Nearing the Line: When Does Teacher Speech Become Sexual Harassment?

This case was developed for a class on administration and supervision. It describes the classroom speech of a teacher who uses questionable terms when referring to female students in his class. The case explores the distorted boundary between inappropriate speech and sexual harassment as a principal is called on to deal with a teacher’s use of the term baby-cakes in class. The principal must decide whether use of this term constitutes sexual harassment or is simply part of the teacher’s acceptable classroom terminology.