Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

[Mahri Irvine <>]

Hi Everyone,

 

Just wanted to alert you to an article written by Hans Bader in the Chronicle of Higher Ed about sexual harassment issues and "radical" new policy that would have "dire implications for dating" and "cast a dark cloud over academic freedom" because it "would make every sex-education class sexual harassment when it offends a squeamish student." Yeah, seriously, I'm not making this up--these are direct quotes from his article. Apparently Bader is a lawyer for the "Competitive Enterprise Institute."

 

In the comment section, someone provided a link to the original policy recommendation, upon which Bader is making his claims.

 

The tone in this article is incredibly dramatic (perhaps I would even say inflammatory), and I'm sure that this "radical" new policy is being presented in, shall we say, a less than objective way. I know that some of you on this list serve have written articles or responses for sites like the Chronicle, so I just wanted to send out an alert about this, in the hope that one of you might consider providing Chronicle readers with an overview/analysis of this new proposed policy in a manner that is a little more objective (and educates readers about the very serious reality of sexual harassment on campuses) and a little less dramatic regarding the possibility of colleges “undermin[ing] freedom of intimate association.”

 

 

Sincerely,

Mahri

 

 

Mahri Irvine

PhD Candidate ("Rape Culture and the Legal System: Women’s Pathways to Prison in Washington, D.C.")

American University Department of Anthropology

www.mahri-irvine.com