Leslie: Ruth, I’m sorry, but for a college professor to hire such an individual, they would have to be the most careless, irresponsible oh no, I think I just invoked her.
Robin: Sup, I just felt the overwhelming urge to sprint over here holding a job application for some reason.
If Ruth was going to have Jason confess to another facility member about his guilt Robin would have been the most likely to offer help or advice if only because she doesn’t take the schools ethics seriously.
She may not take the school’s rules seriously, but she might be wary of someone who might have pressured an unwilling student into sex for grades. (it didn’t exactly happen like that but she doesn’t know the details.)
For all of Robin’s faults, when she found out about Ryan she took it seriously. Fired her staff for suggesting she cover it up for political expediency.
The other option is that Jason brings up how failing to fulfill the terms of his visa means he goes back to his bond-villain father, which Leslie might have sympathy for
I hadn’t thought Leslie could summon Robin the way Dorothy should (by all rights) have been able to summon Becky, but now I’m totally on board with it.
I don’t get it. Why is grading her pages not corrupt? Isn’t the entire problem that grading pages of somebody you’re sleeping with affects whether you can grade them fairly?
He’s saying he should’ve at least boosted her grade if he was gonna be fired anyway. It was corrupt no matter what. Grading her paper fairly was just to make himself feel like less of a knob.
I always felt like, at least at first, Jason just assumed the sex he was having had nothing to do with him grading the papers. Which is why Sal was shocked that he graded her papers fairly and he was sorta like “why wouldn’t I?”. Like it hadn’t even crossed his mind that’s why sex was happening to him.
Thank you. I forgot that she straight up said she did it for a grade improvement. That’s kinda lame. In the actual porn comic, she say’s something like, “You’ll do,” and I never got the impression that she was doing it for a grade during the sex. In hindsight I could see how it was implied, but he definitely never agreed to such an exchange.
Jason knew. He made it very clear in the Slipshine preview that he knew EXACTLY what Sal meant. He said that boosting her grade would be immoral, Sal said ‘yeah’ and Jason kissed her. She took that as a yes, and he later clarified that he meant yes to the sex, not the grade boost.
The thing about that scene that gets me Is that… It felt like sal wasn’t new to doing this? Implying that she had this sort of thing as an underaged teenager while in a Catholic boarding school that she wasn’t allowed to leave, with the intention of isolating her from society.
I think most of the relationships she’s had the partner’s only been interested in her physical appearance and she’s internalized to believe that’s what most guys want from her and she uses that to “stick it to the man” I think she said. To be fair, that is what Jason wanted from her. He immediately leered at her the first time they met and made a sleazy pickup line.
I’ll be honest, as a touch starved guy who hasn’t dated in a decade if Sal Walkerton started stripping and hopped on my lap it’d take a Herculean feat if willpower for me to not act on it.
Which brings me to my next thought. It wasn’t crazy inappropriate for sal to do what she did. She basically starts tearing her clothes off and climbing on top of him. Up until Jason consents as far as I’m concerned that’s basically sexual assault. And I don’t wanna sound like I’m victim blaming but I feel like if Joe did that with Penny I’d find that skeevy in a way it doesn’t feel like this moment with sal is portrayed. Now at the time it just felt like porn acting. That sorta thing in shows and movies where everyone sorta just acts on their arousal in the moment because it’s more dynamic and dramatic. Which is fine a lot of couples in the comic are made through dynamic passionate kisses and stuff without the verbal contract of consent coming up until a bit later. But since were taking the actions of the characters very literally now I can’t help but think “Wait Sal actually did that. And I can’t recall if there’s been any conversation really of why that’s not an ok thing to do.”
And Jason himself, to his credit, didn’t let her having sex with him effect her test grades and also began giving her tests to a 3rd party to grade. He literally was relinquishing power over her, probably out of guilt. But he definitely made it as clear as possible “fucking me wont change your grades” I can say what he did was wrong but honestly he probably did the best version of that wrong thing. And I’m probably being charitable because he’s not rich or significantly older, or a professor or ,let’s face it, stronger than sal. In fact I’d argue that Sal has more power over him in this instance because if they get found out she might fail the class or at worst be expelled while he gets actually deported. It doesn’t help that sals mom is super good pals with the dean, racist favoritism not withstanding. I dunno I know it was wrong for him to do but I just can’t really even see him as a predator I’m this situation. It just sorta fell into his lap. Literally.
I think maybe you’re confusing predatory with abuse of power here. Jason isn’t a predator, he didn’t assault Sal, in fact as you bring up in a certain light one could argue the opposite although I think the truth is a gray area like most social/sexual interactions can be when people don’t directly express consent cause that’s not how humans think when they’re horny.
The problem is that Jason’s position as TA gave him power over Sal in that Sal has no actual control over her grades and he does. As shown by him not actually improving them after she slept with him. He got everything out of the deal and Sal didn’t and Sal just has to hold that L. In fact it could get worse. If Jason wanted he could have used Sal’s grades as leverage for more sex. “Have sex with me or you fail”. That power imbalance doesn’t go away just because Sal initiated the hookup. Jason knows this. As a professional it is his obligation not to conduct such behavior. But he was equally horny so he did it. Handing over her work for some else to grade is like dialing 911 after your house has been burning for 40 minutes. Good move but the damage is done.
This is all before you even get into the muddy waters of the he said, she said, nature of these interactions. Who would be believed? The rich white dude with authority and a sterling reputation. Or the mixed black girl some people including Jason would consider a “troublemaker” at first impression.
That’s the issue from my perspective, but it does get kind of ambiguous in the details. I just don’t think those details matter.
“He got everything out of the deal and Sal didn’t” sorta inherently implies that sex wasn’t as pleasurable for her as it was for him. I dunno maybe it wasn’t but I guess that’s sorta my issue. I’m caught between the sex positive rhetoric of “sex isn’t a big deal and is much too demonized in society” and “Sex isn’t ok unless very specific parameters are met”. Two consenting, similarly aged adults had sex and one went through the effort to make sure this coupling didn’t effect his scoring of her test and it’s still bad because he COULD have. By that same metric Jason didn’t get anything out of the sex either (except Fired.)
Someone below mentioned taking bribes down there but that seems more cut and dry. Like that’s a clear “someone is gaining money and someone is losing money”. Is the sex a zero sum game? Like if Jason and sal had played super smash bros together instead would that have been as bad? Like if he was obsessed with smash and used his position as a TA to play a few matches with him, would that be grounds for firing? It might be. But as someone who has never Had sex I often feel like I don’t understand how this works.
