The University of Kansas has some of the best professors in the country (i.e. K. Benson). I am proud to attend a school that has such great educators, but in some cases the teacher is still a graduate student. It seems that now it is more and more common to find grad students teaching classes to students close to the same age as themselves. This means that because people of this age group enjoying going out and being in the presence of others it is common to run into a grad student professor on a weekend endeavor. When you look at the bar scene it is typical to find a student and their teacher partaking in the same activities. Some may find this odd that they are "partying" amongst instructors, but it seems only natural. Everyone is here to receive their education, grad student professor or student, and in their off time it's only customary that they would be out enjoying the same activities. Before you know it students and teachers will be Facebook friends and going to movies together.
I agree that grad teachers are going to embark on the Lawrence lifestyle. They themselves are still students of the university and looking to not only go to school but enjoy the life of a college student, whatever it is that that entails. However, for us as students to see them out one weekend in a somewhat “compromised†state can have a huge effect on the respect factor that so many of them expect when they stand in front of their class. I am in no way saying that someone’s outside life should completely effect the how someone is critiqued on doing their job, but when you put a grad student in front of a room full of undergraduates they are more likely to look at them as a acquaintance or friend than an authority figure that has control over their grades. Then again, if you buy them a beer it may sway in your favor!