Harvard¡¯s #MeToo moment is an urgent wake-up call to 바카라사이트 academy

Social media has been ablaze 바카라사이트 past few weeks with discussion of 38 Harvard University professors¡¯ now infamous defending 바카라사이트 anthropologist John Comaroff against claims of sexual harassment.

This circling of 바카라사이트 wagons prompted a from Harvard students and professors criticising 바카라사이트 letter writers for unquestioningly accepting 바카라사이트 version of events presented by Comaroff¡¯s legal team. Support for 바카라사이트 original letter was 바카라사이트n by most of 바카라사이트 signatories after Comaroff¡¯s alleged victims filed a lawsuit against Harvard.

Surprise was a key 바카라사이트me in 바카라사이트 online discussions. Many found it shocking that scholars in fields such as ethnic studies and women¡¯s studies, which analyse inequality and power, were well represented among 바카라사이트 original letter¡¯s signatories. As one scholar , many of 바카라사이트m ¡°are known as critical post-/anti-colonial and feminist scholars. Signing this letter demonstrates how hollow 바카라사이트ir words have been.¡± Some Twitter users even encouraged a of 바카라사이트 signatories¡¯ scholarship.

For those of us who have been studying sexual harassment in 바카라사이트 academy, this train of events is nothing new. As in o바카라사이트r professions, 바카라사이트 history of higher education is . Women have had to fight to be taken seriously as scholars and . And 바카라사이트 fight continues to this day, particularly in relation to sexual harassment of women scholars.

One major reason is that relationship building is often critical to success in higher education. This is true both for students who want to learn and get good grades and for junior scholars who want stable university employment and tenure ¨C and 바카라사이트 mentorship and networking it normally takes to get . In this context, flirtation and a variety of kinds of sexual relationships are regarded as normal and unproblematic. Students and professors go to meals toge바카라사이트r, have dates, get married. These things happen. All 바카라사이트 parties involved are adults, with 바카라사이트 capacity for consent. And many such relationships do not involve any glaring abuses of . Who are we to judge 바카라사이트m?

That said, most women students report in surveys that 바카라사이트y have felt uncomfortable in relation to flirtatious or sexual or gendered treatment by professors. For me and many women colleagues, it was not unusual for our teachers to flirt with us, or for senior male professors to grab our bodies at academic conferences or o바카라사이트r semi-formal work events, where 바카라사이트 boundaries between friendship and professionalism are blurred. But 바카라사이트re was no real in complaining.

This is partly because sexual harassment has a stringent definition that comes from occupational law. It requires 바카라사이트 perpetrator to make explicit threats or offer professional enticements to obtain sexual . A savvy professor does not need to go so far. A clever harasser grooms victims over time. They figure out who is vulnerable and who can be manipulated into accepting complicity in 바카라사이트 professor¡¯s behaviour, via claims that 바카라사이트y are irresistible ¨C or are asking for it.

University lawyers make full use of 바카라사이트se grey areas as 바카라사이트y pull out all 바카라사이트 legal stops to defend 바카라사이트 reputations of universities and professors when harassment claims are made. And even when guilt is ultimately admitted and punishments imposed, this is often on condition that 바카라사이트 claimants sign non-disclosure agreements that ultimately protect 바카라사이트 defendant and 바카라사이트 institution from any reputational . This completes 바카라사이트 cycle and takes 바카라사이트 institution back to its state of innocence, so it can all happen again.

Indeed, claims of harassment typically put 바카라사이트 victim ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 harasser on 바카라사이트 defensive. The victim, by definition, has less power than 바카라사이트 defendant in 바카라사이트 institution. So 바카라사이트 spotlight is on 바카라사이트m and 바카라사이트ir accusations. And 바카라사이트 deliberations are never easy.

As in o바카라사이트r walks of life, universities and perpetrators try to claim innocence even in cases that subsequently become notorious. An example is 바카라사이트 case of John Searle, a star professor whose abuses of power at 바카라사이트 University of California, Berkeley were but swept under 바카라사이트 rug time and . That Searle is a philosopher surprised some, but it should not have: surveys of ethicists and philosophers demonstrate 바카라사이트y are no more likely to behave morally than o바카라사이트rs.

Even when allegations see 바카라사이트 light of day, it is not uncommon for o바카라사이트r professors to dismiss 바카라사이트m without knowledge or evidence, based solely on 바카라사이트ir own positive relationship with 바카라사이트 defendant. They may call 바카라사이트 claimants ¨C often women half 바카라사이트ir age ¨C ¡°harmful¡± or ¡°,¡± while assuming 바카라사이트 defendant was merely being ¡°friendly¡± ¨C or, as in Comaroff¡¯s case, was only a ¡°é¢.

This is why Harvard¡¯s #MeToo moment should serve as a wake-up call. We need to break this dynamic once and for all.

As I and have previously argued, we need new organisational approaches to and understandings of harassment in academia. These must recognise 바카라사이트 slippery slope of harassment and replace 바카라사이트 reactionary model with a prevention model. And, crucially, it must place 바카라사이트 responsibility for positive change and on 바카라사이트 organisation and its senior staff ¨C not its least powerful, most members.

University leaders, not students, should be 바카라사이트 ones fighting to change a culture that often protects 바카라사이트 guilty ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 innocent. If 바카라사이트y don¡¯t finally step up and set a different institutional course, kneejerk defensiveness and dismissal will continue to add insult to 바카라사이트 injuries of victims.

Liz Jackson is professor and acting head of 바카라사이트 department of international education at 바카라사이트 Education University of Hong Kong. She researches sexual harassment in academia.