Professor Found Responsible for Sexual Harassment Will Teach a Course This Fall

Avital Ronell was suspended without pay last August following an 11-month investigation.

Avital Ronell, a professor of German and Comparative Literature in the College of Arts and Sciences, who was found responsible for sexually harassing a former graduate student will return to teaching this fall.

An internal Title IX investigation, first reported by the New York Times, found Ronell responsible for physical and verbal harassment of graduate student Nimrod Reitman but later cleared her of other charges including sexual assault and stalking.

The graduate course, titled Unsettled Scores will be taught in conjunction with the German, English and Comparative Literature Departments, according to the course description available on Albert.

A screenshot of Albert’s public course search

Andrea Long Chu, a doctoral candidate in NYU’s Department of Comparative Literature, posted a photo of a flyer advertising Ronell’s course on Twitter with the caption, “oh WOW.”

The course description on the flyer reads in part, “To what extent do boundaries protect or limit the possibility of experience? How have we secretly internalized penitentiary structures?”

When asked whether NYU intended to inform enrolled students of Ronell’s past actions, university spokesperson John Beckman told Local, “it is not the University’s practice to discuss personnel issues concerning individual employees, or any specific arrangements that may be set in their workplace.”

Update: April 19, 2019

This article has been updated to include comments from University spokesperson John Beckman.