Sexual harassment at Ohio State

We are discovering in this day and age that the spoken and written word do not have to mean what they clearly imply and that the perceived context and interpretation of words is far more important than the context of the actual words spoken, or the very basic intent of the words to begin with.

In a post Friday I referred to the EU and its decision to promote a "lexicon" from which EU member states and officials should speak from. By forming the boxed language that can be uttered by these officials, the context of debate can be altered and diffused--in tolerant and typical surrender. Some words or phrases to be altered in meaning or eliminated entirely are jihad and Islamic terrorist. (By the way, make sure to read Jeff Goldstein's commentary on the EU over at Protein Wisdom.)

Along a similar bent in the US, we discover that at Ohio State University, sexual harassment does not have to mean sexual harassment, but could in fact describe something much less direct and well, not sexual harassment at all. Not letting the facts get in the way, however, the university is going forward with an investigation of a university librarian for his recommendation of four conservative books that apparently give some faculty member the heebie jeebies.

From the Alliance Defense Fund via Dhimmi Watch.

Scott Savage, who serves as a reference librarian for the university, suggested four best-selling conservative books for freshman reading in his role as a member of OSU Mansfield's First Year Reading Experience Committee. The four books he suggested were The Marketing of Evil by David Kupelian, The Professors by David Horowitz, Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis by Bat Ye'or, and It Takes a Family by Senator Rick Santorum. Savage made the recommendations after other committee members had suggested a series of books with a left-wing perspective, by authors such as Jimmy Carter and Maria Shriver.

Savage was put under "investigation" by OSU's Office of Human Resources after three professors filed a complaint of discrimination and harassment against him, saying that the book suggestions made them feel "unsafe." The complaint came after the OSU Mansfield faculty voted without dissent to file charges against Savage. The faculty later voted to allow the individual professors to file charges.

Academia is so insecure in its beliefs that it cannot bear the advancement of a opposing viewpoints. For anyone so wrapped in insecurity, shouldn't feeling unsafe be expected?