Faculty in Casino, Gambling

[JohnEdison]

Hello:  a student recently informed me that they saw one of our colleagues in a casino, gambling, and showed me a blurry picture of someone who looked like the professor.  This colleague is a director of a small but well-funded research unit at the university. According to the student, they didn't "feel good" about seeing their professor gambling since it gives the wrong message.  The student claimed they were not sure whether there is a code of conduct for faculty.  So far, there have not been any issues with the Professor's handling of research/administrative funds.

How would you handle this observation from the student?  What would you tell the student? Would you talk to the professor,? If so, what would you say?


best, Edison

[Hegemony]

Really? I'm thinking you're a troll.

[Caracal]

Really? I'm thinking you're a troll.

Well, they don't have a lot of posts, but there are 5 and the others  involve departmental and service questions...

1. Unless you are at an institution with an explicitly religious mission, there wouldn't be any rule prohibiting legal gambling. The only real exceptions might involve sports betting and for faculty I can't imagine any rule would go beyond betting on the school's team.

2. Gambling, where there are casinos, is a highly regulated, legal, recreational activity. There's a reasonable argument to be had about whether that's a good thing, but except in very particular circumstances, what people do in their spare time shouldn't be something anybody at their job needs to care about.

3. Essentially this is the same as seeing a professor drinking at a bar and worrying that their drinking might cause problems at work. Most people who gamble have reasonable limits and aren't going to go into debt doing so. Some people get into real trouble, but there's no reason to assume your colleague has a gambling problem. The leap to worrying about your colleague embezzling money is just nuts.

Obviously, you shouldn't say anything to your colleague. As for what to tell the student, you should tell them them that their professors are allowed to have personal lives and that they shouldn't be taking pictures of people without their permission.

[research_prof]

Look, being a faculty is the same as any other job out there. Are people that work at Walmart, Starbucks, Mc Donald's, tech companies, banking, investment banking, travel, hospitality, health care prohibited from gambling? Then why would a faculty member be prohibited?

We live in a country where people can have guns and this is a fundamental right protected by the constitution, but gambling legally at a casino is not?

Jesus Christ... What else am I going to hear in this country?

Maybe tell the student that if they do not want to see faculty at casinos, then they should not go to casinos in the first place (!?)

[marshwiggle]

Maybe tell the student that if they do not want to see faculty at casinos, then they should not go to casinos in the first place (!?)

Well, yeah, that's what I was wondering. If the student thought gambling in a casino was unethical, what was the student doing there?

[Parasaurolophus]

It's none of your business. And none of the (hypocritical) student's. Obviously.

[Stockmann]

Your student should mind their own business. A college / university should not have a code of conduct applying off campus and outside working hours/official duties - I presume the casino in question ido. is off campus. Your student complaining about seeing people gambling at a casino  would easily be solved by not going to casinos.

[mleok]

What's next? Complaining that a professor is on a dating app?

[research_prof]

I am having pizza for lunch. Should I email my students first and ask them if they are ok with that?

Jesus Christ.. I still cannot believe what I read in this thread...

[Caracal]

Maybe tell the student that if they do not want to see faculty at casinos, then they should not go to casinos in the first place (!?)

Well, yeah, that's what I was wondering. If the student thought gambling in a casino was unethical, what was the student doing there?

I was shocked and appalled when I saw my student at the opium den. Very inappropriate. Not good for the reputation of the school to have students be frequenting such places!

[sinenomine]

I have yet to bump into one of my students at the cannabis dispensary, but many of my colleagues shop there.

[ciao_yall]

I avoid going out much during Pride Week or the Folsom Street Fair.

Mainly because I don't want to run into my students while they are naked.

(I'm never naked in public so no risk there...)

[darkstarrynight]

Maybe they were having a staycation?

[Wahoo Redux]

I remember seeing one of my grade school teachers shopping in a supermarket when I was a little kid.  She stopped and had a brief pleasant chat with my mom.  My little head was blown.  The teacher seemed so...human.

Many years later in grad school, I was shopping at our local supermarket and I ran into a student from a class I was TA-ing for.  She said, "It is so weird to see a TA out shopping."

I can only imagine the decentering shock of seeing a professor---- A PROFESSOR, who is an ennobled member of society----actually gambling...

[Kron3007]

I remember seeing one of my grade school teachers shopping in a supermarket when I was a little kid.  She stopped and had a brief pleasant chat with my mom.  My little head was blown.  The teacher seemed so...human.

Many years later in grad school, I was shopping at our local supermarket and I ran into a student from a class I was TA-ing for.  She said, "It is so weird to see a TA out shopping."

I can only imagine the decentering shock of seeing a professor---- A PROFESSOR, who is an ennobled member of society----actually gambling...

When I was a TA, I ran into some of the students at a bar on Halloween.  I was in a fairly ridiculous costume, and it was awesome....