@Yotomoe. I like that Smash comparison. That’s probably perfect for this. Ironically the sex probably isn’t what matters here. Not the physical act two consenting adult participated in. But yes if Jason was challenged by Sal to a round of Smash, final destination, 3 stocks, no items, in exchange for an A that would still be a problem. That’s what I mean here. Sal didn’t get the A. That was the deal vaguely implied. Because off Jason’s position as TA he does not have to give that to her regardless of if she fucks him, smashes him, or chooses to like bow ties. Plus it sets a precedent that Jason will pass people who beat him in Smash which undermines the system. His integrity as a TA is compromised.
Hehe thanks. I just default to it cuz it’s my favorite multiplayer game. Though in this context “smash” is an apt double entendre. I guess the big issue here is that some important context is only in the slipshine. Going by what others have said I will at the very least say Jason is at fault because he didn’t outright deny “no, fucking me will not yield better results in your test scores.” Prior to the sex happening. I don’t know if that’d make it better but it certainly makes it worse that he didn’t.
Using the metaphor it would be like if Sal challenged him to smash bros and won and then got mad because she assumed that match would improve her grades. And Jason is just like “oh I just like playing smash. When Sal challenged him he didn’t clarify that this was just a game. He just thought she enjoyed platform fighters. If anything I’d be kinda put off if someone asked me to play a video game to decompress and then got mad if I didn’t reward them when they won. Sal kinda presented the sex as a “I’m sick of being here let’s fuck” but then recontexualized it as “I’m sick of being here so instead of tutoring me just fuck me to improve my grades” and Jason either didn’t catch on or didn’t acknowledge the paradigm shift. He just thought she wanted to smash bros.
It’s not like they were on a date and Jason just happened to be her TA. This all happened during his office hours, and Sal says “we both want to get out of here” before she initiates. There was some pretty heavy subtext going on. If you’re in a direct position of power over someone, you should assume there are motives beyond simple attraction. If she’d asked his favorite video game and agreed to play it with him, Jason should recognize that’s not in his job description and she’s probably attempting to build up good will in exchange for more lenient grading. That’s not normal or appropriate behavior between a student and TA in the middle of office hours.
Not to be that guy but it was actually decidedly not his office hours. Sal basically dragged him by his collar into his office on his day off. He wasn’t there out of commitment to a student but by force more or less. Also sal preceded a lot of this by complaining how she hasn’t had any action in a while and was jealous that even her brother is getting some while she’s not. So at this time of she had asked to play smash he’d be well in his right to play. He’s not supposed to work today.
Not to be that guy but it was actually decidedly not his office hours. Sal basically dragged him by his collar into his office on his day off. He wasn’t there out of commitment to a student but by force more or less. Also sal preceded a lot of this by complaining how she hasn’t had any action in a while and was jealous that even her brother is getting some while she’s not. So at this time of she had asked to play smash he’d be well in his right to play. He’s not supposed to work today.
I forgot that it was not his appointed office hours. But aside from the fact that Sal was out of line to physically drag him around, I don’t think that changes the situation all that much. The issue is not whether he was currently on the clock. The issue is that they were interacting in the context of a student and a TA. They weren’t spending time together socially.
It doesn’t matter if it’s office hours. It’s inappropriate for a grader to start a sexual and/or romantic relationship (no matter the length) with one of the students in the class they grade. The grader/student context exists as long as the student is enrolled in the class.
If they were already in a relationship, that’s something that would need to be addressed beforehand, by having another grader or the professor grade their assignments/tests.
I asked the head grader for our department, if graders were allowed to ask students out, when I was a grader/TA as an undergrad.
It makes it even more grey that he’s also a student, and likely about the same age. When I was in grad school, I was a TA briefly. It wasn’t something I planned on doing from the start, it was basically just a last-minute favor to a professor I liked who needed a new TA. The people in my classes were at most 2 years my junior, all of whom I saw around the building frequently anyway and some of whom I knew pretty well. I wasn’t involved in any inappropriate situations with any of them, but if one of them had thrown themselves at me, I don’t know that the potential impropriety of the situation would have crossed my mind, unless they had made it explicit that they wanted to trade sex for grades.
Actually, I remember one student did turn in a booty dance video for a project once (it was a video editing class). I gave her a bad grade for it because it didn’t follow the assignment prompt.
Thing is, whether there was a quid pro quo or not, even if nobody formally complains, it makes lots of trouble for the University if word gets out. There are several different problems all tangled up in this.
What would be? Like, for real. What the punishment for two fully consensual sexual encounters between consenting adults, which involved zero actual quid pro quo? So far, it’s Jason losing his job and possibly getting deported. Are you proposing jail time or skipping straight to a firing squad?
Like, for real, continuing to bar him from a position of power over students so he can’t have this lapse in judgement again. The fact that this was framed as being as consensual as possible doesn’t remove the reasons the rule is there.
Losing his job and not being allowed to get it back is a fully reasonable consequence for violating his job ethics. It’s sad that that can result in deportation, but that’s not a draconian, unfair consequence.
Yes, this. The immigration law is the fucked-up part. Jason shouldn’t be a TA anymore after making that kind of decision. Sal initiated because she wanted better grades. He didn’t shut it down. Reneging on his part of the deal doesn’t make him honorable.
I wouldn’t say reneg. He never formally agreed. It may have been implied but the circumstances around it made it kinda tenuous. She never openly said “hey if we fuck you’ll give me As, right?”
As far as I know anyway it’s been almost a decade since I read that slipshine.
The immigration thing seems kinda dubious to me as well, like TA isn’t really a job that people get externally recruited for, y’know? He shouldn’t be here on a work visa to be a TA, he should be here on a *student* visa and working as a TA might be part of his agreement with the school, but he was probably just recruited by the professor like any other TA after having been a student in their class.
Also, it’s my understanding that while work visas are generally restricted to certain kinds of work, I don’t think it’s usually that specific, AFAIK they are usually by category, like non-faculty employment with a university might even be too specific. If he can get hired by the university in basically any position, he should be fine, even if it’s serving food in a dorm cafeteria or mopping the floors in the library’s lobby.
I could easily be wrong about how work visas work, but even if I am it’s still a moot point since he should *definitely* be in on a student visa, not a work visa. I also wonder if he’s still been attending classes or if he just assumes he was expelled the way he assumes he’s been fired.
I don’t think he needs to be punished more than he has, but being sorry doesn’t mean he deserves his job back or a new teaching position at IU. That would be such a huge privilege flex to reinstate him in a teaching capacity when it’s known he breached ethical protocol.
Yeah, but isn’t it supposed to be inherently predatory for the one with the authority and inherently degrading for the one without, now? I thought we were supposed to be promoting equal power dynamics, as close to 50/50 as possible.
Inherently? Maybe not. The potential for abuse is far too high though.
Of course, if people want to play at authority and power dynamics that’s up to them, but when the power imbalance is real, how can the one with the power ever really know the subordinate is actually into it or is just pretending because of that imbalance?
