X Students Detail Alleged Sexual Harassment from Yale Professor Jed Rubenfeld
Former students of disgraced Yale Law professor Jed Rubenfeld are recounting alleged sexual harassment they faced before he was suspended from the school.
Last fall, 62-year-old Rubenfeld was issued a two-year
suspension from the Yale faculty with restrictions put in place when he returns
on how he'll be allowed to interact with students. Rubenfeld has been a
well-known leading professor at Yale, and along with his wife Amy Chua, author
of the controversial 2011 memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.
The suspension came after a Title IX investigation into
sexual harassment claims from multiple former students, some of whom speak out
anonymously in a recent New York magazine piece.
In August, Rubenfeld spoke to The New York Times, denying
any sexual harassment and touching anyone without consent. He said, "I
have been teaching for 30 years. I have made jokes and comments that I would
not make today and I wish I had not made. This may have made students
uncomfortable. I respect students for coming forward if it did."
"But," added Rubenfeld, "I never sexually
harassed anybody. That's a completely different thing."
In the New York article, one student recalled Rubenfeld
asking invasive questions about rape, in the context of writing an op-ed on the
subject from a law perspective.
"I felt very agitated at the time. The fact that he was
questioning things like, 'Does sexual assault happen in the ways in which it is
reported?'" she told the magazine, adding that many students felt
obligated to play along and become close with the well-connected faculty.
The student said she thought the discussion on sexual
assault "was good faith on his part" even though it bothered her,
though she no longer gave him the benefit of the doubt in October 2014, when he
allegedly attempted to kiss her while drunk at a party hosted at his house.
"The basis of my Title IX complaint is that he tried to
kiss me. At that point, I figured out that it wasn't theoretical," she
said.
Another student who also served as a teaching assistant to
Rubenfeld said that he once asked her in a one-on-one setting why she wasn't
married, and allegedly told her "it must have been tough with the boys,
being a smart girl." At another event, he allegedly put his arm around her
waist.
One former student explained to New York why she agreed to
give a statement about the sexual harassment claims: "I defend people who
are accused of sex crimes. At the end of the day, it comes down to the fact
that his liberty is not at stake. We're not talking about anyone going to jail.
We are talking about his ability to wield power over people."
In October, the Yale Law Women Board called on the
university to "permanently remove Jed
Rubenfeld from campus and release information regarding the nature of
the allegations and findings of the
investigation."
According to the Yale Daily News, the university's
president, Peter Salovey, responded to the group leaders in a November email,
though they said he did not "meaningfully addresses the serious
concerns" or specifically address Rubenfeld's case.
Rubenfeld declined to be interviewed for the New York
article. Chua, 58, however, spoke to the magazine, saying at one point, "I
don't think I can get him to talk. We just live our own lives. I think it's
just his choice."
In August, though, Rubenfeld told the outlet that he
"absolutely, unequivocally" denies sexually harassing anyone. He
claimed at the time that he was being targeted: "I think subsequent to me
having written some controversial articles about sexual assault that I became a
target of people making false allegations against me."
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