Editorial: Professors aren’t public figures, stop treating them like it

Throughout the week of registration, students flock to ratemyprofessors.com, weighing the reviews of professors against one another in a digital gladiator-style showdown to carefully craft the perfect class schedule for the semester ahead.

Originally launched in 1999, the site feels like a relic of the earlier internet — a time when anonymity was the standard and consequences felt fuzzy. It’s a space where students, often under the guise of helpfulness, rate their professors in tones that swing wildly from thoughtful critique to high school gossip.

There’s a quiet kind of cruelty baked into Rate My Professor that masquerades as usefulness. And we’d urge you to exercise your internet literacy before using it.

Hotness ratings of professors were only removed in 2018, which tells you most of what you need to know about how seriously the site takes its purpose.

At first glance, it seems harmless enough, like Rate My Professor is simply a tool for students trying to choose between different professors for courses at their academic institution.

But the truth of its practicality is murkier. Like many public forums, it often becomes a place to air out private frustrations to an audience that has little context and even less ability to verify what’s true.

After a quick scroll through the site, it’s clear many students have left countless reviews at Lehigh, at other universities and even at high schools across the country. Some reviews were clearly written in moments of bitterness or burnout, when the structure of a class felt unfair or overwhelming. Others praise professors as great educators or even life-changing mentors.

Many of these comments are written without much thought for what it means to publicly rate a human being. One whose job it is to stand in front of a group of young adults and do their best to prepare them for future careers — sometimes in just a 14-week semester.

Some reviews may be fair, honest reflections from observant students who want to help others navigate college by telling them what class they should avoid or take. But others are blunt, vague or written out of spite.

Rather than venting frustrations on a public forum, the first step should be reaching out to professors directly. An email asking for support or clarity may solve the problem more effectively, and with more dignity, than a post that could linger online forever.

A 2015 article from Northeastern University revealed a deeper issue. The study found  student reviews of their professors consistently rated female professors lower than their male counterparts. It showed women in academia were more likely to be labeled as “bossy” and criticized for the same behaviors male professors were praised for.

This isn’t a bug in the system. It’s the system. And when you open a floodgate without meaningful moderation, everyone being rated becomes more vulnerable.

Technically, Rate My Professor has moderators, and professors can register to reply. But the power imbalance still persists. When a professor responds to a review, they’re often stepping into a no-win situation — defending their humanity to students unwilling to recognize it.

These reviews, attached to professors’ names, go live instantly without any verification. And a professor’s livelihood might be affected by one vengeful student. The results aren’t just unhelpful, they can be dangerous.

If there were a “Rate My Students” page, there would likely be outrage. Imagine a professor going online to call a student “lazy,” “mean” or “disrespectful” while hiding behind anonymity. It would feel invasive and absurd. It could also negatively impact a student’s chances of getting hired or admitted to graduate programs.

But professors are somehow fair game.

All of this begs the question, what is the purpose of this?

If a student wants to know what a class is like, they can always reach out to someone else who took it, go to office hours to meet with the professor or try to get the syllabus ahead of schedule. Much of what lives on Rate My Professor can be done offline with care, with conversation and with the basic understanding that the person on the receiving end is not an enemy but just an educator.

Yes, there should be spaces where students can voice concerns about the quality of their education. Course evaluations, submitted at the end of the semester, are one avenue. Public internet forums built on anonymity and vague ratings are not.

If you’re going to be a hater, at least do it somewhere private and not permanent — a group chat, a common room or somewhere else in the real world.

Because at the end of the day, professors aren’t customer service representatives. They aren’t influencers. They aren’t public figures — no matter how much it may feel that way in a lecture hall filled with hundreds of students. They’re human, and they deserve a level of respect that matches the vulnerability of their job.

In an era where everything is reviewed, rated, tagged and screenshotted, it can be easy to forget the real-world impact of a digital comment. But that one unkind review, which may have been the product of an intrusive thought, has consequences.

As students, we are a part of an academic community. We can be better than petty reviews. We can choose dialogue over digital spite. And we can choose to critique with the intent to improve, not to humiliate.

So, next time you’re tempted to post after failing your final exam, ask yourself — is this honest? Is it fair? Is it kind? Does it help someone instead of making someone else feel small?

If the answer isn’t “yes,” maybe it’s time to close the tab.