I think the best thing he could do (other than not shagging Sal at all) is immediately and be very upfront about outsourcing Sal’s grades to someone else. Because as far as I can tell that’s the only power he as a TA had over her.
He could just not have sex with his student, because that’s against the rules of his job. If he’s going to try to justify by not grading her work, he’d damn well better do that before having sex with her, because that’s what she was expecting when they did it.
This is a thing that will come up with teachers. Not always or often, but it will happen. If you can’t say no, even when they’re hot and appear to actually want to, you don’t belong in the job. It’s really that simple. And that’s true at whatever level of authority you’ve got.
“Look, Leslie, if I’ve learned anything, anything at all, in my time here, it’s that inappropriate sexual dalliances with students do not matter, because your grandfather will just show up and put you right back where you were, chaining you to a Sisphyean hell-existence of marking time and waiting for death.
Well how long has he been here, though? Can’t americans stay in england for several months with just a tourism visa? Surely he could apply for a different visa by now?
Just looked it up and it is evidently much much harder for someone from the UK to visit the US on any random day of the week than it is for someone from the US to visit the UK. I’m kind of amazed that I can just go to the UK tomorrow with my passport if I wanted and stay there for 6 months, but the same is not true the other way around. Why make it so hard??
Pretty much. That, and America is basically one big cult that doesn’t want to let you in until it’s convinced you’ve bought the scam hook, line, and sinker.
Almost wondering if Ruth isn’t still sabatoging her relationship on some level. She didn’t seriously look at Leslie’s job power before having Jason come down here and now Leslie’s whole vibe screams ‘what exactly are you expecting me to do with this information?”
A: I do love grey eyes, but my spouse’s eyes are rainbow-coloured. Hazel with flecks of rusty red, brown, gold, green, turquoise/aquamarine, blue, and purple. I’d never seen eyes like that before. So my favourite colour for eyes is rainbow hazel.
Is there some other way to spell Ruth and Jason that I don’t know of?
Names don’t have to follow grammatical rules in the first place, so you can spell them anyway you like, so what I’m really asking is there a common way to spell them other than that way.
Yes I’m being serious.
Also, I’m American and spell it grey (grew up with a girl last named Grey and never heard there was a difference from country to country), so it wasn’t even a question in my mind about if Laura was referring to Jason and Ruth.
Aesthetically I like black eyes but those aren’t actually real. So I guess my answer is actually “Dark brown eyes that appear black”.
I like characters with black eyes cuz it’s simple but also high contrast and interesting. In real life I don’t really notice eye color because I struggle to make eye contact.
I’m really not used to these games that don’t involve kidnapping, torture, and an unfair bias towards one or more participants while claiming impartiality.
Also there’s no puppets. Who has a game without puppets?
One time, I saw this really cute girl with what’s called “central heterochromia”, which is basically when the inner part of your iris is a different color from the outer part. She has hazel in the inner ring and a gorgeous blue in the outer ring. Absolutely gorgeous.
So yeah, those kinda ruined all other eyes for me. We’ve been dating for nine and a half years.
I honestly didn’t know grey eyes were a real thing that could happen. Certainly never saw any, just thought it was a thing to make characters weird in fiction.
As for favorite color? Meh, eye colors aren’t really that important. They only stand out at all when they’re very extreme like Lucy Lawless, and that just makes someone look uncomfortably odd. So, anything in a fairly normal range, so I won’t notice them.
Color, I don’t know. I feel like my first thought would be blue or green, but also… associations with those colors being more attractive feel very linked to racist standards of beauty? And I don’t think anyone I’ve ever had a crush on has had eyes those colors.
However, there was a girl in my high school who had eyes that, like, protruded. In a very noticeable way, but not one that I can find a good image to compare to online. I thought she was beautiful– I noticed her on the first day of freshmen year in the halls. Didn’t really get to know her until junior year, though, during which I started to develop a major crush on her that would last through the end of high school. At one point during AP Chem, I said to her that I loved her eyes– shouted it, really, because it was during a for-fun ice cream making “experiment” that was pretty loud, and I apparently had to say it right then— and that was when I realized that I was REALLY into her.
Apparently, it was something she used to get bullied for back in middle school. People can be mean about differences. But I once read something about how what most people would describe as “pretty” could be achieved by something that would average out features, but people who were described as “beautiful” often had something striking about them– and that tended to be more divisive. I thought about that a lot back then.
I mean, unless they have video evidence or pictures, which they shouldn’t, all Jason really needs to do is spin why he never bothered to show up to the tribunal.
He never told anyone of authority (until now) that he actually slept with a student (as far as I remember anyway) and I’m not sure Sal told anyone period.
If he can get them to throw out the accusation based on them having no proof, the only remaining obstacle is his missing time for the past 3.5 months.
True but Jason wants it both ways. He doesn’t want to dispute the charges because they are true and he likes to think he has integrity but he doesn’t want to face the consequences either.
He DID face the consequences: he acknowledged that he shouldn’t have the job anymore and left without being forced. I’m not sure what other consequences you expect him to face? Both sexual encounters were consensual and there was no quid pro quo involved.
He did face consequences yes, but now he is attempting to undo some of those consequences by trying to garner undeserving sympathy to get rehired which is what I object to. He frankly shouldn’t be trying to get another job on campus. As assertive as Sal was she is still a young student, it can’t be considered truely consensual, especially their first time which Sal clearly thought was transactional and Jason did nothing to correct her, he just acted like she should have known better after her grade came back.
Penny could have guessed Sal. https://www.dumbingofage.com/crackin
So in addition to guilt and/or shame, he could have been avoiding a confrontation he expected to go poorly.
Penny admitted that she was lying when she accused him, so guessing anyone, including Sal, would have meant dragging some innocent person through the mud that she didn’t even know.
Doesn’t mean she wouldn’t do it, but it seems a lot.
I don’t think it’s a lot. Penny is awful. She spread the rumor of Jason banging students just for fun, and that does risk putting a student under fire if IU had chosen to investigate. If Jason had went to that tribunal who knows what could have happened. Sal could easily have gotten dragged in with some very basic investigation into Jason’s appointment schedule or the roster of students in the classes he assisted in. And schools have a great reputation of treating women fairly in sex scandals. Especially the black girl Jason once suggested would “avail herself with the local thugs and hoodlums”. This whole situation is screwed if the school actually decides to care.
It’s my understanding that it was less “spread the rumor” and more saying “Jason did it to” directly to the higher ups when questioned.
Then the rumor probably got spread because Jason told Walky and Walky told his friends in class (and maybe some of the professors and teachers assistants started spreading it specifically because he left and didn’t fight).
In other words, I don’t think there would be any rumors if Jason had lied and said there was no credence to it.
