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Harvard Dean Under Fire for Representing Harvey Weinstein

A Dean at Harvard has come under fire for agreeing to represent Harvey Weinstein in the producer’s highly publicized sexual assault case.

Law Professor Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. is the director of Harvard’s criminal law clinic. His law career is impressive—Sullivan has helped to overturn scores of wrongful convictions and free thousands from wrongful incarceration, a professional record which has made him a highly sought-after defense attorney.

However, his other professional hat—that of faculty dean at Harvard’s Winthrop House—has recently come into conflict with his law career. Students on campus are calling for his resignation after learning that he will represent Harvey Weinstein as a part of the producer’s defense team.

Around 50 students demanded that Sullivan be removed as Dean at a demonstration last week outside the president’s office on Harvard Yard. Some wore tape covering their mouths. They held signs that read, “Your Silence is Violence,” “Remove Sullivan” and “Harvard’s Legacy Ignoring Survivors.” A Change.org petition has already gathered around 300 signatures, and anti-Sullivan graffiti has also appeared on campus buildings.

In defense of the defense team

The situation has garnered national media attention, with major newspapers weighing in on the issue. In an opinion piece published by The Atlantic, journalist Conor Friedersdorf noted that “…if enough attorneys ‘feel the need to think twice… there will be no distinction between a trial by public opinion and a trial in a court of law.’”

The right to representation is a tradition older than the nation itself. The Boston Globe asked what would have happened in 1770 if Harvard students had demanded that the administration remove the privileges of John Adams, the founding father and Harvard graduate who defended the British soldiers who took part in the Boston Massacre.

Famously, Adams took the case to illustrate the principle of innocent until proven guilty and to illustrate the integrity of the nascent nation’s legal system. “It is more important that innocence be protected than it is that guilt be punished, for guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world that they cannot all be punished,” Adams said.

“But if innocence itself is brought to the bar and condemned, perhaps to die, then the citizen will say, ‘Whether I do good or whether I do evil is immaterial, for innocence itself is no protection,’ and if such an idea as that were to take hold in the mind of the citizens that would be the end of security whatsoever.”

Political correctness culture

Some argue that students demanding Sullivan’s resignation is another indicator of the new climate that has been sweeping across college campuses in America—one that has professors prefacing their lectures with “trigger warnings” and stopped popular comedians like Chris Rock from performing.

This new climate presumes an extraordinary fragility of the collegiate psyche with its main goal that of protecting students from psychological harm. Often called by the media a “resurgence of PC culture,” it is somewhat more restrictive than the movement from the 1980s and ‘90s, which sought to specifically rein in hate speech and challenge the literary, philosophical and historical canon to include more diverse perspectives.

Harvard has had faculty lawyers represent notorious defendants before—perhaps most notably, attorney and Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz for O.J. Simpson’s legal defense in 1995. (Notably, Dershowitz this week joined Weinstein’s defense as well.) Those critical of the new campus climate are asking, shouldn’t a defense lawyer be allowed to defend? What’s different between 1995 and today?

After #MeToo, everything matters more

Perhaps it is not so much Sullivan’s choice to join the defense team of a generally unpopular subject, as that he is joining the defense team of a person now singularly identified as the face of sexual malevolence.

This episode “displays the intensity of the anger at sexual malfeasance and the institutional indifference that has allowed such misconduct,” wrote The Chronicle of Higher Education. “Anger is warranted” as “sexual harassment and assault are all too prevalent and prohibitions against them remain all too ineffective.”

Students are seeing Sullivan joining Weinstein’s defense team not as a professional decision undertaken with the workings of the legal system in mind, but as a symbolic choice in an age where sexual assault on campus is an epidemic. And the Ivy League has endured its fair share of accusations. The documentary The Hunting Ground criticized Harvard—among other universities—for failing to protect students from sexual assault on campus. And an analysis by the Washington Post in 2016 found that Harvard was in the top 10 schools in the country with the highest total of rape reports on campus.

“Sullivan has failed to address the incongruity of his two roles—defending Weinstein in his role as defense attorney, while simultaneously working to promote a safe and comfortable environment for victims of sexual misconduct and assault in his capacity as faculty dean,” wrote the Crimson Editorial Board in an opinion piece. “We condemn his choice to represent Weinstein and urge him to address the tension between the two roles more directly than he previously has.”

In response to students’ concerns, Harvard administrators have launched a “climate review” to gauge the opinions of Winthrop House residents on the matter. No other action has been taken for the time being.

See also: Sylvia Plath’s “Newly Discovered” College Story

Join the Fight Against Sexual Assault

Join the Fight Against Sexual Assault

Bill Cosby, previously dubbed “America’s Dad”, has recently been sentenced for three to 10 years and “total confinement”. The 81-year-old comedian was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault, drugging and molesting Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia home in 2004.

The fall of such a powerful media figure began when prosecutors re-opened Constand’s case, after more than 60 other women came forward against Cosby. Her allegation against the man whom she thought was her “mentor and friend” was the only case that occurred within the statute of limitations.

