"At colleges and universities nationwide, e-mail has made professors much more approachable. But many say it has made them too accessible, erasing boundaries that traditionally kept students at a healthy distance.
These days, they say, students seem to view them as available around the clock, sending a steady stream of e-mail messages – from 10 a week to 10 after every class – that are too informal or downright inappropriate.
‘The tone that they would take in e-mail was pretty astounding,’ said Michael J. Kessler, an assistant dean and a lecturer in theology at Georgetown University. ‘ ‘I need to know this and you need to tell me right now,’ with a familiarity that can sometimes border on imperative.’
He added: ‘It’s a real fine balance to accommodate what they need and at the same time maintain a level of legitimacy as an instructor and someone who is institutionally authorized to make demands on them, and not the other way round.’
While once professors may have expected deference, their expertise seems to have become just another service that students, as consumers, are buying. So students may have no fear of giving offense, imposing on the professor’s time or even of asking a question that may reflect badly on their own judgment.
For junior faculty members, the barrage of e-mail has brought new tension into their work lives, some say, as they struggle with how to respond. Their tenure prospects, they realize, may rest in part on student evaluations of their accessibility."
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