The NYT has published an informative, front-page article about the case that was first revealed on this blog back in June after a philosopher in Europe sent me the now notorious "letter of support" for Ronell by the "theory illuminati." ("Theory," recall, is the term for bad philosophy in literature departments.) Among the new revelations from the NYT article (some of which contradict earlier reports):
1. The Title IX investigation at NYU did, indeed, find Ronell responsible for sexual harassment of the graduate student and she has been suspended for the current academic year. (Suspended with pay? Unclear.)
2. Among the details of the harassment revealed:
In the Title IX final report...Mr. [Nimrod] Reitman [the victim] 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"....
Mr. Reitman...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...
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 arrived, she asked him to read poetry to her in her bedroom while she took an afternoon nap, he said.
“That was already a red flag to me,” said Mr. Reitman. “But I also thought, O.K., you’re here. Better not make a scene.”
Then, he said, she pulled him into her bed.
“She put my hands onto her breasts, and was pressing herself — her buttocks — onto my crotch,” he said. “She was kissing me, kissing my hands, kissing my torso.” That evening, a similar scene played out again, he said.
3. Professor Ronell adopts what we might call "the McGinn defense" (minus the Israeli bit!); I here quote:
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.”
Professor Ronell's lawyer denied the story about physical contact and NYU did not find her guilty of sexual assault.
4. As I suspected, NYU is, according to the Times article, now investigating the "retaliation" issues raised by the now infamous letter. I would not be surprised if the one-year suspension turns into an early retirement under the circumstances.
5. Part of Prof. Ronell's defense was to suggest the complainant was simply "frustrated because he just wasn't smart enough":
“His main dilemma was the incoherency in his writing, and lack of a recognizable argument,” Professor Ronell said in a January 2018 interview submitted to the Title IX office.
I admit this did make me laugh: it's really hard to imagine that anyone's writing could be less coherent and less lacking in recognizable argument than that of the "theory illuminati"!
One thing that goes unnoted in the NYT article (I assume because they were unaware of it) is that the former Chair of the NYU German Department has written a damning account of Professor Ronell's tenure in the department that will appear in a German magazine early next month. I was sent a copy, and will post about it, and translate some bits, when it offically appears in early September.
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