More Appropriate Replacement Icons for RateMyProfessor’s Chili Pepper

Earlier this year, RateMyProfessor dropped the option to flag university instructors with a chili pepper icon indicating physical attractiveness. Here are some replacements they should consider.

1. Tree: Holds class outside.

2. Garlic bulb: Bad breath. Avoid small seminars and cramped offices.

3. Cookie: Brings food for students.

4. Hiker on trail: Spends most of lectures on tangents including social media, politics, how correlation doesn’t equal causation, or whatever other topic you least want to hear about.

5. Empty chair: Cancels class regularly.

6. Leaning Tower of Pisa: Book stacks in office are an environmental hazard.

7. Christmas ornament: Sweater game is A+.

8. Head with vibrating squiggles: Goes on rants about student loan debt, the academic job market, divorce, or kids these days.

9. Green/red clock: Lets class out early/late.

10. Literally anything that doesn’t exacerbate the massive problem with sexism that women in academia already face, which includes bias in teaching evaluations , being less likely to be seen as professional than male counterparts, being overrepresented in non-tenure track positions and underrepresented in tenure track positions versus men, receiving less attention for research , and having to evade so many more endless, energy-sucking tentacles of patriarchy.