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[Dude Abides]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/nyregion/sexual-harassment-nyu-female-professor.html

Avitall Ronel, a professor of literature at NYU, repeatedly harassed one of her former grad students.

The case seems like a familiar story turned on its head: Avital Ronell, a world-renowned female professor of German and Comparative Literature at New York University, was found responsible for sexually harassing a male former graduate student, Nimrod Reitman.
An 11-month Title IX investigation found Professor Ronell, described by a colleague as “one of the very few philosopher-stars of this world,” responsible for sexual harassment, both physical and verbal, to the extent that her behavior was “sufficiently pervasive to alter the terms and conditions of Mr. Reitman’s learning environment.” The university has suspended Professor Ronell for the coming academic year.
In the Title IX final report, excerpts of which were obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Reitman said that she had sexually harassed him for three years, and shared dozens of emails in which she referred to him as “my most adored one,” “Sweet cuddly Baby,” “cock-er spaniel,” and “my astounding and beautiful Nimrod.”

Pretty gross stuff from her:

The problems began, according to Mr. Reitman, in the spring of 2012, before he officially started school. Professor Ronell invited him to stay with her in Paris for a few days. The day he arrived, she asked him to read poetry to her in her bedroom while she took an afternoon nap, he said.
“That was already a red flag to me,” said Mr. Reitman. “But I also thought, O.K., you’re here. Better not make a scene.”
Then, he said, she pulled him into her bed.
“She put my hands onto her breasts, and was pressing herself — her buttocks — onto my crotch,” he said. “She was kissing me, kissing my hands, kissing my torso.” That evening, a similar scene played out again, he said.


He confronted her the next morning, he said.
“I said, look, what happened yesterday was not O.K. You’re my adviser,” he recalled in an interview.

When he got to New York, the behavior continued, he said, when after Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, Professor Ronell showed up at his apartment because her power had gone out. He said that, despite his objections, she convinced him that they could both sleep in his bed together. Once there, she groped and kissed him each night for nearly a week, he said.

A group of academics, including the utterly useless Slavoj ZIzek, defended her even though they had no idea what was in the confidential report.

Coming in the middle of the #MeToo movement’s reckoning over sexual misconduct, it raised a challenge for feminists — how to respond when one of their own behaved badly. And the response has roiled a corner of academia.


Soon after the university made its final, confidential determination this spring, a group of scholars from around the world, including prominent feminists, sent a letter to N.Y.U. in defense of Professor Ronell. Judith Butler, the author of the book “Gender Trouble” and one of the most influential feminist scholars today, was first on the list.
“Although we have no access to the confidential dossier, we have all worked for many years in close proximity to Professor Ronell,” the professors wrote in a draft letter posted on a philosophy blog in June. “We have all seen her relationship with students, and some of us know the individual who has waged this malicious campaign against her.”

Critics saw the letter, with its focus on the potential damage to Professor Ronell’s reputation and the force of her personality, as echoing past defenses of powerful men.
“We testify to the grace, the keen wit, and the intellectual commitment of Professor Ronell and ask that she be accorded the dignity rightly deserved by someone of her international standing and reputation,” the professors wrote.

One strange aspect of the situation is that both the accuser and the harasser are gay.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

What's sad is that -- because of current politics -- people will pick "sides", even though as a society we should be condemning it from both sides.

I expect many more of these stories in the years to come. Some people are still under the delusion that they "need" to go to college, putting many of them in desperate straits. This is easy prey for sexual predators and narcissists who are looking for victims to latch onto. The faculty has to defend it because... well... no one wants to put their own tenure on the line to accuse a fellow employee. Ethics fled our universities awhile ago.

Hope the student all the best.

 

[mr2xxx]

What’s the penalty with a professor being intimate with their students? Because that seems like the most likely result of this. Doubt he has enough to get sexual assault charges to stick or that she ruined his future prospects.

 

[Dude Abides]

What’s the penalty with a professor being intimate with their students? Because that seems like the most likely result of this. Doubt he has enough to get sexual assault charges to stick or that she ruined his future prospects.

The Title IX investigation found she was responsible. She could get fired but I think it's up to the school. He and his lawyer are also planning a lawsuit.

He landed on his feet - he got his Ph.D and now he's a visiting fellow at Harvard.

 

[LegendOfKage]

Am I a misandrist for not believing him? Because I don't. I don't believe her either, though. Unless either of them has proof, nobody should believe either of them. People need to stop ruining lives over blind faith accusations.

But I do imagine a great deal of the academics defending her would not be doing so if the genders were reversed. And some of them will turn right around and preach to their students about the importance of gender equality.

 

[Scopa]

Am I a misandrist for not believing him? Because I don't. I don't believe her either, though. Unless either of them has proof, nobody should believe either of them. People need to stop ruining lives over blind faith accusations.

...shared dozens of emails in which she referred to him as “my most adored one,” “Sweet cuddly Baby,” “cock-er spaniel,” and “my astounding and beautiful Nimrod.”

 

[Weiji]

I mean those are also things you say if you have a mutual relationship with someone, they don’t prove that her advances were unwanted.

I’d be more interested in his reply’s.

 

[Helios]

cock-er spaniel