I work for an Ivy League University as an adjunct in the Physical Education department and have 2 sexual harassment allegations filed against me in 12 months, and I am very afraid I’m about to lose my job. This 1st one was completely unfounded and was “resolved informally”, but is still in my file! In a nutshell, I am a visual artist as well, and sent a female grad student I had discussed art with, some very typical drawings from an atlelier class I take, drawing from live models. Two were portraits, and two were waist-up nudes, of middle aged women, absolutely nothing sexual about them, no more than Degas, Renoir, Da Vinci or Michelangelo. The grad student decided the drawings made her “uncomfortable”, it was called “sexual harassment”, and I attended a sensitivity training class.

The 2nd one, just a week ago, is simply a careless, bone headed mistake of my own. While trying to write my wife a one-line “sexting” type of email, I somehow sent it to a female instructor I had never met that I was having a normal, professional discussion with about a class. I must have had 2 emails open at the same time. Completely embarrassing for me, and completely shocking for this poor woman. I feel absolutely terrible. It was, however a mistake. I have never met, never seen the instructor. She is very upset, and I feel I will lose my job. The reason I’m seeking men’s support groups, is because neither of these is sexual harassment! I am going to cut and paste a letter I may send a law professor at Columbia, explaining my stance. Thanks for listening.

Sincerely,
Scott Jefferson
(letter to law professor friend below)

Hi ___,

I know it’s the weekend, so I don’t expect a response from you until Monday. You might want to grab a coffee. I apologize in advance for what you’re about to read…

I have been online doing some research and looking at various men’s empowerment groups. I have been researching the palpable misandry one is seeing increasingly on college campuses. I’m increasingly seeing the term “false rape culture”. I’m gong to call it misandry by default: it seems that 99.9% of “sexual harassment” and sexual assault allegations are against males, ergo,I’m callling it a”trickle down gender bias”.

I know I’ve told you that my very dear sister was violently raped, and I take all forms of sexual assault and harassment very seriously. However, it is slowly dawning on me that two separate completely baseless allegations of sexual harassment have been leveled against me in an entrenched, inherently biased system. I have done nothing that even approaches sexual harassment; neither of these should have this label attached.

I’m not an attorney, but this smacks of libel to me. I’m tired of the way (we) are being treated in society. I was fired from a job about 15 years ago, went to an employment lawyer for wrongful firing, and he said he could help me “if I was a woman or if was of color”. This is gender bias, sexism, and racism in it’s purest form.

I want to sue Columbia University for defamation. I’m not joking. I am so angry I cannot sleep. My precious artwork, that I have worked so hard to master, that I am so proud of, had the words “sexual” and “harassment” attached to it. That is sick, that is obscene, and it offends me deeply.

This latest thing I did was a stupid, careless, ugly blunder. Completely my fault. That woman should never have been exposed to that email. I feel very embarassed, but I also feel for her. It must have shocked and offended her. But for me to be accused of sexual harassment is ludicrous, and the fact that the university promotes a culture that encourages such an accusation leads me back to gender bias and victimization of the falsely accused. The victim, the woman who unfortunately received my email was clearly coached; there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that she was coached. She was reading from a script, provided to her by the EEOA office. Her “confidence was undermined” she “felt unsafe” new catch phrases for, when for example, a man tells a woman she is pretty, and she takes offense to it. I feel horribly, you have no idea, about sending her that email. However, any sane, reasonable adult would immediately see what had happened. If I bump into a woman and accidentally brush an inappropriate area of her body, is that now considered sexual assault? I’ll bet on Columbia Campus it is!! I am not innocent of a dreadful blunder, but to be accused of sexual harassment is libelous.

We need parity. From Emma Sulkowitz to the Duke Lacrosse players to what I read about daily, this culture of false accusations with absolutely no repercussions for fake victims needs to stop. And I want to be part of it. The “victims” have become the victimizers, the (falsely) accused, the victims.

I have been getting increasingly angry about race and gender bias as it has affected me personally, and I want a voice, and I want to fight it. I know this is not your area, but if you know someone, can recommend someone, I will wantonly use my hard earned money to make a case and be heard. I want to do something. I don’t want to sit down and get slapped around. It’s not my style. I want to sue.

Thanks for reading this. Please, if can you can think of anyone that can help, let me know. I WILL get you some of my artwork!

Scott