“Bill Cosby took my beautiful, healthy young spirit and crushed it. He robbed me of my health and vitality, my open nature and my trust in myself and others,” she wrote in her statement.

Cosby may have declined the opportunity to speak before his sentencing, but the voices of many brave women haunt the aftermaths of the trial.

Actress, Lili Bernard said: “On the one hand I feel absolutely elated that justice was served. On the other hand, I also feel disappointed, because clearly the three-year minimum sentence does not adequately reflect the havoc this man, this rapist, has inflicted on so many women, including myself.”

“It does indicate there is now a shift in the legal system that is now going to reflect modern culture, and that now women’s voices are being believed and women’s lives are being valued,” she continued.

Janice Baker-Kinney, who also testified against Cosby, thanked him directly in a statement: “Your arrogance sparked a movement that has grown to thousands of women taking back their self-esteem and proudly standing up for what is morally right.”

Such an inspiring outlook on equality has been helped by Cosby being the first celebrity of the #MeToo movement to be sent to prison. Following the sexual misconduct allegations made against Harvey Weinstein, men and women everywhere are encouraging each other to speak out against sexual assault and domineering ideologies with the hash tag, #MeToo.

“The #MeToo movement has shown that we are at a turning point on certain issues. While many of our elected officials are yet to catch up, the public has become more comfortable with talking accurately about sexual harassment,” says Camonghne Felix, Senior Communications Manager at the Ms. Foundation for Women.

“However, not all women have benefitted from the #MeToo movement equally. The initial survivors who shared stories about their experiences were wealthier, white women, while women of color, LGBTQ and transwomen, undocumented women, and women in lower income work still face exceptional risks to their personal safety every day.

“They are the least likely to be protected and believed in the case of sexual harassment and we need to continue to fight until all women, everywhere, are respected.”

Cosby’s case comes at a time when Brett Kavanaugh is also facing accusations of sexual misconduct.

President Trump has publicly challenged the assertions against his Supreme Court nominee, questioning why they weren’t “immediately filed”.

In the era of #MeToo, thousands of social media users have responded with passionate fury to the president’s comments, recounting why it took them time to open up about their attacks.

College News asked Felix for her thoughts on the link between shame and trauma—an emotion that Andrea Constand openly described as “overwhelming”:

“We need to change the way that our country talks about sexual assault, and we need to change the messages that we send to girls and women about their value and their worth.

“Our country was founded on patriarchy, misogyny, and white supremacy, and cultural acceptance of these societal systems needs to change. For it is these issues that send a clear message to women and girls that they are to blame for what happens to them, and that men do not care about their pain, humiliation, and self-worth,” Felix said.

“We live in a highly patriarchal and misogynistic society—it’s what this country was founded in. Boys and men are applauded for their sexual activity, while girls and women are degraded for it. If a woman is sexually assaulted, often the first instinct is to ask what she was wearing, whether she had been drinking, or how she had been behaving.

“But it does not matter what she was wearing, or if she was drinking, or if she was flirting prior to a sexual assault. Period.

“Because of these expectations and these types of questions, it is difficult for women in our society not to internalize the events that may have happened to them and to blame themselves.

“Overcoming this way of thinking depends on listening to women and believing their experiences so that they are not inclined to blame themselves and feel shame for the abuses perpetrated against them.”

It does not matter what she was wearing, or if she was drinking, or if she was flirting prior to a sexual assault. Period.

And how can we continue to bring attention and justice to sex offenders? We asked.

“It is critical that we continue to listen to and believe women and their stories. Whether allegations of misconduct took place three days ago or three decades ago, whether it took place in a social setting or a place of work, it is important that we continue to listen to the stories of women and learn from their experiences.

“But we cannot count on women alone, and women shouldn’t have to share stories about their deep personal traumas in order for change to happen.

“We have to have honest conversations with boys and men about what it means to respect the girls and women around them. Men need to step up and do the hard work of teaching men around them to do, and act, better. Movements can’t grow without allies, and we need to ensure that men are just as active a part of the #MeToo movement as the brave women who have stepped up have been.”

Camonghne is a member of the nation’s oldest women’s foundation, that works to build women’s collective power in the US and advance equity and justice.

“We provide financial and capacity-building investments to grassroots, women-led organizations, that are making meaningful social, cultural, and economic change in the lives of women.

“Only 2 percent of fundraising money goes to women and girls of color, and we believe that, by targeting these underserved groups, we can create better outcomes for all women.”

Felix’s passionate intellect made us eager to get involved.

“Visit our website, join our mailing list and learn more about our current grantee-partners in your community to get involved in issues that matter to women at the grassroots level.

“Keep an eye out for the next Young Professionals Advisory Committee (YPAC), which is currently planning upcoming events in which there will be plenty of opportunities to participate in and advocate for women!”

Bill Cosby may be in prison, but it’s clear that the fight isn’t over.

Find the Ms. Foundation for Women at forwomen.org

Further reading: Amy Schumer and Emily Ratajkowski Arrested During Kavanaugh Protest