Brooklyn College Professor Sparks Rally Over Sexual Assault Comments

A Brooklyn College professor has drawn attention on his post in his personal blog, stating sexual assault to be the “male rite of passage” in reference to the Kavanaugh Hearings. This led to Brooklyn College students to flare up and voice their disapproval, calling for the removal of this professor “without delay”.

What Happened?

Brooklyn College Associate Professor in Business Management Mitchell Langbert, posted on his personal blog on Thursday, September 27, 2019, “If someone did not commit sexual assault in high school, then he is not a member of the male sex.” This condoning of sexual assault is his sharing of his opinions on the Kavanaugh Hearings that have been ongoing for weeks now.

His full statement states:

“If someone did not commit sexual assault in high school, then he is not a member of the male sex.  The Democrats have discovered that 15-year- olds play spin-the-bottle, and they have jumped on a series of supposed spin-the-bottle crimes during Kavanaugh’s minority, which they characterize as rape, although no one complained or reported any crime for 40 years.

The Democrats have become a party of tutu-wearing pansies, totalitarian sissies who lack virility, a sense of decency, or the masculine judgment that has characterized the greatest civilizations: classical Athens, Republican Rome, 18th century Britain, and the 19th century the United States. They use anonymity and defamation in their tireless search for coercive power.”
His post has been shared amongst Brooklyn College’s students, alumni’s and staffs
This outraged many students especially Corrinne Greene, one of the leaders in Young Progressives of America.
“To have someone in a position of power espousing sexual assault is not a joke. It’s something that needs to be taken seriously,” she said.
Greene has scheduled a rally calling for his terminal in Brooklyn College on Thursday, October 4th, 2018 at 12:15 pm and professors are allowing students to leave class to participate in this rally.

Brooklyn College has released an official statement to this.

Brooklyn College Provost Anne Lopes calls Langbert’s post to be “abhorrent and counter to the values of the school community.” However, she recognizes the power of the First Amendment and states that school officials will plan a forum to discuss this dilemma.

This also drew the attention of The Professional Staff Congress (PSC-CUNY,) a union that represents 30,000 faculties and staff at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the CUNY Research Foundation. It is dedicated to advancing the professional lives of its members, enhancing their terms and conditions of employment, and maintaining the strength of the nation’s largest, oldest and most visible urban public university.

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PSC-CUNY states:

The Professional Staff Congress/CUNY, the union that represents the faculty and academic staff at The City University of New York, joins students, faculty and staff colleagues at Brooklyn College and throughout CUNY in denouncing Professor Mitchell Langbert’s disgusting statement that committing sexual assault in high school is a prerequisite for being “a member of the male sex.”

Regardless of Professor Langbert’s subsequent claim that his remarks were intended as satire, his advocacy of sexual violence, together with the misogynistic and homophobic views expressed in his blog post on Judge Kavanaugh, are the antithesis of what colleges—and unions—represent. Nevertheless, the PSC vigorously opposes calls for the immediate dismissal of Professor Langbert, repugnant as his comments are. Professor Langbert is entitled to the due process protections the PSC has won for every CUNY employee represented by the union.

The right to due process offers protection of dissenting and minority positions, no matter how repugnant those positions may be; the due process must be upheld in every case if it is to have meaning. The PSC will continue to support the thousands of CUNY faculty, staff and students who work every day to make the university a safe and vibrant institution.

Who is Mitchell Langbert?

Mitchell Langbert is an Associate Professor of Business at Brooklyn College. He holds a Ph.D. in business from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, an MBA from UCLA and an AB from Sarah Lawrence College. He was previously a corporate benefits administrator. He has also done many pieces of research and is published in companies such as Econ Journal Watch, Journal of Business Ethics, Academic Questions, Journal of Economic Issues, Journal of Labor Research, Benefits Quarterly, Academy of Management Learning and Education Journal, and Human Resource Management Journal.

You could read more on his blog here.

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