Speaking Truth to Power - Anita Hill [162]
More important, the writer clearly failed to understand the difficulties encountered by all young women professors and particularly women of color in the classroom. More than one of my female colleagues have remarked that the male students are so uncomfortable with the idea of a woman in control of their academic destiny that they rebel and resist treating them with the deference and respect they accord male faculty. My experience at both Oral Roberts and Oklahoma universities bears this out.
Some of my classmates have been more than insensitive to my situation; some have been hostile. One in particular, a man with whom I was close in law school and since, has not returned several telephone calls made since the hearing. The insensitivity represents a slight of little significance. I would not have noticed it except that the writer mentioned in the essay that he, too, was a graduate of Yale. The hostility is hurtful. I have always worked to maintain relationships with friends and family and even acquaintances. Losing one without the benefit of explanation cuts me to the very heart of who I am. This lost friendship is one of only a few which I have suffered because of the hearing. But for me a few is too many.
On college campuses around the country, in Canada, France, Italy, and Japan, I have spoken about the problem of sexual harassment to receptive audiences. On each campus I visit, I am told of a problem of the recent past or the present with sexual harassment in that academic institution. Oklahoma State University recognized me with its distinguished alumna award in 1992. Present at the ceremony were faculty members who had taught me there years prior. But as if to prove that universities are places of diverse opinions and perspectives, someone always questions why I have been invited to campus to speak and questions the amount I am being paid. Unfortunately, these questions, rather than the issues surrounding harassment, get much of the attention of the campus and local press. Campus authorities and I mutually agreed to cancel a presentation at Old Dominion University in Virginia because some protested the fee payment at a time that tuition was being raised. Even though the payment for the speech was not coming out of tuition and I suspect that the objection was as much over the anticipated content of my speech, I agreed to the cancellation. (I was happy to learn that Susan Faludi spoke on the campus the following year and was well received.) One questioner on a college campus asked the question bluntly: “What qualifies you to earn nearly $30,000 from a two-hour appearance?”
My only response is that the combination of my experience, background, and preparation qualifies me to speak about the subject. But whether I am paid or unpaid there will be those who object to what I have to say. Despite the questions raised on college campuses, as long as diverse perspectives are valued I feel more comfortable in the academic community than any other. When valid academic perspectives are stifled for political reasons, existing in the academic community can be a nearly unbearable experience. I have learned painfully that when the academic community fails to protect the rights of faculty to state unpopular perspective, the entire community is at risk.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
In the spring of 1995, on one of about ten days in the season of clear fresh air perfect for walking, I rounded the corner to Shirley’s modern brick home as I’d done many times. This time I was startled, or at least taken aback. The source of my