He said he believed he was showing her admiration, respect and the courtly manners of his native Spain...

Sounds like he and the offended women could all use a little cultural awareness and sensitivity training.

I think there are a few things going on here.

A lot of women want the attention that comes with saying I was part of #metoo. I helped bring down a powerful white man. I am wonderful.

Another thing I think is that women don't like unattractive men. If a European alpha male kissed them on the cheek and grabbed their ass to say hello they would think he was being romantic. But women don't want an unattractive old nerd anywhere near them. A lot of this sexual harassment stuff seems to be subjective and determined by the man's attractiveness.

This sort of thing will just keep happening until men as a class stand up and tell women to shut the fuck up. Until then I advise all men to simply not deal with women in a professional setting if they can avoid it. Don't talk to women at the office, don't mentor women, don't hire women; it's just too risky.

Long term I think white men need to put some serious thought into this while equal rights for women thing. White men are the least sexist, most accommodating men on the planet. And of course since no good deed goes unpunished white women have payed their men back by engaging in a Marxist class struggle against them. Does this apply to all women? No, but it applies to most organized women's groups and the majority of left leaning women. Consequently white men should think long and hard about weather this whole feminism stuff, even the first wave stuff, was a good idea.

If he works in the executive suite it is romantic. If he works in the mail room it is sexual harassment.

Jewish cat, I think you're right:

"A lot of women want the attention that comes with saying I was part of #metoo. I helped bring down a powerful white man."

And I think this will hurt all women, in the ways you note -- not being hired, mentored, etc.

Hoping that incidents like this hastens the collapse of the university system. The ivory tower has been growing so far to the left, and creating many of the problems it is now experiencing. Hoping anyone considering donating them money reads what happened to this donor.

I wonder what the alumni association will think of their having run off over $11M.

What's that saying? "Man is unique in being able to learn from the experience of others, and for his disinclination to do so."

A lot of women want the attention that comes with saying I was part of #metoo. I helped bring down a powerful white man. I am wonderful. ~ Jewish cat at October 13, 2018 10:32 PM

It doesn't have to be "a powerful white man." The attraction lies in being someone entitled to sympathy and attention; in being someone praised for being "courageous" in speaking out.

Truly being a strong person takes a strength that a lot of people don't have. So, they make up a fantasy world in which they are a strong person - and then they try to live in that made-up world.

It will be interesting to view this 100 years from now. Will these women still be regarded as brave #MeToo pioneers or will they be viewed as modern-day Mary Walcotts, an instigator of the mass hysteria known today as the Salem witch trials?

I'm sure Mary was praised by her contemporaries as courageous for speaking out against the devil. This led to more accusations from other women who sought the attention and praise the earlier accusers were getting.

...how an older European man greets you -- the European way, by kissing on both cheeks....

Brings to mind this exchange, from the movie, Patton:

Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery: "Don't smirk Patton. I shan't kiss you."
General George Smith Patton, Jr.: "Pity. I shaved very close this morning in preparation for getting smacked by you."

What a bunch of racist, anti-hispanics! They should feel gratitude at being taught another culture! They need to apologize for their prudish ways. Maybe they should be suspended from work so they can contemplate the nature of their sins.

This looks like a power play to get control of Ayala's endowments to the University.

Apparently, he hasn't even been informed of the specific allegations against him, nor has the faculty. The complainants are mostly women w/ senior positions in his department. Only one is a grad student.

Their attorney is claiming that he has a well-established reputation for lechery and lude harassing behavior, but his colleagues are refuting that and attacking the administration for refusing to disclose the specific basis of the charges. No one actually knows what he's purportedly guilty of. And these are people who've observed the same behavior he's being punished for.

So I think it's fair to suspect that something more is going on here. As they say.. follow the money.

Women want it both ways and are never happy with the results of their actions. Take a look at the Social Ques this week in the NYT. It’s about dating in the aftermath of #MeToo.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/style/metoo-dating.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Ffashion&action=click&contentCollection=fashion®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront

I don't really like (as a man) how European men kiss on both cheeks but I would never report them. I'm not comfortable hugging everyone. The rules for hugs and kisses are contradictory and unclear.

Ugh! I have several European colleagues who greet me this way ... and there is nothing sexual or harassing about it!

Are we so lacking in diversity? I wish I hadn't seen this article ... now I'm embarrassed and grumpy!

Feminism has become the stereotypes it tried to dispel.

"I see this, with women, and especially, millennial women, feeling (and believing they are) victimized by men at every turn."

I'll add this is mainly the college educated ones. Women who didn't go to the best schools didn't get the misery indoctrination in K-12 and also didn't end up at college. But college millenial women, yep, treat with kid gloves. Or avoid entirely.

@Sheep mom,

I wonder if this Philip Galanes sips a between typing bad advice on purpose.

If Loftus simply didn't want to be kissed, and is rational, then of course she would have simply said "Please don't do that." Pursuing the course that she actually did demonstrates that her real goal was to inflict the outrageously excessive outcome that actually happened.

So long as the sexual harassment law stands, the only safe posture for a man is always to assume that every woman is out to destroy his life. This will of course result in exactly the kind of exclusionary discrimination the law was written to prevent, but it forces us to it. Amy's common sense solution simply can't happen as long as the law rewards malice by women.

All laws "protecting" other groups from discrimination have pretty much exactly the same effect, too.

It's time to scrap them all. Not because discrimination against minorities is good -- it's usually not -- but because the current system is so easy to game that it punishes a hundred innocent people like Ayala for every real deserving beneficiary it helps.

"ruly being a strong person takes a strength that a lot of people don't have. So, they make up a fantasy world in which they are a strong person - and then they try to live in that made-up world."

I read somewhere, and I wish I could remember where, that most of what is happening on campuses these days is tantamount to cosplay. The "brave warriors" create an imaginary super-villain to defeat, and then proceed to defeat him. (Which is not that much of an effort, the enemy being imaginary and all.) Then they pat themselves on the back for being super-heroes. All they are missing is the capes and tight body suits.

One other thing: As I recall, UC-Irvine is notorious in SoCal for the administration being more or less in thrall to the Muslim Student Union, which is connected to CAIR. Just sayin'.

Every time someone extols the virtue of #MeToo, I remind them of the guy who was fired from his job last year because in 1975, 12 jobs ago, he once put his hand on the knee of a woman he was flirting with in a bar and stopped when asked to stop, a woman who was not his subordinate, who never worked under him in any job he held, someone whos career he occasionally helped over the decades.

But sadly for him her career needed one last boost

I don't doubt you, luj, but may I see a link to that story, if there is one? I just want to bear witness to the galactic-level stupidity involved for myself. Thanks.

The few articles mentioning directly all seem to have been memory holed

The link I saved is no longer valid

But it was high enough profiled at the time to make it into this letter, if only by reference

https://www.worldcrunch.com/opinion-analysis/full-translation-of-french-anti-metoo-manifesto-signed-by-catherine-deneuve

"Their attorney is claiming that he has a well-established reputation for lechery and rude harassing behavior, but his colleagues are refuting that and attacking the administration for refusing to disclose the specific basis of the charges."

It goes back to the 1980's. The well-established reputation, that is. There is lot that is not being said here, and the relatively quick actions are to try and keep it that way. Ayala resigned. The university has removed him from his pedestal. The lid is back on it, and they hope it will stay on.

He was in a position of power and influence, and could ruin people careers. Speaking up would in fact have been job-ruining. Finally it came out, and everyone moved quickly to end it and seal it up. Good riddance.