And Sal probably would not be dragged in as her grades would show she never got any favoritism and they didn’t meet up with each other during office hours half the time they saw each other, so she’d have to be the only female student who came to his office (assuming the accusation specified it was a female student in the first place as I don’t feel like checking for what Penny said right now).
And since Sal wouldn’t say anything in the first place, they would never have anything on him except the word of his petty exgirlfriend who had just been fired for doing the very thing she accused him of, and she could never provide evidence because she was lying, only ending up a stopped clock.
As for not being kind to Sal, assuming they locked onto her in the first place, she’s still the daughter of the dean’s exwife who either is on good enough terms with the dean and/or contributes enough money to the school that they let her have a motorcycle on campus.
In general, I believe you’d be correct, but with this specific scenario and specific people, I think your outcome would be unlikely.
The investigation is just baseless speculation on part. My point is I don’t think Penny cares about who was at risk when she lied about Jason. The ramifications of that were unknowable to her but she did it just to take Jason down with her because she’s terrible.
Also, Penny DOES know Sal was at Jason’s office outside office hours and she’s almost certainly the other TA that Jason gave Sal’s papers to. It’s very possible she threw out a name ‘for funsies’ to make it sound more believable.
That sounds like the tribunal just wanted Jason to do their work for them because if they didn’t name the affected student and Penny was lying, then he can’t make a defense with a nonexistent person.
And I don’t remember if Sal ever got a letter. If she did, then they had her name, but if she didn’t, then they did not have her name or they were just really inefficient to have a tribunal requiring her presence without notifying her.
There’s not much to say here, Ruth’s awkward face says it all. Wanting to help someone who has been guilty of something, asking for help from a person who, most likely, specifically hates that kind of abuser to the max is being truly desperate. I’m really curious to see what Leslie will do.
Most likely remind him that his ‘middleground’ doesnt really make sense. He doesn’t want to flat out lie about the accusations but doesn’t want to face the actual consequences either. Robin would have been the better choice here since she’s already shown in her campaign to disregard the norms (hiring homeless gay youth for Republican campaign manager). Even if they had no way to know she also gives A’s to favorites it seems Ruth didn’t seriously think her approach through here.
Ruth probably doesn’t know Robin very much (or maybe doesn’t have any confidence in her). Also I wouldn’t assume that Robin would hire Jason without problems, she’s the one who fired her staff because they told her that to save her career she should let a rapist go unpunished. I think she really hates anyone who uses force and power to force someone to have sex and I don’t think she would listen to the whole Jason’s story before kicking him and Ruth out.
I agree his chances are not good with Robin either (and she shouldn’t be giving him a chance) but Ruth’s decision to come to Leslie seems like particularly bad choice (assuming shes sincerly trying to help Jason). Leslie is alot more by the rules overall and is more likely to report someone who she thinks could be a threat to students that is now trying to stay on campus. Not to mention Ruth implying that Jason deserves similar compassion to a homeless gay youth is likely to offend Leslie in particular.
That two British TAs teaching freshman math were dismissed for sleeping with students would have been News among the faculty, even the contingent ones.
IMO, the common thread is that Jason never says “no” or exercises any agency of his own. Whether it’s being dragged around like a living standee, or refusing to do things that are inappropriate or even criminal. Whatever comes at him, he might complain but otherwise just passively accepts it.
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Leslie: Ruth, I’m sorry, but for a college professor to hire such an individual, they would have to be the most careless, irresponsible oh no, I think I just invoked her.
Robin: Sup, I just felt the overwhelming urge to sprint over here holding a job application for some reason.
Really, Robin is related to Lenny and/or Squiggy. “HELLO!”
*giggle-snort*
It’s been years, decades, and I can still hear this.
Definitely. Great reference!
That’s very unrealistic.
Robin wouldn’t bother with a job application.
I also have difficulty imagining Robin “sprinting.”
I have difficulty imagining her locomoting in any other way.
She momentarily morphed into Walkyverse Robin.
If Ruth was going to have Jason confess to another facility member about his guilt Robin would have been the most likely to offer help or advice if only because she doesn’t take the schools ethics seriously.
She may not take the school’s rules seriously, but she might be wary of someone who might have pressured an unwilling student into sex for grades. (it didn’t exactly happen like that but she doesn’t know the details.)
Good point.
For all of Robin’s faults, when she found out about Ryan she took it seriously. Fired her staff for suggesting she cover it up for political expediency.
The other option is that Jason brings up how failing to fulfill the terms of his visa means he goes back to his bond-villain father, which Leslie might have sympathy for
Do we know anything about his DoA father specifically? I see the wiki talks about previous universe father.
We know he’s a “cruel and powerful captain of industry”.
With an eyepatch.
I hadn’t thought Leslie could summon Robin the way Dorothy should (by all rights) have been able to summon Becky, but now I’m totally on board with it.
“We can’t fire him! He QUIT!”
wait no
I don’t get it. Why is grading her pages not corrupt? Isn’t the entire problem that grading pages of somebody you’re sleeping with affects whether you can grade them fairly?
I *think* he means that he shouldn’t have put in the effort to grade them properly, and just marked them as A’s
I think he means actually graded as opposed to giving her an A
He’s saying he should’ve at least boosted her grade if he was gonna be fired anyway. It was corrupt no matter what. Grading her paper fairly was just to make himself feel like less of a knob.
I always felt like, at least at first, Jason just assumed the sex he was having had nothing to do with him grading the papers. Which is why Sal was shocked that he graded her papers fairly and he was sorta like “why wouldn’t I?”. Like it hadn’t even crossed his mind that’s why sex was happening to him.
Wait I don’t remember this scene. When did Sal get a paper back from him?
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/robust-2/
let’s just all be glad he grew his hair out
Thank you. I forgot that she straight up said she did it for a grade improvement. That’s kinda lame. In the actual porn comic, she say’s something like, “You’ll do,” and I never got the impression that she was doing it for a grade during the sex. In hindsight I could see how it was implied, but he definitely never agreed to such an exchange.
It was almost a decade ago so not surprising you’ve forgotten.
Yeah that’s part of the reason I don’t care for him. He’s a bland mix of stuck up and stupid.
Hehe might be why I like him. I don’t know much about stuck up but I can RELATE to twitter.
Jason knew. He made it very clear in the Slipshine preview that he knew EXACTLY what Sal meant. He said that boosting her grade would be immoral, Sal said ‘yeah’ and Jason kissed her. She took that as a yes, and he later clarified that he meant yes to the sex, not the grade boost.
Ah damn. I guess I shoulda checked that slipshine 😛
Also “Say Yes to the sex” is my favorite spinoff of “Say yes to the dress”
I know right? Best spin off.
