RateMyProfessors.com is like Yelp for college students, but until recently it also had an uncool “Hot or Not” setting where students could rate the attractiveness of professors, with those who were sufficiently hot “earning” a chili pepper next to their ratings.
Via Poynter, neuroscientist BethAnn McLaughlin finally got the site to relent:
It was painfully clear in that moment that the failure to respect women in academics was ingrained far too early in our young men. RateMyProfessors is one of the earliest opportunities for students to exert very public power over our careers and reputations. Giving us chili peppers is degrading. Put simply, my single mother did not put my brother and me through college and graduate school for 25 years so that I could be measured by a vegetable.
Professor convinces RatemyProfessors.com to drop the ‘chili pepper’ rating (Poynter)
Image: Jessica Lewis