Avita!

[Hibush]

An article in CHE today chronicles the return of Avital Ronell. Am I driven by schadenfreude to post this? Thankful my department is nothing like hers?

Avital Ronell, a high-profile New York University professor who was suspended after the university found she sexually harassed a graduate student, is returning to the classroom. But the graduate worker union wants to keep her out.

Ronell's interactions with students will be monitored to ensure that "she has absorbed the lessons of her misconduct" and that "she has rectified her behavior and that her interactions with students are in line with NYU's professional expectations," [wrote] John Beckman, senior vice president for public affair

...a graduate course Ronell [will] teach in the fall [is] called Unsettled Scores.

My guess is that she has not "absorbed the lessons of her misconduct", and that it will be evident in her score-settling course.

NYUs administration knows it is being watched very closely for how they handle the situation. The grad students want to pre-emptively cancel the course. From an administrative standpoint, that's tough to do legitimately. But if the administrators have a strong suspicion that it is going to be a train wreck, they can't just sit back and come up with a response on the fly.

As an outsider, I'm going to judge them on how they balance various needs:

• the academic freedom faculty need to provide the kind of top-flight education NYU offers versus allowing obvious misconduct.
  
• Being responsive to graduate students concerns while blocking those suggested remedies that are inappropriate or illegal.
  
• Hiring renowned faculty without getting those dependent on personality cults.

Apologies to Tim Rice for the subject line.

[marshwiggle]

An article in CHE today chronicles the return of Avital Ronell. Am I driven by schadenfreude to post this? Thankful my department is nothing like hers?

Avital Ronell, a high-profile New York University professor who was suspended after the university found she sexually harassed a graduate student, is returning to the classroom. But the graduate worker union wants to keep her out.

Ronell's interactions with students will be monitored to ensure that "she has absorbed the lessons of her misconduct" and that "she has rectified her behavior and that her interactions with students are in line with NYU's professional expectations," [wrote] John Beckman, senior vice president for public affair

...a graduate course Ronell [will] teach in the fall [is] called Unsettled Scores.

My guess is that she has not "absorbed the lessons of her misconduct", and that it will be evident in her score-settling course.

And if she were a man, is there even a snowball's chance in Hell she'd be back at all?

[Hibush]

And if she were a man, is there even a snowball's chance in Hell she'd be back at all?

The personality cult phenomenon seems to be a pretty good insulator, and those usually develop around men. Even in today's altered response, Florian Jaeger is still at UofR.

[ergative]

An article in CHE today chronicles the return of Avital Ronell. Am I driven by schadenfreude to post this? Thankful my department is nothing like hers?

Avital Ronell, a high-profile New York University professor who was suspended after the university found she sexually harassed a graduate student, is returning to the classroom. But the graduate worker union wants to keep her out.

Ronell's interactions with students will be monitored to ensure that "she has absorbed the lessons of her misconduct" and that "she has rectified her behavior and that her interactions with students are in line with NYU's professional expectations," [wrote] John Beckman, senior vice president for public affair

...a graduate course Ronell [will] teach in the fall [is] called Unsettled Scores.

My guess is that she has not "absorbed the lessons of her misconduct", and that it will be evident in her score-settling course.

And if she were a man, is there even a snowball's chance in Hell she'd be back at all?

I know a man who was not only cleared by an internal investigation, but was promoted while the investigation was ongoing. Some of his colleagues were so outraged by this outcome that they quit in protest.

So, yes.

[Scout]

An article in CHE today chronicles the return of Avital Ronell. Am I driven by schadenfreude to post this? Thankful my department is nothing like hers?

Avital Ronell, a high-profile New York University professor who was suspended after the university found she sexually harassed a graduate student, is returning to the classroom. But the graduate worker union wants to keep her out.

Ronell's interactions with students will be monitored to ensure that "she has absorbed the lessons of her misconduct" and that "she has rectified her behavior and that her interactions with students are in line with NYU's professional expectations," [wrote] John Beckman, senior vice president for public affair

...a graduate course Ronell [will] teach in the fall [is] called Unsettled Scores.

My guess is that she has not "absorbed the lessons of her misconduct", and that it will be evident in her score-settling course.

And if she were a man, is there even a snowball's chance in Hell she'd be back at all?

If she were a man, she'd never have been sanctioned in the first place.

[writingprof]

If she were a man, she'd never have been sanctioned in the first place.

Yes, this is the golden age of men getting away with things.

I know a man who was not only cleared by an internal investigation, but was promoted while the investigation was ongoing. Some of his colleagues were so outraged by this outcome that they quit in protest.

Have the resultant open positions been posted on the appropriate wikis yet?

...a graduate course Ronell [will] teach in the fall [is] called Unsettled Scores.

This is hilarious and absurd.

[Hibush]

...a graduate course Ronell [will] teach in the fall [is] called Unsettled Scores.

This is hilarious and absurd.

I hope some industrious student blogs about taking the course so we can savor the absurdity.

[Scout]

If she were a man, she'd never have been sanctioned in the first place.

Yes, this is the golden age of men getting away with things.

So for about half a minute now men are being held somewhat accountable for their abuses, and already the cries of unfairness begin.

[writingprof]

If she were a man, she'd never have been sanctioned in the first place.

Yes, this is the golden age of men getting away with things.

So for about half a minute now men are being held somewhat accountable for their abuses, and already the cries of unfairness begin.

Who said it was unfair?  The argument is whether it's happening, which you seem alternately to deny and admit. 

[Juvenal]

"Don't cry for me, NYU..." 

Sorry for the mistake. It seems to be "Avita," not "Evita."

[Scout]

If she were a man, she'd never have been sanctioned in the first place.

Yes, this is the golden age of men getting away with things.

So for about half a minute now men are being held somewhat accountable for their abuses, and already the cries of unfairness begin.

Who said it was unfair?  The argument is whether it's happening, which you seem alternately to deny and admit. 

That some men are now occasionally being held accountable hardly means it's a given that men are generally being sanctioned and that's "happening".  Plus, the idea that now "if she were a man she'd never be let back", because men are now being so heavily sanctioned and women are in a position of privilege in this area is what what I am challenging.

[Hibush]

"Don't cry for me, NYU..." 

Sorry for the mistake. It seems to be "Avita," not "Evita."

The personality cult of Eva Peron just seems too similar. And there are some great melodies ready for updating Tim Rice's lyrics.

The Grad Student's Plea

Please, mother Avital, will you look upon me as your own?
Make me special, be my angel
Be my everything wonderful perfect and true
And I'll try to be exactly like you

[mythbuster]

So what happens if no one enrolls in her "course"? Rather than trying to get the course removed by the admins, the grad union could much more easily make sure it has an enrollment of zero.

[Diogenes]

So what happens if no one enrolls in her "course"? Rather than trying to get the course removed by the admins, the grad union could much more easily make sure it has an enrollment of zero.

Or fill the seats, then drop before the drop period yet after the add period.

[Hibush]

No news in public sources on how the Unsettled Scores course is going. The grad student union is unhappy and protesting according to the student paper.

That article mentions some unusual conditions that would make it difficult to be effective.

"NYU no longer allows her to advise or meet with students on her own. She also is not allowed to teach undergraduates."
"NYU has also assigned security guards to Ronell."