What Are We to Make of the Case of Scholar Avital Ronell?

By many accounts, the New York University professor Avital Ronell—a German and comparative literature scholar and a superstar in her corner of academia— is a brilliant woman and a sought-after advisor. Former students who have taken her classes describe her as “original” and “inspiring.” Ronell, who is in her 60s and has taught at NYU for more than two decades, inspires a kind of admiration that s

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“there was a clear power imbalance. I don’t think it’s “PC” to say that it never should have happened.”

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Avital Ronell, NYU professor