Laura Kipnis, a Northwestern University professor who was accused of violating a federal discrimination law over an article she wrote, has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
Kipnis’ February article detailed how colleges and universities — and Northwestern, specifically — have been mishandling allegations of sexual assault. But she wasn’t upset for the accusers, she was unhappy over the way “paranoia” about sexual assault has led to a complete disregard for due process and common sense.
Following her article, Kipnis was accused by at least two students of “retaliation,” claiming her article had created a “chilling effect” on campus and discouraged accusers from coming forward.
So Kipnis wrote a follow-up article about the process she now found herself in, revealing that one allegation against her regarded a tweet she sent after her first article was published.
“Please pause to note that a Title IX charge can now be brought against a professor over a tweet,” Kipnis wrote. “Also that my tweets were apparently being monitored.”
But now the process that Kipnis wrote against has cleared her of any wrongdoing. Kipnis told the Chronicle of Higher Education, which published both her essays, that the attorneys hired to investigate the students’ claims against her found that the “preponderance of evidence does not support the complaint allegations.”
Kipnis’ accusers have 10 days to file their appeals.
