You have heard the story a million times. A college girl wants a better grade and offers her charms to a professor.
It is an occurrence that happens somewhere in colleges and universities throughout the country and around the world. While I never succumbed to the need, I personally know of two girls in my college sorority who had sex with this prof for better grades and one other girl who did her prof for fun.
That's one of the things about college life.
I'm a mom now, and thoughts of those olden days when I was in school cross my mind. Not that Ashley, my college freshman daughter, would ever do such nasty things, but maybe her friends might. Actually I was more worried about boys, because Ashley didn't date much in high school and I worried about her being toyed with at college.
Ashley and I had numerous talks about boys, from the birds and the bees to their un-denied need for sex whenever possible. I think young guys think about sex more than anything else. I know my brothers did. As well as every guy I dated.
So Ashley and I had conversations. She was, and is, a good girl and I knew she'd behave properly when she went away to school.
Now her friend Dina, on the other hand, was a borderline slut. Damn, that girl was something. She was loose, and skated her way through high school I know she's had sex, because her mom admitted she was on the pill after a near "accident." Still she was the ying to Ashley's yang.
Dina and Ashley went to State U. together as roommates and all I heard about over the first several months was how Dina was painting the town while Ashley claimed to be studying. Ashley wanted grades to get into graduate school, Dina wanted to know where the frat house parties were.
All I knew is that Ashley did not come from money. My husband and I had begged, borrowed and stole from our own wants to provide for her college education....along with the bank who issued a loan.
So the telephone call startled me. It was Ashley, and she didn't beat around the bush as there was not much in the way of small talk.
"Mom, I'm in trouble," she said, crying.
Here I hadn't even known she had a boyfriend. How did she get knocked up?
"No mom, it's not that, nothing like that at all."
Asking her to start from the start was the thing to do, and after catching her breath she told the story I couldn't believe.
She's been working hard to get the best grades at the University. She's worked long and hard, hasn't dated nor goofed off in any way. Study, work, study and do well, that's what she's been up to.
Her roommate and closest friend, Dina, was the anti-school. She was majoring in party-time, and has been running around with various guys, drinking and, well, learning new positions for banging her beaus.
Along the way Dina realized that she needed better grades, and soon, or she's be on her way out of school.
"Mom, I just couldn't say no when she said she wanted to check her test answers. I just couldn't. So when we were taking our test in Mr. Johnson's class well she was looking at my test answers as I went through. I mean, I didn't look at her stuff, but she did mine and I didn't stop her."
"So Dina was cheating off your work?"
My daughter admitted yes.
So why was Ashley upset?
"Professor Johnson reminded me of the code book and it clearly says I was just as wrong as Dina for letting her cheat off my papers. He says I could be expelled for cheating. He said I am just as guilty since I knew she was looking at my work. We are both in big, big trouble."
We spoke about all that happened and I realized that while Ashley hadn't cheated that in the eyes of the school she was equally culpable. Shit, thousands of dollars down the drain and a permanent black mark on her record.
"Whom can I speak with?" was all I could ask.
Ashley was quick to answer. "I have a meeting Wednesday with Mr. Johnson, and he agreed that you could be there.....please don't tell daddy, please."
My husband would go ballistic. His hair trigger temper would not be good for our daughter. He'd go nuts, she'd get kicked out of school and then he'd apologize.
I wholeheartedly agreed with Ashley that I'd come down and talk to the professor with her. We had to talk some reason into the situation. It should be an expulsion situation, and I am sure we could work something out.
Little did I know Ashley hadn't told the entire story.
That I learned at the meeting as the Professor laid out the facts of the situation. Not hearsay, but the facts.
Yes, Ashley had let her friend spy on the answers from her exam paper, and that was against the rules. But Ashley also had a term paper that looked remarkably similar to Dina's as both had apparently purchased them from the same online term paper mill service.
My little perfect daughter had not only stretched the truth out outright lied to me. Then came the net bombshell, she had signed a paper admitting to all of the above and part of the remedy.
I read the agreement as Ashley cried sitting next to me. The professor, a 50-something distinguished man with a huge mane and smirk of a smile. He knew he had my daughter dead to right, and watched as I gasp.
"You can't do this," was all I said, after I read the document. Oh, she was going to receive an F on the term paper and F on the exam. I knew that was coming. But my daughter also in the admitting of guilt agreed to receive a spanking that day just to stay in class and not get to an expulsion hearing.
"Mom, I agreed. I know we can't go before the disciplinary board. I apologized to the professor. I understand what I signed. I want this over with so I can try and pass this class."
The professor spoke up. "Mrs. Bennett, I understand your concern, and if you read that document again I can assure you that you can do the spanking. But your daughter needs to be punished for her actions. I am cutting her a major break here."
Clearly he was right. Ashley was in big trouble, and actually deserved a spanking, something she had not received in years. I nodded my head, looking as the professor pulled a ping-pong paddle out of his desk.
