XPost: school.general, alt.politics.clinton, ba.motss   
   XPost: soc.men   
   From: deplorable.redneck@nytimes.com   
      
   Eminent intellectuals, including Judith Butler, have signed a   
   letter defending Avital Ronell, a renowned NYU professor accused   
   of sexually harassing a student. Critics say Ronell's supporters   
   are victim-blaming hypocrites   
      
   An unusual sexual-harassment case at New York University   
   involving two former Israelis is causing stormy debate in the   
   world of the humanities.   
      
   The uniqueness of the complaint – aside from the fact that both   
   principals are Israelis – lies in the gender-role reversal at   
   its center: The complainant is a man, a 30-year-old Ph.D.   
   student, and the person against whom he has filed his complaint   
   is a woman: Avital Ronell, 66, a world-renowned professor of   
   German and comparative literature at NYU.   
      
   However, the real twist in the story – which has magnified it   
   from a topic of departmental gossip into a huge controversy that   
   could have major repercussions in the academic world – is the   
   list of character witnesses for Ronell, about 50 eminent   
   intellectuals, among them some of today’s leading feminist   
   theoreticians. Their cries about a “witch hunt,” the call to   
   avoid a “kangaroo court” and the emphasis on the achievements of   
   the person said to be “the real victim in the story” are in many   
   ways identical to the automatic reactions sometime heard to the   
   accusations against men who are suspected of sexual harassment.   
   However, when the signers of a statement in support of the   
   accused are superstars like Judith Butler, the current high   
   priestess of gender studies, and Slavoj Zizek, the moral   
   conscience of international human rights and perhaps the world’s   
   most famous living philosopher – the shock waves are far more   
   powerful.   
      
   The complaint was filed in September at NYU’s Title IX office   
   (the name refers to the federal civil rights law that prohibits   
   discrimination on the basis of gender in federally funded   
   educational institutions), the university department that deals   
   with sexual harassment complaints. Insofar as is known, the   
   philosophy doctoral student designated as M. and Ronell had an   
   adviser-advisee relationship over a period of about five years.   
   M. was an admirer of Ronell and according to the complaint, for   
   her part she had a special affection for him, so much so that   
   the boundaries between the professional and the personal became   
   blurred.   
      
   It is known, for example, that Ronell hosted M. in Paris and   
   introduced him to writer Pierre Alféri, son of Ronell’s mentor   
   Jacques Derrida. The circumstances of the souring of the   
   relationship aren’t clear, nor is it known if it was gradual   
   process or if a single incident led to the rupture. People close   
   to Ronell have said the filing of the complaint came as a “total   
   shock” to her as there had been no hints that M. was about to   
   “turn on her.” They noted that Ronell was appalled to discover   
   that the complainant had accused her of “psychological abuse.”   
      
      
   Avital Ronell in 2014. From Deutsches Haus' Youtube Channel   
   Who’s the victim here?   
      
   It’s quite possible that the investigation of the complaint   
   would have remained confidential had it not been the   
   extraordinary letter colleagues of Ronell sent to the NYU   
   administration. In the May 11 missive addressed to university   
   president Andrew Hamilton and its provost, Katharine Fleming,   
   they wrote: “We have all seen her relationship with students,   
   and some of us know the individual who has waged this malicious   
   campaign against her  We deplore the damage that this legal   
   proceeding causes her, and seek to register in clear terms our   
   objection to any judgment against her. We hold that the   
   allegations against her do not constitute actual evidence, but   
   rather support the view that malicious intention has animated   
   and sustained this legal nightmare.”   
      
   In the letter, Ronell is described as someone whose “influence   
   is felt throughout the humanities.” Her colleagues praised her   
   “intellectual power and fierce commitment to students and   
   colleagues,” calling her the perhaps the most “important figure   
   in literary studies at New York University.” Her colleagues also   
   warned: “If she were to be terminated or relieved of her duties,   
   the injustice would be widely recognized and opposed. The   
   ensuing loss for the humanities, for New York University, and   
   for intellectual life during these times would be no less than   
      
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