A reader who is currently commencing an assistant professorship in political science has this to say about the John Bonnell case:

The ongoing fight of John Bonnell is very frightening to me. I am a newly hired tenure-track poli sci professor; for the first time in my teaching career I am extremely, even hyper-aware of everything I say and do inside and outside the classroom. I have not heard any such horror stories at my school (either recounted with fear from faculty or glee from administration) but that does not mean that these cases don't exist on a less inflamatory level.

This case reminds me of several child-molestation cases that occurred in the mid- to late-1980s. The McMartin preschool case in LA, the case against the church pastor in Washington state, and other cases in Florida (through which Janet Reno made her name as a prosecutor). Parents became convinced that their children were attending heretofore unknown Satanic sex cults masquerading as day care centers. "Innocent until proven guilty" went out the window if somebody could convince a small child to tell a story that the adults wanted to hear. All of these extremely sensational, highly emotionally charged cases proved to be without merit.

In many ways the politically correct indoctrination our students receive from the time they are in high school and earlier primes them to make these types of accusations even if unfounded; as you've discussed many times, they feel that they have a right to go through life without ever being offended, without ever having to justify or defend a position, or without ever having their beliefs challenged. They find some class material uncomfortable and immediately decide that it violates their right to a warm, fuzzy, nonconfrontational life. In addition, having learned how to work the system, students can use such accusations against a professor as a form of revenge when the student feels s/he didn't receive the "proper" grade for a given class.

To those students in their cocoons and the adults who encourage such behavior, I ask "what color is the sky in your world?" I just hope that, like the child molestation cases, as cases like John Bonnell's are proven to be empty, administrators shown to be vindictive, self-interested witch hunters, and the media spotlight shines more brightly on such extreme miscarriages of justice and authority, the system will repair itself. But it may be that the sky in my world is a different color (how do you color overly optimistic?)

I'm glad you and others are persisting in your publicizing of such cases. The more people that know about these issues, the better. And to those who are so quick to judge with only one side of the story, remember the line about living in glass houses. In the current climate, anybody can become the accused.