Gay NYU grad accuses lesbian professor of sexual harassment and assault
A world-renowned queer, feminist scholar teaching at New York University (NYU) was suspended for the coming academic year following a Title IX investigation, The New York Times reported on Monday.
Avital Ronell, a professor or German and Comparative Literature, was accused by former graduate student Niemrod Reitman of sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking and retaliation in a Title IX complaint filed in 2017, two years after he graduated NYU with a PhD.
The 11-month investigation, carried out by NYU’s Office of Equal Opportunity, found the professor responsible for “inappropriate physical contact” and for sending sexual texts to the student, NYU’s independent student newspaper Washington Square News reported.
Reitman, who is now 34-year-old and married to a man, alleged that over the course of three years, starting from spring 2012, the professor touched him and kissed him without his consent, forced him to share the bed with her, held his hand as well as texting, emailing and calling him constantly.
The first incident, Reitman told the Times, took place even before he began studying at the university. Professor Ronell, who was to become his doctoral advisor, invited him to stay with her in Paris for a couple of days.
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