From memory, as I recall…
Sal takes her top off, knocks some stuff off the desk, climbs over it, and straddles Jason. The following exchange happens:
“Ya said it yerself– Effort don’t matter. Ah’m only bein’ judged against my marks.”
“That is not what I meant and you know it!”
“Yup, Ah do. Ah’m totally misrrpresentin’ yet words. Y’got me.”
“This–this is unethical in a staggering number of ways!”
“Yeah.“🙂
Then he looks shocked and then he kisses her. And then they fuck.
The thing about that scene that gets me Is that… It felt like sal wasn’t new to doing this? Implying that she had this sort of thing as an underaged teenager while in a Catholic boarding school that she wasn’t allowed to leave, with the intention of isolating her from society.
So… Even more cult abuse in this webcomic
I think there’s another hint to that somewhere, but I don’t remember enough about it to try to track it down.
She says something to Danny here, post Jason that I think is in reference to him specifically but it could apply to her past in general.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-13/01-bring-me-to-life-drawing/girlfriend-2/
I think most of the relationships she’s had the partner’s only been interested in her physical appearance and she’s internalized to believe that’s what most guys want from her and she uses that to “stick it to the man” I think she said. To be fair, that is what Jason wanted from her. He immediately leered at her the first time they met and made a sleazy pickup line.
Sirksome, that’s totally true! Jason came across as predatory from the start.
I’ll be honest, as a touch starved guy who hasn’t dated in a decade if Sal Walkerton started stripping and hopped on my lap it’d take a Herculean feat if willpower for me to not act on it.
Which brings me to my next thought. It wasn’t crazy inappropriate for sal to do what she did. She basically starts tearing her clothes off and climbing on top of him. Up until Jason consents as far as I’m concerned that’s basically sexual assault. And I don’t wanna sound like I’m victim blaming but I feel like if Joe did that with Penny I’d find that skeevy in a way it doesn’t feel like this moment with sal is portrayed. Now at the time it just felt like porn acting. That sorta thing in shows and movies where everyone sorta just acts on their arousal in the moment because it’s more dynamic and dramatic. Which is fine a lot of couples in the comic are made through dynamic passionate kisses and stuff without the verbal contract of consent coming up until a bit later. But since were taking the actions of the characters very literally now I can’t help but think “Wait Sal actually did that. And I can’t recall if there’s been any conversation really of why that’s not an ok thing to do.”
And Jason himself, to his credit, didn’t let her having sex with him effect her test grades and also began giving her tests to a 3rd party to grade. He literally was relinquishing power over her, probably out of guilt. But he definitely made it as clear as possible “fucking me wont change your grades” I can say what he did was wrong but honestly he probably did the best version of that wrong thing. And I’m probably being charitable because he’s not rich or significantly older, or a professor or ,let’s face it, stronger than sal. In fact I’d argue that Sal has more power over him in this instance because if they get found out she might fail the class or at worst be expelled while he gets actually deported. It doesn’t help that sals mom is super good pals with the dean, racist favoritism not withstanding. I dunno I know it was wrong for him to do but I just can’t really even see him as a predator I’m this situation. It just sorta fell into his lap. Literally.
“It was crazy inappropriate to do what sal did”
One little typo can mess Up the whole thesis of my post.
I think maybe you’re confusing predatory with abuse of power here. Jason isn’t a predator, he didn’t assault Sal, in fact as you bring up in a certain light one could argue the opposite although I think the truth is a gray area like most social/sexual interactions can be when people don’t directly express consent cause that’s not how humans think when they’re horny.
The problem is that Jason’s position as TA gave him power over Sal in that Sal has no actual control over her grades and he does. As shown by him not actually improving them after she slept with him. He got everything out of the deal and Sal didn’t and Sal just has to hold that L. In fact it could get worse. If Jason wanted he could have used Sal’s grades as leverage for more sex. “Have sex with me or you fail”. That power imbalance doesn’t go away just because Sal initiated the hookup. Jason knows this. As a professional it is his obligation not to conduct such behavior. But he was equally horny so he did it. Handing over her work for some else to grade is like dialing 911 after your house has been burning for 40 minutes. Good move but the damage is done.
This is all before you even get into the muddy waters of the he said, she said, nature of these interactions. Who would be believed? The rich white dude with authority and a sterling reputation. Or the mixed black girl some people including Jason would consider a “troublemaker” at first impression.
That’s the issue from my perspective, but it does get kind of ambiguous in the details. I just don’t think those details matter.
“He got everything out of the deal and Sal didn’t” sorta inherently implies that sex wasn’t as pleasurable for her as it was for him. I dunno maybe it wasn’t but I guess that’s sorta my issue. I’m caught between the sex positive rhetoric of “sex isn’t a big deal and is much too demonized in society” and “Sex isn’t ok unless very specific parameters are met”. Two consenting, similarly aged adults had sex and one went through the effort to make sure this coupling didn’t effect his scoring of her test and it’s still bad because he COULD have. By that same metric Jason didn’t get anything out of the sex either (except Fired.)
Someone below mentioned taking bribes down there but that seems more cut and dry. Like that’s a clear “someone is gaining money and someone is losing money”. Is the sex a zero sum game? Like if Jason and sal had played super smash bros together instead would that have been as bad? Like if he was obsessed with smash and used his position as a TA to play a few matches with him, would that be grounds for firing? It might be. But as someone who has never Had sex I often feel like I don’t understand how this works.
@Yotomoe. I like that Smash comparison. That’s probably perfect for this. Ironically the sex probably isn’t what matters here. Not the physical act two consenting adult participated in. But yes if Jason was challenged by Sal to a round of Smash, final destination, 3 stocks, no items, in exchange for an A that would still be a problem. That’s what I mean here. Sal didn’t get the A. That was the deal vaguely implied. Because off Jason’s position as TA he does not have to give that to her regardless of if she fucks him, smashes him, or chooses to like bow ties. Plus it sets a precedent that Jason will pass people who beat him in Smash which undermines the system. His integrity as a TA is compromised.
Hehe thanks. I just default to it cuz it’s my favorite multiplayer game. Though in this context “smash” is an apt double entendre. I guess the big issue here is that some important context is only in the slipshine. Going by what others have said I will at the very least say Jason is at fault because he didn’t outright deny “no, fucking me will not yield better results in your test scores.” Prior to the sex happening. I don’t know if that’d make it better but it certainly makes it worse that he didn’t.
Using the metaphor it would be like if Sal challenged him to smash bros and won and then got mad because she assumed that match would improve her grades. And Jason is just like “oh I just like playing smash. When Sal challenged him he didn’t clarify that this was just a game. He just thought she enjoyed platform fighters. If anything I’d be kinda put off if someone asked me to play a video game to decompress and then got mad if I didn’t reward them when they won. Sal kinda presented the sex as a “I’m sick of being here let’s fuck” but then recontexualized it as “I’m sick of being here so instead of tutoring me just fuck me to improve my grades” and Jason either didn’t catch on or didn’t acknowledge the paradigm shift. He just thought she wanted to smash bros.
