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And now for the subject at hand .... My interest in sexual harassment stems mainly from my work in philosophy of education, especially tertiary education, which began during my graduate studies at the University of Toronto. Within a decade of finishing graduate school I became involved in the founding of what is now called Redeemer University College (Ancaster, Ontario, Canada). My book Rationale for a Christian College (1980) was a step in the process that led to Redeemer. Later I wrote Public Knowledge and Christian Education (1988), which also deals with issues in philosophy of education. In sixteen of the twenty-five years of Redeemer's history I taught a course in the subject, and so I know from professional literature (as well as from observation and experience) how political correctness and the multiculturalism agenda have politicized education and created barriers to free speech and discussion. Finally, I should add that I had a brush with such a charge myself: it took me the better part of a year to clear my name. Readers will therefore understand that I have strong feelings on the subject. Sexual harassment is serious business, and charges using such language should not be made lightly.
Hot-Button Ethics: Reflections on Harassment, Imposition and Autonomy. This essay was posted in Myodicy in April of 1998.
No Harm Done? An Essay on Thought-Crime. Bad thoughts get punished nowadays in addition to bad deeds and bad words. But how do they know what you were thinking?
Diefenbaker, Truman, and a Punch in the Nose. When an investigation and prosecution turns on what amounts to a morals charge, as in the case of a harassment accusation, people tend to react in a very emotional manner. Such notions as honor and integrity come into play. Hard feelings are likely to result.
Do We Need Freedom Police? Some Thoughts on Academic Freedom in an Age of Political Correctness. Academic freedom is like the fish's freedom: without a protective environment (water, in the case of the fish), it amounts to nothing.
Dangers Lurk in Sexual-Harassment Codes, by Prof. Carol Simpson Stern of Northwestern University. There is an institutional downside to having a sexual-harassment tribunal in place. Other remedies could be considered.
Are You in Favor of Sexual Harassment? Sometimes policies and procedures have unintended effects. There may be a sense in which eros in the classroom is to be encouraged and expected.
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