Prevention of Power Abuse

Comparing the #MeToo Movement to Power Abuse in Academia

Article 1
No Incident Is Isolated
Rethinking How Academia Hears a Single Complaint 

A few years ago, the world watched an industry built on charisma, gatekeeping, and closed doors come apart in public. #MeToo did not begin as a movement. The term has existed since 2006 but was popularized after the Weinstein allegations broke in 2017, revealing over three decades of sexual crimes which led to his immediate firing and eventual conviction. Throughout the years, the list of victims grew one private settlement at a time. Treated at first the way institutions always treat these things: as unfortunate, as unusual, as an isolated incident, as a matter between two people destined to be settled quietly behind closed doors and kept out of the trade press. What eventually broke that pattern was not Continue Reading