Administrators may not intervene to protect subordinates, but they will use sexual harassment complaints at their convenience to go after their enemies, just as they do corruption charges.

There’s a harasser in my workplace now and my tendency has been to allege to myself that it’s not all that bad. Watching Hill here, I’m less convinced of that.

I think THIS is the lesson that was learned back in ’91. Not that it’s wrong to harass or abuse subordinates and/or women, but that institutions need to indemnify themselves. So long as everyone completes their “sexual harassment training” course or workshop, then it’s all good. Administrators will not intervene to protect subordinates.

I was terrified – jeez, was it only two years later? — two years later when I was sexually harassed because of the way that she was grilled. I was deathly afraid that, if I said anything about the guy, a similar thing would happen to me. The good thing about the hearings was that it seemed to bring that sort of behavior into the public consciousness as something bad. The bad thing was that the knee-jerk reaction was always to somehow blame the woman (imagine that!). My institution in particular seemed more aware of sexual harassment, but that only served to heighten their vigiliance in order to create policies that would absolve the university from any responsibility.

Today, the students who seem to know about Anita Hill are either old enough to remember or are black women. Unfortunately, some of the younger ones were indoctrinated into the trope of Clarence Thomas as an “acheiver” and therefore to be admired, with Anita Hill’s testimony being dismissed as frivolous. One student even assumed that she was a white woman. This is what they have learned in grade school.

There are plenty victims and an abundance of culprits.

Which wouldn’t have stopped any Republicans from effectively attacking somebody else for their unethical behavior. Hell, the Republicans tried to impeach Bill Clinton for getting blow jobs, and I didn’t notice any of them being the slightest bit reticent because they lived in glass houses.

Whatever reason Kennedy didn’t support Anita Hill, I doubt it was embarassment over helping to get his nephew off on a rape charge.

Me sorry too, Historiann. Sort of a sidebar, yr honor!

I would take my oath the guy commanding the cops who busted us was Donald and his rank was Lieutenant, but among historians I know better than to defend the reliability of memory, especially at 43 years’ distance.

Was the ACLU guy Spencer Cox?

(Sorry to stray so far off-thread, Historiann.)

This was a crazy town back when Rizzo’s police cars were painted red!

So there was a pre-history to the “Rizzo Years of Terror,” which I got to see firsthand?

He was Police Chief in ’67. Tate’s proclamation came after major riots that summer in Detroit and Newark NJ, the idea being that he and Rizzo together would head off anything similar in Philly. Rizzo used to entertain reporters during recesses in our trial by demonstrating how he stomped arrestees with his (as I recall) Size 13 shoes. Another bit of trivia: Rizzo had a kind of mini-me, Lt. Donald Fencl, in charge of the Red Squad–I think it was still called that–which monitored our one-hour silent vigil across from the Cathedral and then busted us. This gave our lawyers a nice opportunity to elicit testimony from arresting officers, since the mayor’s proclamation made reference to “riotous and tumultuous” conduct. The issues were serious but the post-arrest shenanigans, I have to admit, were a hoot.