It’s not like they were on a date and Jason just happened to be her TA. This all happened during his office hours, and Sal says “we both want to get out of here” before she initiates. There was some pretty heavy subtext going on. If you’re in a direct position of power over someone, you should assume there are motives beyond simple attraction. If she’d asked his favorite video game and agreed to play it with him, Jason should recognize that’s not in his job description and she’s probably attempting to build up good will in exchange for more lenient grading. That’s not normal or appropriate behavior between a student and TA in the middle of office hours.
Not to be that guy but it was actually decidedly not his office hours. Sal basically dragged him by his collar into his office on his day off. He wasn’t there out of commitment to a student but by force more or less. Also sal preceded a lot of this by complaining how she hasn’t had any action in a while and was jealous that even her brother is getting some while she’s not. So at this time of she had asked to play smash he’d be well in his right to play. He’s not supposed to work today.
Not to be that guy but it was actually decidedly not his office hours. Sal basically dragged him by his collar into his office on his day off. He wasn’t there out of commitment to a student but by force more or less. Also sal preceded a lot of this by complaining how she hasn’t had any action in a while and was jealous that even her brother is getting some while she’s not. So at this time of she had asked to play smash he’d be well in his right to play. He’s not supposed to work today.
I forgot that it was not his appointed office hours. But aside from the fact that Sal was out of line to physically drag him around, I don’t think that changes the situation all that much. The issue is not whether he was currently on the clock. The issue is that they were interacting in the context of a student and a TA. They weren’t spending time together socially.
It doesn’t matter if it’s office hours. It’s inappropriate for a grader to start a sexual and/or romantic relationship (no matter the length) with one of the students in the class they grade. The grader/student context exists as long as the student is enrolled in the class.
If they were already in a relationship, that’s something that would need to be addressed beforehand, by having another grader or the professor grade their assignments/tests.
I asked the head grader for our department, if graders were allowed to ask students out, when I was a grader/TA as an undergrad.
It makes it even more grey that he’s also a student, and likely about the same age. When I was in grad school, I was a TA briefly. It wasn’t something I planned on doing from the start, it was basically just a last-minute favor to a professor I liked who needed a new TA. The people in my classes were at most 2 years my junior, all of whom I saw around the building frequently anyway and some of whom I knew pretty well. I wasn’t involved in any inappropriate situations with any of them, but if one of them had thrown themselves at me, I don’t know that the potential impropriety of the situation would have crossed my mind, unless they had made it explicit that they wanted to trade sex for grades.
Actually, I remember one student did turn in a booty dance video for a project once (it was a video editing class). I gave her a bad grade for it because it didn’t follow the assignment prompt.
This is the most apt gravitar in history.
I consider it still was the better option, once the deed was done. I really consider it would have made things worse.
If I remember right, Jason still graded Sal’s papers properly, instead of unethically giving her As because she slept with him.
Thing is, whether there was a quid pro quo or not, even if nobody formally complains, it makes lots of trouble for the University if word gets out. There are several different problems all tangled up in this.
Being sorry doesn’t really make up for it though. That’s not nearly enough.
fully agreed.
Sorry Ruth, but your boyfriends ‘break’ from the rules doesn’t elicit the same sympathy at all.
What would be? Like, for real. What the punishment for two fully consensual sexual encounters between consenting adults, which involved zero actual quid pro quo? So far, it’s Jason losing his job and possibly getting deported. Are you proposing jail time or skipping straight to a firing squad?
Like, for real, continuing to bar him from a position of power over students so he can’t have this lapse in judgement again. The fact that this was framed as being as consensual as possible doesn’t remove the reasons the rule is there.
Losing his job and not being allowed to get it back is a fully reasonable consequence for violating his job ethics. It’s sad that that can result in deportation, but that’s not a draconian, unfair consequence.
Yes, this. The immigration law is the fucked-up part. Jason shouldn’t be a TA anymore after making that kind of decision. Sal initiated because she wanted better grades. He didn’t shut it down. Reneging on his part of the deal doesn’t make him honorable.
I wouldn’t say reneg. He never formally agreed. It may have been implied but the circumstances around it made it kinda tenuous. She never openly said “hey if we fuck you’ll give me As, right?”
As far as I know anyway it’s been almost a decade since I read that slipshine.
Okay, saying “I never technically agreed to that” doesn’t make him honorable.
The immigration thing seems kinda dubious to me as well, like TA isn’t really a job that people get externally recruited for, y’know? He shouldn’t be here on a work visa to be a TA, he should be here on a *student* visa and working as a TA might be part of his agreement with the school, but he was probably just recruited by the professor like any other TA after having been a student in their class.
Also, it’s my understanding that while work visas are generally restricted to certain kinds of work, I don’t think it’s usually that specific, AFAIK they are usually by category, like non-faculty employment with a university might even be too specific. If he can get hired by the university in basically any position, he should be fine, even if it’s serving food in a dorm cafeteria or mopping the floors in the library’s lobby.
I could easily be wrong about how work visas work, but even if I am it’s still a moot point since he should *definitely* be in on a student visa, not a work visa. I also wonder if he’s still been attending classes or if he just assumes he was expelled the way he assumes he’s been fired.
I don’t think he needs to be punished more than he has, but being sorry doesn’t mean he deserves his job back or a new teaching position at IU. That would be such a huge privilege flex to reinstate him in a teaching capacity when it’s known he breached ethical protocol.
Wait, sleeping with someone you have a position of power over?
And you wonder if Ruth and Jason had anything in common.
They have a type. And that type is “in a position slightly lower than me”
I thought Ruth’s type was “Miserable”
It can be both
It can be really spicy for both.
Yeah, but isn’t it supposed to be inherently predatory for the one with the authority and inherently degrading for the one without, now? I thought we were supposed to be promoting equal power dynamics, as close to 50/50 as possible.
Inherently? Maybe not. The potential for abuse is far too high though.
Of course, if people want to play at authority and power dynamics that’s up to them, but when the power imbalance is real, how can the one with the power ever really know the subordinate is actually into it or is just pretending because of that imbalance?
I think the best thing he could do (other than not shagging Sal at all) is immediately and be very upfront about outsourcing Sal’s grades to someone else. Because as far as I can tell that’s the only power he as a TA had over her.
THIS. People persistently act like Jason was a real teacher with real authority and He Was Not.
He could just not have sex with his student, because that’s against the rules of his job. If he’s going to try to justify by not grading her work, he’d damn well better do that before having sex with her, because that’s what she was expecting when they did it.
