Daniel Biss Wins in Illinois Despite Student Dating Scandal |
Feminism
Daniel Biss Wins in Illinois Despite Student Dating Scandal
Does this mean the #MeToo era is officially over?
Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 3.18.2026 11:20 AM
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(Credit: Chicago Tribune/TNS/Newscom)
Illinois Democrats on Tuesday voted in favor of Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss being the party's nominee to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky. His win came amid stiff competition—more than a dozen people were competing in the Democratic primary for the chance to represent Illinois' ninth district—and, perhaps, tells us something interesting about sexual politics along the way.
There are already ample signs that the #MeToo era is ending, and Biss' win may serve as another coda.
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You see, Biss won despite a sex scandal—I use that term loosely; no sex per se seems to have occurred—involving an age gap and a power differential. Five or eight years ago, these may well have doomed the former state senator and college professor.
Of course, go back a bit further and Biss' behavior may have merely raised eyebrows. Go back just a few decades, and it would have been unremarkable.
Here's the allegation, in: As a math instructor at the University of Chicago, Biss had a brief relationship with an undergraduate student. The woman, Megan Wachspress, had been in one of his math classes, but Biss waited until the semester was over to ask her out. She was younger than him, but not by a lot—he was 26 and she was 20. And, after what Wachspress describes as "a few very intense evenings" that included "making out," Biss "had second thoughts" and decided "it was wrong to date a student."
So, both parties were adults, the age gap was relatively minimal, and Biss was not in a direct position of power over Wachspress when their relationship began. But by the logic of the #MeToo movement, all but the most minuscule age gaps are suspect and a professor should never, under any circumstances, ask a student out.
I strongly disagree about the age-gap bit. (I am, in fact, six and a half years older than my husband.) And, obviously, professors dating students in their classes should be off limits.
As for the appropriateness of dating between professors and students who are not in their classes, that's a tougher call. I know it used to happen all the time. But there still seems something untoward and off about it, to me. And that's........