In our last issue, we noted the story of a former University of Maryland student’s landmark win of a symbolic Title IX judgment of $1 against the university for failing to protect him from an organized student campaign to tar him as a rapist when he wasn’t one.
Sometimes, real money can be involved as well. A prominent biologist who lost his position at MIT after being accused of coercing a sexual relationship with a younger female colleague sued her for defamation, claiming that the relationship that started in 2018 was fully consensual; the defendant’s claim of coercion came only after he ended the relationship. After hearing the evidence, a jury found in his favor and awarded him $6 Million. Like the case of novelist and former University of British Columbia professor Steven Galloway, which is currently in its fourth week of trial, this is one more example of a growing legal reaction against women by men subjected to vindictive claims of sexual misconduct. Will these precedents discourage real victims of harassment from coming forward? We may be seeing a swing of the pendulum back from the automatic credence granted all accusers in the #MeToo era, and a recognition that not “all women must be believed.”