This is a thing that will come up with teachers. Not always or often, but it will happen. If you can’t say no, even when they’re hot and appear to actually want to, you don’t belong in the job. It’s really that simple. And that’s true at whatever level of authority you’ve got.
Yeah, that’s why this stuff is generally kept to role plays
So much for defrauding down.
Oh hey they said the thing I was saying yesterday.
Yeaaahhhhh that’s gonna make it a lot harder to help.
“Look, Leslie, if I’ve learned anything, anything at all, in my time here, it’s that inappropriate sexual dalliances with students do not matter, because your grandfather will just show up and put you right back where you were, chaining you to a Sisphyean hell-existence of marking time and waiting for death.
I need you to be Jason’s grandfather.”
Ooh, this is good.
Yeah, that’s not the way to network your way back into a job, Jason.
This wasn’t Jason’s idea, and he does seem aware that he deserved to lose his teaching job, he just doesn’t want to lose his visa
“I guarantee you, ma’am, there was no sleeping involved in the matter.
Just fucking.”
“Everytime I started to doze off she’d smack me awake and the fucking would resume.”
“Couldn’t even sleep afterward, either. She took my dozing off as being unconvinced and started another round.”
Only a little bit
Twice
Once documented in a porn comic
Wait, I thought Jason said he gave Penny Sal’s papers to grade to avoid any moral impropriety?
dumbingofage(.)com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-teenage-churchmouse/genuine/
My bad, he gave some to the other TA (Penny) and graded some himself.
So he graded them all…. as if nothing had happened at all.
Well how long has he been here, though? Can’t americans stay in england for several months with just a tourism visa? Surely he could apply for a different visa by now?
Just looked it up and it is evidently much much harder for someone from the UK to visit the US on any random day of the week than it is for someone from the US to visit the UK. I’m kind of amazed that I can just go to the UK tomorrow with my passport if I wanted and stay there for 6 months, but the same is not true the other way around. Why make it so hard??
Yeah. America’s not even that great. It’s like jumping through hoops to sleep in the car.
Because if it were only hard for Mexicans the claim that immigration policies are racist would be a lot easier to prove?
Pretty much. That, and America is basically one big cult that doesn’t want to let you in until it’s convinced you’ve bought the scam hook, line, and sinker.
Because the threat of losing your work visa and thus getting deported if you get fired massively disempowers migrant labour
Ruth sure can pick ‘em
But he stopped grading her papers…
Only after the second time. After she’d complained.
Also her complaint was that he wasn’t boosting her scores.
really not helping your case here lol
Almost wondering if Ruth isn’t still sabatoging her relationship on some level. She didn’t seriously look at Leslie’s job power before having Jason come down here and now Leslie’s whole vibe screams ‘what exactly are you expecting me to do with this information?”
Anyone up for a game?
Ok, here goes:
In yesterday’s comic, we learned that Jason’s eyes are grey. He likes the colour, but Ruth does not.
Q: What is your favourite colour for eyes to be? Why do you like that colour?
I can go first:
A: I do love grey eyes, but my spouse’s eyes are rainbow-coloured. Hazel with flecks of rusty red, brown, gold, green, turquoise/aquamarine, blue, and purple. I’d never seen eyes like that before. So my favourite colour for eyes is rainbow hazel.
(I’m using British spelling for Ruth and Jason.)
Is there some other way to spell Ruth and Jason that I don’t know of?
Names don’t have to follow grammatical rules in the first place, so you can spell them anyway you like, so what I’m really asking is there a common way to spell them other than that way.
If you’re being serious, this is about grey (UK) as opposed to gray (US).
Yes, that’s what I meant. Also, “colour”. 🙂 Sorry for the inclarity!
Yes I’m being serious.
Also, I’m American and spell it grey (grew up with a girl last named Grey and never heard there was a difference from country to country), so it wasn’t even a question in my mind about if Laura was referring to Jason and Ruth.
Sorry for being unclear! Thanks for checking. 🙂
Aesthetically I like black eyes but those aren’t actually real. So I guess my answer is actually “Dark brown eyes that appear black”.
I like characters with black eyes cuz it’s simple but also high contrast and interesting. In real life I don’t really notice eye color because I struggle to make eye contact.
Same.
Does eye contact drain your energy like Android 19?
I’m really not used to these games that don’t involve kidnapping, torture, and an unfair bias towards one or more participants while claiming impartiality.
Also there’s no puppets. Who has a game without puppets?
I hardly pay attention to eye colour. I guess I like blue eyes, because at those at least I tend to notice in people. The colour stands out.
Red. ’cause hamsters and Senku from my favorite manga Dr. Stone. And demons. Really pretty. 😍
One time, I saw this really cute girl with what’s called “central heterochromia”, which is basically when the inner part of your iris is a different color from the outer part. She has hazel in the inner ring and a gorgeous blue in the outer ring. Absolutely gorgeous.
So yeah, those kinda ruined all other eyes for me. We’ve been dating for nine and a half years.
I honestly didn’t know grey eyes were a real thing that could happen. Certainly never saw any, just thought it was a thing to make characters weird in fiction.
As for favorite color? Meh, eye colors aren’t really that important. They only stand out at all when they’re very extreme like Lucy Lawless, and that just makes someone look uncomfortably odd. So, anything in a fairly normal range, so I won’t notice them.
Color, I don’t know. I feel like my first thought would be blue or green, but also… associations with those colors being more attractive feel very linked to racist standards of beauty? And I don’t think anyone I’ve ever had a crush on has had eyes those colors.
However, there was a girl in my high school who had eyes that, like, protruded. In a very noticeable way, but not one that I can find a good image to compare to online. I thought she was beautiful– I noticed her on the first day of freshmen year in the halls. Didn’t really get to know her until junior year, though, during which I started to develop a major crush on her that would last through the end of high school. At one point during AP Chem, I said to her that I loved her eyes– shouted it, really, because it was during a for-fun ice cream making “experiment” that was pretty loud, and I apparently had to say it right then— and that was when I realized that I was REALLY into her.
Apparently, it was something she used to get bullied for back in middle school. People can be mean about differences. But I once read something about how what most people would describe as “pretty” could be achieved by something that would average out features, but people who were described as “beautiful” often had something striking about them– and that tended to be more divisive. I thought about that a lot back then.
Blue, because that’s the same as mine. XD I like them all though.
I mean, unless they have video evidence or pictures, which they shouldn’t, all Jason really needs to do is spin why he never bothered to show up to the tribunal.
He never told anyone of authority (until now) that he actually slept with a student (as far as I remember anyway) and I’m not sure Sal told anyone period.
If he can get them to throw out the accusation based on them having no proof, the only remaining obstacle is his missing time for the past 3.5 months.
