harassment is not something to be taken lightly and I would be surprised, and deeply concerned, if any university, or vice-chancellor, tried to laugh it off." |
| Dr Kealey has been vice-chancellor at Buckingham - the UK's only independent university - since 2001. | Dr Kealey has been vice-chancellor at Buckingham - the UK's only independent university - since 2001. |