#MeToo and the lesbian feminist lit prof
Ronell, who is sixty-six, is a literary scholar and philosopher at New York University and, by all accounts, one of the great academic minds of our time. Her accuser is Nimrod Reitman, her former doctoral student, who is thirty-two years her junior. Their relationship, as documented in numerous e-mails, was the subject of an eleven-month university investigation…
The case first came to public attention because of a letter dated May 11th, signed by fifty-one prominent academics, many of them feminist scholars—or, rather, what came to public attention was the draft of a letter, leaked through a philosophy blog. It was a terrible letter…It was based not just on flawed information but on practically no information at all: the university’s investigation of Ronell’s alleged abuse of Reitman was entirely confidential…The letter was designed to impress the university administrators to whom it was addressed, so its arguments stressed Ronell’s fame and influence and focussed on the potential loss to N.Y.U.’s reputation if she were fired. The letter could be read as a cynical project that betrayed not just the ideas that many of the signatories have worked on—ideas that challenge entrenched systems of power—but their very intelligence.
Hypocrisy and stupidity among scholars, among literary scholars, among feminist literary scholars—who woulda thunk it?
On reading the article, I have to say that this may be a case of two bad actors exploiting each other. But it seems clear to me that, as the professor in the equation, it was Ronell who had the much greater burden of responsibility, although both are adults (at least, by their number ages, if not by degree of maturity).
These murky professor-student relationships have long been a staple of academia and were winked at until quite recently. The nature of human beings is such that they will almost undoubtedly continue. It was inevitable that a case would emerge in which the usual PC considerations of “women tell the truth” and “believe the victims” will clash terribly and embarrassingly, and that the #MeToo movement’s answers would be inadequate.
Much of the last part of the article seems to indicate that people on the left and in academia may be belatedly discovering the importance of due process in such cases to protect the accused, who may in fact be innocent. Will wonders never cease?
No, they’re not discovering the value of due process. They want process and presumption to work in favor of their clientele and against people they despise. Also, these hackademics fancy theirs is an aristocratic class which isn’t subject to the standards which apply to the 3d estate. A great many academics are people of low character.
Due process – a product of dead white male patriarchy. Hard to know who is the preferred victim in this classless, clueless struggle for “justice.”
I have noticed that although the PC may be chronological adults they often act like adolescents.
I read the New Yorker article. So much to unpack! The academic and “intellectual” world they describe is so foreign to me. Frankly, the entire enterprise and environment of this world strike me as some kind of overwrought emotional swamp where “brilliant” people spin out noxious clouds of obuscation and misery. However, there was an important point being made about the entire question of what part “sex” can play in the overall concept of “sexual” harassment. There were quotes by academics in the article that characterized what went on between the two parties as having more to do with boundary violations and bullying than sex. Demands were being made on Reitman’s time and attention that were well-outside the student-teacher relationship. And yet, others interviewed for the article seem to think that it’s just fine for this professor to require this as part of her particular style of “pedagogy.” As I said, a bizarre and insular world from my perspective.
The idea that it may be necessary to look at this situation from a broader perspective of boundary violations and bullying is fascinating to me because I’ve been pondering this question for a while now: Why is sexually-involved harassment in the workplace or institution singled out for condemnation and remedy—but not other kinds of misery-inducing harassment and bullying? I’ve tentatively brought this up in conversations and the reception has not been positive to say the least. My personal example: I made a career in a formerly male-dominated profession (criminal prosecution) and there were occasional mild comments and behavior from male supervisors that would be verboten today. These instances made me, at most, mildly uncomfortable, but they were not pervasive and my career did not suffer. There WERE times, however, when I was made miserable and my work suffered because of two supervisors who were unfair, demeaning, and unwilling to actually explain/teach what they expected from me. One was a man and one was a woman. No sexually-based harassment was involved but there was harassment of another kind, for which there is no legal or institutional redress even now.
Finally, I know a young man who is 4 years into a 7 year program to obtain his PhD from a top university in a demanding scientific field. He is a truly amazing person; brilliant, well-rounded, humble, kind, personable. The professor he is tied to for the next three years is a monster, plain and simple. He doesn’t employ sexual harassment but he does completely violate boundaries, expecting that his student will be available and working 24-7. As one small example, he mocks his student for the fact that the student takes an hour a few times a week to leave the lab and exercise. He tells his student that he is lazy and uncommitted for doing so. Why is this behavior acceptable to the institution, but the recounting of a raunchy joke or a slightly denigrating comment about women would be sufficient to get the professor fired?
