- Nov 2021
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www.theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com
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It’s true that some of the university sexual-harassment cases have been shaped by Department of Education Title IX regulations that are shockingly vague, and that can be interpreted in draconian ways.
Anne Applebaum indicates that the adjudication of university sexual-harassment cases have been shaped by the Department of Education Title IX regulations which can be "shockingly vague, and that can be interpreted in draconian ways."
This is worth delving into. How has this evolved? How can it be "fixed".
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In The Whisperers, his book on Stalinist culture, the historian Orlando Figes cites many such cases, among them Nikolai Sakharov, who wound up in prison because somebody fancied his wife; Ivan Malygin, who was denounced by somebody jealous of his success; and Lipa Kaplan, sent to a labor camp for 10 years after she refused the sexual advances of her boss. The sociologist Andrew Walder has revealed how the Cultural Revolution in Beijing was shaped by power competitions between rival student leaders.
Note the power here of Applebaum providing very specific and citable examples.
The specificity is more powerful than the generality of these sorts of ills which we know exist in these regimes.
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In both instances, people used these unregulated forms of “justice” to pursue personal grudges or gain professional advantage.
Rather than provide actual justice, unregulated extrajudicial bodies can be (and are often) used to pursue personal grudges or gain profession advantages.
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Secretive procedures that take place outside the law and leave the accused feeling helpless and isolated have been an element of control in authoritarian regimes across the centuries,
Anne Applebaum indicates that the secretive procedures being practiced at American colleges and universities to prosecute their community members is very similar to authoritarian governments like the Argentine junta, Franco's Spain, and Stalin's troikas.
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