Avital Ronell Blowback Has Entered College Classrooms. Here’s How Scholars Are Responding.

Peter Shipman wasn’t sure what to expect when he walked into his seminar on trauma theory in August. The Cornell University Ph.D. student had registered for the course, taught by Cathy Caruth, over the summer.

But that was before Shipman saw that Caruth, a professor of English and comparative literature, had signed a letter supporting New York University’s Avital Ronell, who was found responsible for harassing one of her graduate students. Shipman was disturbed and disgusted by the letter, as were many in academe, who in an uproar argued that the signatories had excused Ronell’s behavior because of her prestige.

The first class was tense, Shipman said, with graduate students exchanging glances. Caruth, to Shipman’s surprise, brought up the letter and offered to meet with any concerned student. On Wednesday the English department’s graduate-studies director followed up in an email that reiterated Caruth’s offer.

Ronell’s scholarship, status, and network of academic supporters have extended the impact of misconduct allegations against her to circles far beyond NYU, where she is a professor of German and comparative literature. After a university investigation, she was suspended without pay, but she contends her effusive writings toward the advisee, Nimrod Reitman, were consensual.

Scholars around the globe — including Caruth, who did not respond to requests for comment — were listed as signers of the May letter attesting to Ronell’s scholarship and mentorship of students. A 400-signature petition then called for the resignation of the letter’s lead signatory, Judith Butler, as a top Modern Language Association official. She later told The Chronicle in an email that she regretted certain wording in the letter, which she said a group of authors had written quickly.

Now scholars are grappling with how to proceed. Some wonder what context they must provide when they teach works by alleged harassers — or by their supporters. Others wonder if it’s even appropriate to include those texts on a syllabus.

After reading news articles and essays about the Ronell allegations, Zachary Furste’s mind went to the three-person class on 20th-century media-technology experiments that he taught last spring at the University of Southern California. In the course, students read from Ronell’s The Telephone Book, among other works.

Last year he thought Ronell was a perfect fit for his syllabus, given her stature and the relevance of the text. Assigning the book seemed “inevitable,” he said. But if he were to teach the course in the future, he said, “I haven’t really settled whether I will keep it.” He wondered if including her work, even with relevant context, would help students or confuse them.

The reckoning in this #MeToo moment is broader than the Ronell case. Furste, a postdoctoral fellow, has also reflected on his dissertation’s inclusion of a quotation from the comedian Louis C.K., who later admitted to masturbating in front of female comedians.

“I’ve not heard from anybody about it,” he said, “but it has made me feel a little embarrassed and confused and regretful.”

‘Entitled to Professional Treatment’

Ronell’s case is especially tricky in academe because it contends with the power dynamics between graduate student and faculty adviser. In a lawsuit, Reitman says Ronell retaliated against him by refusing to respond to emails or look at his work when he did not address her in florid language.

The letter of support from scholars for Ronell praised her mentorship of students and asked that “she be accorded the dignity rightly deserved by someone of her international standing and reputation.” Critics of the letter said it was hypocritical and betrayed graduate students, already an overworked, undervalued group in academe.

The letter prompted Ardath Whynacht, a sociology professor at Mount Allison University, in Canada, to urge colleagues on Twitter to not teach scholarship by those who had signed the Ronell letter without also teaching the context of the case.

Whynacht herself plans to include a discussion of Butler in a course this fall about youth culture. With that talk, she said, she plans to discuss the letter, power dynamics, and differences between theory and community work.

“These are scholars who talk a lot about power, violence, and vulnerability — their academic credentials should be called into question,” she said. “The ethical approach would be encouraging students to explore how it’s possible that our … experts on power, violence, and gender seem to miss what’s plainly obvious to a lot of folks.”

Jenny Mann, director of graduate studies in Cornell’s English department, sent explicit guidance early in the semester on adviser-advisee relationships. Among other things, it condemned mistreatment. She urged students to come forward with any concerns.

In an email, Mann said the guidance was intended to affirm a “core value” of the program, which is that graduate students are entitled to respect in advising. She did not respond to questions about whether the message had been prompted by Caruth’s and other Cornell professors’ public support for Ronell.

“While I acknowledge and even honor the various textures and flavors of academic mentorship, I also want to state unequivocally that the English department does not condone the abuse of graduate students in any form,” Mann wrote in the guidance. “You are entitled to professional treatment that respects your autonomy and integrity as students, teachers, and intellectuals.”

Shipman said that he appreciated the effort, but that it didn’t erase his concern about the letter, which deepened when he read a student-newspaper article in which Caruth said the issue was “too complex to be handled adequately through an interview for an article.” He said he feels ashamed of what faculty support for Ronell represents, grappling with his own lack of power as a graduate student.

He has since dropped Caruth’s course.

Lindsay Ellis is a staff reporter. Follow her on Twitter @lindsayaellis, or email her at lindsay.ellis@chronicle.com.

Opinion essays, published by The Chronicle, on the Ronell case:

I Worked With Avital Ronell. I Believe Her Accuser.

Why Taking a Stand on the Internet Can Turn a Problem Into a Catastrophe

Avital Ronell and the End of the Academic Star

The Unsexy Truth About the Avital Ronell Scandal

Clarification (9/7/2018, 10:15 a.m.): The end of this article has been updated to clarify the source of Peter Shipman’s concern. The graduate student said he appreciated an email sent to his department but was still disturbed by the professor’s support for Ronell.