If You Thought #MeToo Changed Anything, You’re Wrong

When I was working on the campaign to remove Ronald Sullivan from his position as Faculty Dean of Winthrop House, I received a high volume of emails. From threatening, to appreciative, my email inbox was full to the brim with everyone and their mother telling me how they felt. One of the emails I received, however, was regarding Alan Dershowitz.

Sent via a Switzerland-based encrypted email service, a ‘concerned citizen’ urged me to consider Alan Dershowtiz’s questionable actions and the controversy surrounding Jeffrey Epstein. At the time, I had no idea who Dershowitz was and following a quick Google search I felt hesitant to organize against a Harvard Law Professor who seemed to have no pastoral responsibilities. Given the backlash I had received regarding Sullivan who did have a responsibility to his Winthrop House students, I disregarded the email.

Now, in the wake of Monday’s charging of Epstein with sex trafficking and Epstein’s long list of chums being added to the list of those potentially implicated, I am shaken by how close to the web of sexual predators a faculty member such as Dershowitz is. It goes without saying, everyone in the US is innocent until proven guilty. Nevertheless, the recent developments in the Epstein case shown me a broader picture of phenomena I witnessed during the Remove Sullivan campaign: that of victim-shaming and disparaging of the #MeToo movement.

Something that has continually been raised by the likes of Ronald Sullivan and Alan Dershowitz has consistently struck me. Back in January, Sullivan spoke of how the case against Roland Fryer, Harvard’s youngest black professor to receive tenure who was alleged to have engaged in sexual misconduct, ‘shows what the current [#MeToo] movement, some blood in the water, and good coaching [of witnesses] can produce’.

The state-level complaint filed against Fryer has since been withdrawn after the complainant, Fryer and Harvard reached an agreeable settlement. Nevertheless, the treatment of the female complainant still strikes me as grossly inadequate. The complainant, who was 1 of 4 to have contacted HR with concerns about Fryer faced what can only be described as retaliation. She reported Fryer’s behaviour 3 times, and according to the MCAD (Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination) complaint, was retaliated against by Fryer himself, who ‘tried to have her fired’ and ‘made allegations of performance issues’. Clearly, not enough was done to protect the complainant as she eventually left her job.

Sullivan’s comments in the RealClear Investigations piece are a slap in the face to Fryer’s complainants, as well as victims everywhere. It goes without saying that this was one of many reasons why I sought to have him removed from his Deanship. The Epstein case prompted me to zoom out of what I thought was an isolated incident of victim-shaming and realise that despite #MeToo and Weinstein’s demise, there is still an alarmingly large pool of powerful men (regardless of their race, I might add) who discredit and smear any woman that come forward with allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. This is unacceptable.*

Dershowitz, in an interview with Joe Piscopo, was asked how he felt about his name being tarnished by the Epstein case. In response, he spoke of how ‘every other #MeToo case there was a preexisting relationship. They knew each other, they worked together, they had sex’. His blatant disregard for the many valid #MeToo cases that had Weinstein convicted is apparent.

Even President Donald Trump has widely discredited the allegations women have made against others and himself. The list is long and winding, but one of the more recent examples is that of E Jean Carroll, a columnist who claims that she was raped by Trump in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room during the 90s. Trump’s response? He claims he had never met Carroll in his life, that she lied, that he is the victim of her false accusations. Given that Carroll is the 22nd woman to come forward with an accusation of sexual misconduct, I would say an investigation is long overdue.

From Dershowitz to Trump, Epstein to R Kelly, and to a lesser degree, to the likes of Sullivan, it appears that powerful men insist on discrediting female victims despite the advances made by the #MeToo movement. If anything, the #MeToo movement, to me, has been rebranded as a leftist weapon to launch against said powerful men. I guess when all is said and done, the USA does remain the land of the free … for those who have a lot to hide.

* 7/11/2019 - The Harvard Crimson reports that Fryer is placed on administrative leave by Harvard https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2019/7/10/fryer-administrative-leave/