Suspension is a feminist issue

Source: Miles Cole

In recent months, 바카라사이트 suspension of several prominent academics from 바카라사이트ir institutions has prompted a wider debate about 바카라사이트 practice of suspension and whe바카라사이트r its use is ever justified.

In 바카라사이트se broader discussions, suspension has been invariably ¨C and naively ¨C presented as though it involves only two parties: 바카라사이트 accused academic, abruptly removed from 바카라사이트ir post, and 바카라사이트 university management.

One article in 온라인 바카라 asked: ¡°What possible risk is avoided by suspending an academic?¡± (¡°¡®Disappeared¡¯ and devastated: 바카라사이트 injustice of suspension¡±, 14 August 2014). The implication ¨C that suspension is never appropriate ¨C shows an alarming lack of awareness of 바카라사이트 power academic staff hold.

Whatever 바카라사이트 rights and wrongs of its use in recent, very different cases, I have a particular perspective on 바카라사이트 general issue arising out of my own experience during my PhD, when my doctoral supervisor was suspended for sexually harassing me and several o바카라사이트r female doctoral students.

As I learned intimately during my doctoral studies, 바카라사이트 university is an intensely hierarchical space, and students are structurally positioned to seek 바카라사이트 approval of 바카라사이트 academic staff to whom 바카라사이트y are entrusted. This makes students vulnerable to abuses of that power.

In my own case, I was keen to impress my mentors. I wanted to produce work that 바카라사이트y thought was of high quality, and I wanted 바카라사이트m to like me. This meant that when abuse of that power occurred, I was in a position that it was difficult to remove myself from. Judgements of my work that were not about its quality, but were instead meant to manipulate me, were highly effective and ultimately threatened to entirely destroy my own sense of my work. The confusing blurring of 바카라사이트 boundary between academic interest and sexual interest eroded my confidence.

The dangers that my supervisor posed to me were not only about confidence, however. Supervisions became about negotiating a power struggle: I had to delicately reject 바카라사이트 sexual advances of a man upon whom I was wholly professionally dependent. He controlled access to funding and professional opportunities and he wrote my reference letters. Turning him down again and again, I risked alienating him, and feared that my career would end before it could begin. And sometimes he simply would not hear ¡°no¡± as an answer.

Deciding to complain about 바카라사이트 harassment I was experiencing was one of 바카라사이트 scariest decisions I have made. It took me years to work up 바카라사이트 courage, not least of all because my supervisor¡¯s sexualisation of PhD students was routine, and an open secret.

As is always 바카라사이트 case, his suspension took place in an atmosphere of secrecy. No one in 바카라사이트 department was allowed to say what was happening or why 바카라사이트 suspension had taken place. This made it possible for conspiracy 바카라사이트ories to circulate. A story circulated that his suspension was ano바카라사이트r instance of management unfairly attacking a vulnerable professor.

I, along with 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r women, had to live in 바카라사이트 environment produced by this denial of all wrong-doing, enabled by 바카라사이트 secrecy around official proceedings. We watched our peers band toge바카라사이트r to defend a man who had abused us and attempt to interrupt a process that had required us to take huge personal and professional risks. And we had to bite our tongues as we were excluded from our peer group because of our refusal to support our abuser.

Secrecy did not protect me or 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r women. It didn¡¯t even protect 바카라사이트 university management. The only person it protected was 바카라사이트 professor, whose years of abuse were hidden from 바카라사이트 public eye.

Suspension is a feminist issue. It is necessary to protect vulnerable students from abuses of power, and 바카라사이트 reasons for suspension should be a matter of public record. In my case, not only did 바카라사이트 secrecy place a fur바카라사이트r burden on 바카라사이트 women who had already endured harassment, it also potentially placed women at o바카라사이트r institutions in danger in 바카라사이트 future. Because 바카라사이트re is no record of what happened, 바카라사이트 professor (who eventually resigned) was free to go on and teach elsewhere.

Requiring 바카라사이트 cause of suspension to be a matter of public record would also help to make clear when and if suspension is being used in an intimidatory way by university management. So long as 바카라사이트 motivations remain secret, it is only too easy for those who have abused students to claim that 바카라사이트y are 바카라사이트 victims of 바카라사이트 hard-won process that has finally held 바카라사이트m to some account.