Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Bartholet: #MeToo Is Dangerous Because it Presumes Guilt

The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Tom Ciccotta

Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Bartholet argued recently that the #MeToo movement dangerously presumes guilt in those accused of sexual misconduct.

“My fairness concerns with the #MeToo phenomenon include the ready acceptance in many cases of anonymous complaints, and of claims made by women over conflicting claims by men, to terminate careers without any investigation of the facts,” Bartholet wrote. “Some argue that women who speak out should simply always be believed.”

“Others argue that if some innocent men must be sacrificed to the cause of larger justice, so be it. I find this deeply troubling,” she continued.

Bartholet’s argument, which was published as a column in the Crimson, is the fourth most-read piece on the site. Nearly all of the comments on the popular article express support for Bartholet’s message.

“In the current climate, men are called out for actions ranging from requests for dates and hugs on the one hand to rape and other forced sexual contact on the other, as if all are the same and all warrant termination,” she wrote, before adding that  “women are not so weak as to need this kind of protection.”

Bartholet, of course, praised the activists who have worked to expose actual abuse at the hands of men like Harvey Weinstein. “I celebrate those who have stepped forward to call out sexual misconduct and demand changes in the degrading culture that has characterized working conditions for women in too many settings for too long,” she wrote.

Bartholet expressed her dislike for the Obama-era policy that those accused of sexual assault on a campus to be deemed guilty based upon the lowest possible standard of evidence. “Similar problems plagued the imposition of new sexual harassment guidelines for colleges and universities by the administration of former President Barack Obama. I was involved in attempts to push back against those guidelines and to develop at Harvard Law School our own policies, better designed to balance the important values at stake,” she wrote.

The column was praised on Twitter:

 

 

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