Pauline Bart is an unabashed
advocate of feminist, liberal values and no stranger to controversy and
political conflict. There is no mistaking her passionate, single-minded
orientation: pro-women and against anything hurtful or discriminatory.
The 62-year-old sociologist,
who has taught for 21 years at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has done
pioneering research on how women can fight off rapists, women`s depression,
violence against women and acquaintance rape. She is a prolific writer and has
lectured throughout the country.
FOR THE RECORD - Additional
material published Sept. 26, 1992:
Corrections and clarifications.
A headline in the Sept. 24
Chicagoland sections incorrectly stated that the University of Illinois at
Chicago was “firing” professor Pauline Bart. The university has been
negotiating with Bart to buy out her contract. The professor, who is tenured in
the medical school, had planned to retire in 1995. The Tribune regrets the
error.
But last spring, in a class
called Gender and Society, Bart ran into a conflict between the sexes she did
not anticipate. The result apparently will cost Bart her job.
During her general remarks
about rape, Bart apparently disturbed a black social work major, Donald Dixon,
who perceived her remarks as discriminatory against men. He especially was
agitated during a class discussion after the rape trials of William Kennedy
Smith and Mike Tyson, a class at which Bart was not present.
Later, Dixon reportedly became
even more disturbed when fellow classmates told him Bart had characterized him
in racist and sexist terms outside of class, an allegation that Bart vehemently
denies.
Dixon did not respond to the
Tribune`s request for an interview. According to Bart, Dixon alleges that she
said he “fit the profile of a male black rapist.” Bart denies having made the
statement.
In March, Dixon complained
about Bart to the university`s Office of Affirmative Action. In June, Bart was
informed that the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences “does not wish to
continue the informal arrangement” under which Bart has taught courses in the
women`s studies program and sociology department.
That “informal arrangement” had
lasted, off and on, for 21 years. Bart, who is tenured in the psychiatry
department at the medical school, has taught her courses in a variety of
departments, including sociology, nursing and public health.
The two courses she was
scheduled to be teaching this semester were reassigned, and the university has
been negotiating with Bart`s attorney to sever her relationship with the
school.
“We had some evidence that some students in the class were treated less
equally than others or felt uncomfortable in the class,” said John Camper,
associate chancellor for public affairs.
Bart views her situation with
wry humor and anger. Taking her classes away on the basis of what remained an
“informal complaint” by a male student is evidence, she says, of women`s
essential powerlessness in a male-dominated institution.
“I speak out about things as I
see it and with a certain amount of feeling,” she said in her North Side
apartment. “I don`t pretend to be a dispassionate observer. When harm occurs, I
take a position against it. It`s backlash-that`s why they think they can get
away with it and why some of the men felt free to actually disrupt my class.”
Bart said she believes the
university has long been looking for a way to be rid of her because of her
outspoken views and style of teaching. Critics have accused her of bordering on
the “therapeutic,” Bart said, because she ministers to students who have been
victims of rape.
Bart said she surveyed the 90
students in the Gender and Society class at the beginning of the spring
semester, and a large number of the women had been raped or were the victims of
incest. She was determined, she said, to create an atmosphere that would make
these women feel safe and capable of talking about their feelings and
experiences.
The harsh tone taken by Dixon
and three other students threatened that atmosphere, Bart said, and many of the
women stopped coming to class or speaking up. She made it clear to the
dissatisfied, disruptive men that if they didn`t like the class, they shouldn`t
take it.
“What I
study - violence against women - is something people, including women, don`t
like to talk about,” she said. “It deals with the harm men do to women, and
it`s not symmetrical-there are not as many female rapists as male rapists. It
gets men where they live. They find this very threatening. I said I would not
let male speech silence women.”
Fellow feminist scholars, such
as Harvard Law School professor Catherine MacKinnon, have rallied to her side,
as have many students.
Jay Levine, dean of the College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences, refused to comment.
Patricia Gill, head of the
Office of Affirmative Action, said the university`s problems with Bart were
based on more than one event.
“There were definite instances
that were points of concern in racist and sexist issues,” Gill said. She also
said Bart indicated that she found the classes increasingly difficult to teach.
Dixon did not set out to see
Bart fired, Gill said. “He just wanted the discrimination to stop. He wanted to
be able to participate in a discussion as anyone else could participate.”
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