True but Jason wants it both ways. He doesn’t want to dispute the charges because they are true and he likes to think he has integrity but he doesn’t want to face the consequences either.
He DID face the consequences: he acknowledged that he shouldn’t have the job anymore and left without being forced. I’m not sure what other consequences you expect him to face? Both sexual encounters were consensual and there was no quid pro quo involved.
He did face consequences yes, but now he is attempting to undo some of those consequences by trying to garner undeserving sympathy to get rehired which is what I object to. He frankly shouldn’t be trying to get another job on campus. As assertive as Sal was she is still a young student, it can’t be considered truely consensual, especially their first time which Sal clearly thought was transactional and Jason did nothing to correct her, he just acted like she should have known better after her grade came back.
Is Jason trying to undo the consequences? Looks more like Ruth is pushing him into this.
Jason needs a course in “Telling hot women no.”
Hes going along with Ruth so I wouldn’t say he’s only a passive observer.
Penny could have guessed Sal. https://www.dumbingofage.com/crackin
So in addition to guilt and/or shame, he could have been avoiding a confrontation he expected to go poorly.
Penny admitted that she was lying when she accused him, so guessing anyone, including Sal, would have meant dragging some innocent person through the mud that she didn’t even know.
Doesn’t mean she wouldn’t do it, but it seems a lot.
I don’t think it’s a lot. Penny is awful. She spread the rumor of Jason banging students just for fun, and that does risk putting a student under fire if IU had chosen to investigate. If Jason had went to that tribunal who knows what could have happened. Sal could easily have gotten dragged in with some very basic investigation into Jason’s appointment schedule or the roster of students in the classes he assisted in. And schools have a great reputation of treating women fairly in sex scandals. Especially the black girl Jason once suggested would “avail herself with the local thugs and hoodlums”. This whole situation is screwed if the school actually decides to care.
It’s my understanding that it was less “spread the rumor” and more saying “Jason did it to” directly to the higher ups when questioned.
Then the rumor probably got spread because Jason told Walky and Walky told his friends in class (and maybe some of the professors and teachers assistants started spreading it specifically because he left and didn’t fight).
In other words, I don’t think there would be any rumors if Jason had lied and said there was no credence to it.
And Sal probably would not be dragged in as her grades would show she never got any favoritism and they didn’t meet up with each other during office hours half the time they saw each other, so she’d have to be the only female student who came to his office (assuming the accusation specified it was a female student in the first place as I don’t feel like checking for what Penny said right now).
And since Sal wouldn’t say anything in the first place, they would never have anything on him except the word of his petty exgirlfriend who had just been fired for doing the very thing she accused him of, and she could never provide evidence because she was lying, only ending up a stopped clock.
As for not being kind to Sal, assuming they locked onto her in the first place, she’s still the daughter of the dean’s exwife who either is on good enough terms with the dean and/or contributes enough money to the school that they let her have a motorcycle on campus.
In general, I believe you’d be correct, but with this specific scenario and specific people, I think your outcome would be unlikely.
The investigation is just baseless speculation on part. My point is I don’t think Penny cares about who was at risk when she lied about Jason. The ramifications of that were unknowable to her but she did it just to take Jason down with her because she’s terrible.
Also, Penny DOES know Sal was at Jason’s office outside office hours and she’s almost certainly the other TA that Jason gave Sal’s papers to. It’s very possible she threw out a name ‘for funsies’ to make it sound more believable.
I thought the other TA he gave the papers to was the black woman TA, but that could just be head canon.
My point is she would make the accusation without naming anyone specific because she knew she was lying when she did it.
The tribunal was to have involved the “affected student.” Sounds like they had a name. https://www.dumbingofage.com/tribunal/
That sounds like the tribunal just wanted Jason to do their work for them because if they didn’t name the affected student and Penny was lying, then he can’t make a defense with a nonexistent person.
And I don’t remember if Sal ever got a letter. If she did, then they had her name, but if she didn’t, then they did not have her name or they were just really inefficient to have a tribunal requiring her presence without notifying her.
Sal does know their incident is why he was fired.
Jason either knows they had her name, or couldn’t be certain they didn’t have it.
There’s not much to say here, Ruth’s awkward face says it all. Wanting to help someone who has been guilty of something, asking for help from a person who, most likely, specifically hates that kind of abuser to the max is being truly desperate. I’m really curious to see what Leslie will do.
Most likely remind him that his ‘middleground’ doesnt really make sense. He doesn’t want to flat out lie about the accusations but doesn’t want to face the actual consequences either. Robin would have been the better choice here since she’s already shown in her campaign to disregard the norms (hiring homeless gay youth for Republican campaign manager). Even if they had no way to know she also gives A’s to favorites it seems Ruth didn’t seriously think her approach through here.
Ruth probably doesn’t know Robin very much (or maybe doesn’t have any confidence in her). Also I wouldn’t assume that Robin would hire Jason without problems, she’s the one who fired her staff because they told her that to save her career she should let a rapist go unpunished. I think she really hates anyone who uses force and power to force someone to have sex and I don’t think she would listen to the whole Jason’s story before kicking him and Ruth out.
I agree his chances are not good with Robin either (and she shouldn’t be giving him a chance) but Ruth’s decision to come to Leslie seems like particularly bad choice (assuming shes sincerly trying to help Jason). Leslie is alot more by the rules overall and is more likely to report someone who she thinks could be a threat to students that is now trying to stay on campus. Not to mention Ruth implying that Jason deserves similar compassion to a homeless gay youth is likely to offend Leslie in particular.
I wonder what color Dina’s eyes are….
If I had to guess? Brown.
Yeah, Jason’s CV is the right one for TA at the Gender Studies department.
That’s just another thing they have in common!
I love that Leslie apparently doesn’t know who Jason is, but just from how Ruth describes the situation, knows that the fucked a student…
I mean, her description of the situation is “He got accused of fucking a student, and they were right”. Not a lot of wiggle room there.
Well Ruth just said “impropriety” and Leslie jumped to the correct conclusion that the impropriety was sex with a student.
Which does suggest that the rumor mill let her know about the case, even if she didn’t know to attach Jason to it until now.
Are there other kinds of impropriety?
Cash bribes
Sexual harassment?
That two British TAs teaching freshman math were dismissed for sleeping with students would have been News among the faculty, even the contingent ones.
Inappropriate given the subject matter but
Jason looks mad hot here
oh, my god, i completely forgot about that.
but i guess to be fair i completely forgot about jason lmao
IMO, the common thread is that Jason never says “no” or exercises any agency of his own. Whether it’s being dragged around like a living standee, or refusing to do things that are inappropriate or even criminal. Whatever comes at him, he might complain but otherwise just passively accepts it.
(not refusing to, I should say.)
He has an incredible point, poor sal