Due Process For All -- Not Special Treatment For Some Who Share Your Viewpoint
Where were the feminist scholars when Nicholas Wolfinger had his turn in the Title IX Star Chamber?
Wolfinger writes at Quillette of the hell he went through, the emotional and financial costs, and his eventual exoneration:
I received a written report that exonerated me of sexual harassment and gender discrimination. The costs to me--scores of hours of my time and $14,000 in attorney fees--were minor compared to many other victims of Title IX abuse. Faculty members have been forced out of their jobs; students have been expelled from school.The report stood out in several ways. First, it was clear that the complaint had been instigated by a single faculty member in my department, someone who's long harbored animus toward me and other colleagues. It's for this reason I'd had virtually no interactions with her for over fifteen years, long after I'd recounted my strip club marriage proposal. But no matter: the inquisition inspired by the Dear Colleague letter had provided the means for my accuser to carry out an anonymous vendetta against a colleague based on conjecture and trumped-up evidence.
But feminist scholars have come forward for one of their own -- Avital Ronell -- who's getting her turn in the Title IX mill.
I think there should be due process for anyone accused of a crime or infraction -- judging based on evidence.
But that's not what these "scholars" are arguing for. No, they want prestige-based exoneration. Nell Gluckman writes at Chronicle "of a letter, apparently signed by dozens of scholars" (led by Judith Butler) "in support of Avital Ronell, a professor of German and comparative literature at New York University."
The letter, dated May 11 and addressed to NYU's president and provost, said Ronell was under investigation by the university's Title IX office. The signatories, worried that she had already been damaged by the proceedings and anxious that she would lose her job, asked that she receive "a fair hearing."It also listed her many accomplishments in the fields of philosophy and literature and seemed to suggest that her stature in those fields and at the university should be considered in the investigation. Though the letter's signatories said they didn't have access to a "confidential dossier" from a Title IX investigation, they stated their "objection to any judgment against her."
"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 letter said. "If she were to be terminated or relieved of her duties, the injustice would be widely recognized and opposed."
The letter cast Ronell as a "remarkable" mentor who maintains good relationships with her students. Meanwhile, it said the person who allegedly filed a complaint against the professor "has waged this malicious campaign against her."
Sound familiar?
I'm also very firmly against these Title IX kangaroo courts. For all. Not just when I happen to like and/or agree with the person who's been fed into the mill.
I also think colleges and others are making a huge mistake -- a society-warping one -- going after adults for talking about sex or telling a joke. Sure, if somebody is doing it persistently, and somebody tells them to stop -- they don't want to hear it -- and there's no stopping; well, that's harassment.
But mere mention of proposing to your wife in a strip club (Wolfinger's "offense" that led to the case against him) shouldn't be something an adult can use against another adult as fodder for ruin.
More from Chronicle on the letter on Ronell's behalf:
On Sunday, Brian Leiter, a professor at the Law School at the University of Chicago who writes a widely read blog about philosophy, posted a link to the letter. Leiter made clear his view on the professors' appeal for Ronell. He published the message under the heading: "Blaming the victim is apparently OK when the accused in a Title IX proceeding is a feminist literary theorist."
The Sisterhood Über Alles.
Snoopy at June 14, 2018 5:02 AM
Yep. Nick Wolfinger's story is so terrible.
These Title IX "investigations" and trials are so reminiscent of stuff I read about in the Soviet Union. Shameful how much.
Amy Alkon at June 14, 2018 6:35 AM
Show me the man, and I'll find the crime.
I R A Darth Aggie at June 14, 2018 7:45 AM
At the very same time, the Left wants to be able to have naked bike rides and topless gay marches, to have dildo demonstrations at Northwestern University (look it up) but to ruin a man for telling a true story that had the words "strip club" in it. I knew a prof who used sexual innuendo about every 30 minutes, and it really got old but even that I don't think is a firing offense unless he took it even farther with a female student.
Making someone's "feelings" the only arbiter of prosecution is not justice because people are crazy and paranoid.
cc at June 14, 2018 9:02 AM
The same unsolicited sext message that was rated as appropriate if sent by a woman was perceived as sexual harassment if sent by a man.
from Not Cool, Dude: Perceptions of Solicited vs. Unsolicited Sext Messages from Men and Women
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563218302917
Snoopy at June 14, 2018 9:11 AM
Prof Ronell had a very overwrought NYT piece a few years back.
https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/02/stormy-weather-blues-in-winter/#more-139616
KateC at June 14, 2018 9:25 AM
"feminist scholars"
That's funny, Amy!
Jay R at June 14, 2018 6:32 PM
Sounds like a good start. Now, let's abolish the similar Star Chamber proceedings that arise from accusations of sexual harassment (especially the "hostile environment" kind) in workplaces.
Having a sense of humor, even a "locker room" one, should not be a career-ender or even a crime at all.
I have no problem with a harassment law if it were limited to actual harassment (which by definition is both repeated and objectively unreasonable) and imposes the same level of due process as a criminal case. And at least the possibility of punishment for false accusations.
jdgalt at June 14, 2018 9:43 PM
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