Mitchell Langbert, a business professor at Brooklyn College who looks like a cross between Ray Liotta and an angry fermented potato, writes that "If someone did not commit sexual assault in high school, then he is not a member of the male sex." The blog post was reposted in a private group for some 5,000 students and alumni. Some students were outraged. Corrinne Greene said her campus group, Young Progressives of America, wants Langbert fired. "To have someone in a position of power espousing sexual assault is not a joke. It's something that needs to be taken seriously," she said. Brooklyn College Provost Anne Lopes called the comments in the post abhorrent and counter to the values of the school community. "However, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects even speech that many experience as offensive, such as the faculty member's post," she said. Lopes added that officials will plan a forum to discuss the issue. I've reproduced his original post verbatim below, as failing to provide the full context would otherwise invite accusations of context-shifting or (as the case may be) of failing to understand that it is supposed to be "satire." Kavanaugh If someone did not commit sexual assault in high school, then he is not a member of the male sex. The Democrats have discovered that 15-year- olds play spin-the-bottle, and they have jumped on a series of supposed spin-the-bottle crimes during Kavanaugh's minority, which they characterize as rape, although no one complained or reported any crime for 40 years. The Democrats have become a party of tutu-wearing pansies, totalitarian sissies who lack virility, a sense of decency, or the masculine judgment that has characterized the greatest civilizations: classical Athens, republican Rome, 18th century Britain, and the 19th century United States. They use anonymity and defamation in their tireless search for coercive power. The Kavanaugh hearing is a travesty, and if the Republicans are going to allow the sissy party to use this travesty to stop conservatism, then it is time found a new political party. In the future, having committed sexual assault in high school ought to be a prerequisite for all appointments, judicial and political. Those who did not play spin-the-bottle when they were 15 should not be in public life. Given that Langbert appears to be confessing to sexual assault, why is he still in contact with students? I'm told by libertarian friends that colleges lack due process in such matters. Why not lack it now? Ah yes: satire. Since publishing the original article, he's fig-leaved it as a Swiftian allusion. There's something funny about the panicked public pants-zipping and shirt-tucking—all his blog posts are just like this, of course—especially when you style yourself as a no-nonsense libertarian business don. Just think, though: he had no inkling that writing this would make him look bad (Tip: sarcasm isn't satire: it's embittered sincerity and everyone will know) He had no idea what he was insinuating about himself! When you read of students being coddled by the academic environment, remember who has the power and authority there. I used Google Images to try and find a higher-resolution version of Langbert's blog portrait (above). It couldn't find one, but it knew what he was.<doc-sep>An associate professor of business at Brooklyn College is facing calls to resign after he issued a “satirical” essay in defending Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh that argued “sexual assault” is a rite of passage for young males. Mitchell Langbert wrote a Sept. 27 blog post calling Democrats the “party of tutu-wearing pansies, totalitarian sissies” who use have used “anonymity and defamation” in trying to bring down a conservative judge, who strongly denies all allegations of sexual misconduct. “If someone did not commit sexual assault in high school, then he is not a member of the male sex,” Mr. Langbert argued. “The Democrats have discovered that 15-year-olds play spin-the-bottle, and they have jumped on a series of supposed spin-the-bottle crimes during Kavanaugh’s minority, which they characterize as rape, although no one complained or reported any crime for 40 years.” The blog post has outraged students, prompting a protest to take place Thursday afternoon. Corrinne Greene said her campus group, Young Progressives of America, wants the professor fired. “To have someone in a position of power espousing sexual assault is not a joke,” Ms. Greene told CNN. “It’s something that needs to be taken seriously.” Brooklyn College Provost Anne Lopes said officials planned to meet to discuss the issue, but declined to elaborate, saying the school protects free speech. “[T]he First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects even speech that many experience as offensive, such as the faculty member’s post,” she told CNN. Mr. Langbert later revealed that the post was satire and apologized to anyone who was offended. “I was trying to be satirical, but I guess I’m no Jonathan Swift,” he said. “I appreciated that it may have been in bad taste and I have apologized for that and I will again. I’m sorry people got offended. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings or cause them to not feel respected. I honestly didn’t expect them to read it.” Mr. Langbert also updated his original post to clearly state that it was meant to parody, “in the tradition of Swift’s (1729) ‘Modest Proposal,’” though he continued to defend Judge Kavanaugh. “Given that it is unclear that Kavanaugh did a thing, the defamation that he has suffered at the hands of the media is a disgrace,” Mr. Langbert wrote in the update. “Intolerance of and defamation of anyone who does not toe the big government line are ongoing threats to freedom. The humiliation that Judge Kavanaugh has suffered is a disgrace. Perhaps more time should be spent on Horace and Swift, and less time on political indoctrination in college.” Mr. Langbert told CNN that the backlash for the post has resulted in threats of violence, which he turned over to authorities. Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters Copyright © 2021 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.