XPost: school.general, alt.politics.clinton, ba.motss   
   XPost: soc.men   
   From: deplorable.redneck@nytimes.com   
      
   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.”   
      
   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.”   
      
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   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.   
      
   Mr. Reitman, who is now 34 and is a visiting fellow at Harvard,   
   says that Professor Ronell kissed and touched him repeatedly,   
   slept in his bed with him, required him to lie in her bed, held   
   his hand, texted, emailed and called him constantly, and refused   
   to work with him if he did not reciprocate. Mr. Reitman is gay   
   and is now married to a man; Professor Ronell is a lesbian.   
      
   Professor Ronell, 66, denied any harassment. “Our communications   
   — which Reitman now claims constituted sexual harassment — were   
   between two adults, a gay man and a queer woman, who share an   
   Israeli heritage, as well as a penchant for florid and campy   
   communications arising from our common academic backgrounds and   
   sensibilities,” she wrote in a statement to The New York Times.   
   “These communications were repeatedly invited, responded to and   
   encouraged by him over a period of three years.”   
      
   Two years after graduating from N.Y.U. with a Ph.D., Mr. Reitman   
   filed a Title IX complaint against his former adviser, alleging   
   sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking and retaliation. In   
   May, the university found Professor Ronell responsible for   
   sexual harassment and cleared her of the other allegations.   
      
   Mr. Reitman’s lawyer, Donald Kravet, said he and his client have   
   drafted a lawsuit against N.Y.U. and Professor Ronell and are   
   now considering their options.   
      
   Both Mr. Reitman and Professor Ronell’s descriptions of their   
   experiences echo other #MeToo stories: In Mr. Reitman’s   
   recollection, he was afraid of his professor and the power she   
   wielded over him, and often went along with behavior that left   
   him feeling violated. Professor Ronell said that Mr. Reitman   
   desperately sought her attention and guidance in interviews she   
   submitted to the Title IX office at N.Y.U., which The New York   
   Times obtained.   
      
   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   
      
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