RigelDog:
Excellent question.
Answer is that sexual harassment is especially protected by law.
But academia has also often been a cesspool of bitter and petty rivalries, power plays, and fiefdoms.
I may be one of the few people here who have read quite a bit of Avital Ronell’s work and found some of it quite worthwhile — though admittedly the good passages sometimes lurk amidst postmodern jargon and nonsense. But I’ve often found her thought-provoking and witty. I saw an interview with her in the film The Examined Life that I enjoyed and in which she seemed reasonably self-deprecating and non-doctrinaire.
So I enjoy no schadenfreude at her downfall (if this is her downfall).
Others have posted unflattering photos of her and called her a moron. Seeing those on the Right indulge in the same ad hominem-laden, ugly tactics as those typically employed by the Left strikes me as unfortunate.
I’m not going to say anything about the alleged specifics of the case. I don’t really “get it” (and don’t think I really want to).
“But academia has also often been a cesspool of bitter and petty rivalries, power plays, and fiefdoms”
As we say in academia, the battles are so fierce because the stakes are so small. 🙂
I start my last semester tomorrow. I’ll greatly miss the students. The faculty, outside my department, not at all. Cesspool is an apt description.
miklos:
I am not familiar with her work. But this isn’t about her work but rather about how she treats people, based on reports from the left rather than the right.
It’s also about academic feminists in general, and how they reacted to the news.
its looks either in academia field or in Hollywood or other place like whitehouse (Former president B. Clinton saga) there is some misuse of power/control
Neo you bring the #MeToo movement’s , here a story of one of them:
Italian actress Asia Argento MeToo activist settled sex assault complaint for $380,000, report says
Nimrod!
How could any parent hang that name on a child? The parents must have been nimrods.
Cornhead beat me to it! I guess “Nimrod” has to be some sort of family tradition.
Trans-social. #NoJudgment, right?
There are a number of female psychiatrists who have gotten into trouble with male patients. One went to prison. One young male patient committed suicide.
The assumption always seems to be the male is the offender.
There was even a Michael Crichton written movie about a female boss harassing a male employee.
In the real world, where people are entrusted with the responsibility for real lives and real money, such things as principles, accountability, and character matter.
In academia, it is all theoretical and malleable. And after all, they aren’t responsible for anything of any real importance… only the education of our next generation of thinkers, leaders, and doers… Oh, wait!
Nimrod, while not all that common, is not an unusual name for Israelis. It is, after all, Biblical:
“He was a mighty hunter before the Lord” (Genesis 10:9)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod
(It is also a name given to some Jews living outside of Israel, but I believe this is far less common, that is, unless they are originally from Israel.)
The root of the word/name is related to rebellion, e.g., one translation could be, “Let us rebel”.
Art Deco on August 27, 2018 at 10:41 am at 10:41 am said:
…hackademics
* * *
Love it.
Physicsguy on August 27, 2018 at 3:38 pm at 3:38 pm said:
“But academia has also often been a cesspool of bitter and petty rivalries, power plays, and fiefdoms”
As we say in academia, the battles are so fierce because the stakes are so small. ?
I start my last semester tomorrow. I’ll greatly miss the students. The faculty, outside my department, not at all. Cesspool is an apt description.
* * *
When my mother retired after 25 years in middle school, she remarked that she could have kept teaching forever, but the administration and parents were killing her.
Some more nuggets of wisdom:
“I could solve 90% of my problems with the students if they would let me take half the parents out and shoot them.”
To a whining pupil: “I am not here to be your friend.”
Advice for beginning teachers: “Start cranky; you can get nicer later, but you can never get stricter.”
Based on their names, I’d say both are Israelis or Israeli-Americans. What’s funny is that Israeli men have a reputation as being real (I think this term is probably obsolete now, but you get the point) Male Chauvanist Pigs.
“I Worked With Avital Ronell. I Believe Her Accuser.”
https://www.chronicle.com/article/I-Worked-With-Avital-Ronell-I/244415/
This is the definitive take-down of Avital Ronell, a take-down that, moreover, exposes the too-often realized potential of the university system to nurture, empower and protect abusive personalities (reminding one of another institution currently under intense scrutiny for systematic, power-based abuse):
H/T Instapundit: https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/306417/