<doc-sep>A professor at a college in New York is facing backlash over a blog post he wrote in response to last week's hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Mitchell Langbert, an associate professor of business at Brooklyn College, in New York, wrote on his own personal blog on Thursday about the hearing and accusations of sexual misconduct leveled against the nominee. "If someone did not commit sexual assault in high school, then he is not a member of the male sex," Langbert wrote. "The Democrats have discovered that 15-year-olds play spin-the-bottle, and they have jumped on a series of supposed spin-the-bottle crimes during Kavanaugh's minority, which they characterize as rape, although no one complained or reported any crime for 40 years." In testimony on Thursday, Christine Blasey Ford said she believed Kavanaugh was going to rape her in 1982 at a high school house party. Ford is one of the three women who have come forward and accused the Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault or misconduct. In his blog post, Langbert called the hearing a "travesty" and called the Democratic Party "the sissy party." "The Kavanaugh hearing is a travesty, and if the Republicans are going to allow the sissy party to use this travesty to stop conservatism, then it is time found [sic] a new political party," Langbert wrote. "In the future, having committed sexual assault in high school ought to be a prerequisite for all appointments, judicial and political. Those who did not play spin-the-bottle when they were 15 should not be in public life." Langbert's blog post has drawn criticism on the Brooklyn College campus. Corrine Greene, a senior at Brooklyn College and the leader of the school's chapter of the Young Progressives of America, told the New York Post that his statements were "genuinely dangerous." "They clearly advocate for participating in violent crimes, and generally in discrimination against women, who are already in serious danger, statistically, on college campuses and in broader society," Greene told the publication. In an interview with Newsweek, Langbert said he is in favor of Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court nominee, but his blog post was a satirical piece to Jonathan Swift's essay A Modest Proposal, in which Swift satirically writes about selling children for food. Since he posted the blog, the college professor said he has received threatening emails. "It was supposed to be satirical, and a lot of people didn't get it," Langbert told Newsweek. "I quote Jonathan Swift at the top of my blog post. It wasn't meant to be taken literally." Brooklyn College posted a statement from Anne Lopes, the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs on the college's Facebook page. Lopes wrote that while she found the post to be offensive, she noted the First Amendment "protects even speech that many experience as offensive, such as the faculty member's post." "I view the post as offensive, obviously abhorrent, and contravening the fundamental values and practices of our community. However, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects even speech that many experience as offensive, such as the faculty member's post," Lopes wrote. "I understand that in response to the speech students have organized a protest that will take place on the East Quad on Thursday during common hours." Lopes said a webpage has been created for students and faculty to comment on the blog post. She also said a forum will be planned over the next week so the college can discuss and reflect on the matter. This story has been updated to include comments from Mitchell Langbert.<doc-sep>
Mitchell Langbert is an associate professor of business at Brooklyn College in New York. (CNN) — Brooklyn College students are calling for administrators to fire a professor who seemed to dismiss sexual assault by teenage boys in a blog post the teacher now says was an attempt at satire. Last week, Mitchell Langbert, a business professor for 20 years, wrote: “If someone did not commit sexual assault in high school, then he is not a member of the male sex. “The Democrats have discovered that 15-year-olds play spin-the-bottle, and they have jumped on a series of supposed spin-the-bottle crimes during (Supreme Court nominee Brett) Kavanaugh’s minority, which they characterize as rape, although no one complained or reported any crime for 40 years.” The blog post was reposted in a private group for some 5,000 students and alumni. Some students were outraged. Corrinne Greene said her campus group, Young Progressives of America, wants Langbert fired. “To have someone in a position of power espousing sexual assault is not a joke. It’s something that needs to be taken seriously,” she said. Students held a protest on campus Thursday afternoon. Many held up signs. One read: “Sexual assault doesn’t make you a man.” Student Dailee Morrone, who posted a short video of the event to Instagram, said the blog was “awful.” Langbert, a 64-year-old associate professor who teaches on weekends, said Wednesday the post was parody, and he apologized to anyone who was offended. “I was trying to be satirical, but I guess I’m no Jonathan Swift,” he said, referring to the Irish author from the 1700s. “I appreciated that it may have been in bad taste and I have apologized for that and I will again. I’m sorry people got offended. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings or cause them to not feel respected. I honestly didn’t expect them to read it.” He said he has turned over threats of violence toward him to authorities. Kavanaugh, a US appeals court judge, has been accused by Christine Blasey Ford of sexual assault while the two were high schoolers in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh has vehemently denied the allegations. Langbert wrote in his blog that the Senate committee hearing last week at which Ford and Kavanaugh testified was a travesty and that the Democratic Party has become “a party of tutu-wearing pansies, totalitarian sissies who lack virility, a sense of decency, or the masculine judgment that has characterized the greatest civilizations.” Brooklyn College Provost Anne Lopes called the comments in the post abhorrent and counter to the values of the school community. “However, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects even speech that many experience as offensive, such as the faculty member’s post,” she said. Lopes added that officials will plan a forum to discuss the issue. In his original post Langbert also wrote: “In the future, having committed sexual assault in high school ought to be a prerequisite for all appointments, judicial and political. Those who did not play spin-the-bottle when they were 15 should not be in public life.” He updated his post Wednesday to add his comments about satire and the treatment of Kavanaugh. “My piece was in a sense a protest to the constraints on speech and how it’s stacked against conservatives and used to banish conservatives from higher education,” the self-described libertarian said. Former Brooklyn College student Joan Martinez said she was disturbed by the post and saw Wednesday’s edit. “As someone who’s studied satire, it was simply inappropriate,” she said. “We live in an age now where public figures can still stay in power despite saying unsavory things.” Langbert said he has no immediate plans to quit his job.