Recently in the New York Times, there was an investigation into the New York University Professor Avital Ronell, a world-renowned female professor who was found responsible after an 11 month Title IX investigation of sexually harassing her male graduate student. Amazing, she was not found responsible for sexual assault because there were "only two witnesses" and they had conflicting accounts.
Almost without exception, in every single Title IX investigation our firm has been involved in where males are accused of sexual assault, there are also "only two witnesses" who not surprisingly have "conflicting accounts" but that does not stop Title IX offices from finding males responsible for sexual assault time after time, expelling them from school and ruining their reputations.
She wrote emails in which she referred to her student as "my most adored one", "sweet cuddly baby", and "cock-er spaniel." She had him meet her in Paris, saying it was for his studies, but then asked him to read her poetry in her bedroom while she took an afternoon nap. She insisted on staying with him in his New York apartment when the power went out after Hurricane Sandy and sleeping in his bed where she groped and kissed him.
For her defense, she claimed that she had no idea her advances made him uncomfortable, that they were mutual and invited- despite the obvious power differential, that he took too long to report, and that he is a bad student and complaining to get attention because he is not smart enough.
Replace Professor Ronell in this story with Harvey Weinstein or Bill Cosby and imagine the outrage.
