12/10/2023 0 Comments Kavanaugh skull and bones![]() ![]() That's how I got started," said Ritchlin, a Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology. The first step: become part of a community of researchers (This is part of a series identifying faculty leaders who have assembled teams to pursue large research awards or other projects, and explaining their approach and motivation in building a team.)Īfter Christopher Ritchlin arrived at the University in 1991, eager to investigate a challenging disease called psoriatic arthritis (PsA), he would travel to conferences where he was the only rheumatologist in a room full of dermatologists. Ritchlin collaborated with more than a dozen experts from around the world on the first set of treatment recommendations for psoriatic arthritis. America is gripped this week by the Supreme Court hearing for Brett Kavanaugh, a salacious episode of reality TV involving sex, power, and privilege.Professor Christopher Ritchlin, in blue sweater vest, is shown with members of his laboratory and clinical coordinator team. Even as more accusers come forward– two three five as of this writing–tomorrow’s testimony is set up to be a battle of the he-said-she-said–but there is a third element to this story we can’t ignore: the power of privilege.Ĭhristine Blasey Ford will testify that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a party when the pair were in high school in 1982. Watch any crime show and you will see the weight we put on the world of the perpetrator to mold their criminal ways. Shoot up a school? Let’s see what video games you played. Black criminal? a product of the streets. ![]() It’s not unusual–and in fact is too often standard to replace evidence with character and culture when adjudicating criminals. ![]() ![]() The prep school of Kavanaugh’s narrative is a virginal version of academic heaven surely no harm can happen there? The violence of power and control that is shaped by a competitive environment where privilege protects bad behavior could not possibly have any bearing on a man 30 years after, right? That is until it comes to those prep school boys and their boys-will-be-boys antics. The world of frat boys gone bad is a familiar trope in American culture. Movies like Skull and Bones, Animal House, and Private School (released in 1983 during Kavanaugh’s school days) and TV shows feature a world where boyish behavior crimes are common but consequences and parents are absent. Hidden behind the Ivies, violence becomes tradition and assault becomes kidding around. This rapey frat boy thing is not mere fiction: a long litany of actual news events feature young men who used their power and privilege to get out of the consequences of sexual assault, their lives deemed more important to not disrupt than that of victims, forever disrupted by a justice system that refuses to let their wounds heal. We are surrounded with a long tradition of tales that stage whisper to us that sexual assault is a normal, if not a traditional part of private school that frat boys believe are part of their rites of passage into toxic masculinity–also know as the old boy’s network. Neither the overreliance on environmental factors–like t he Marilyn Manson theory of school shooters–nor the erasure of anything from the past as some would like to see in Kavanaugh’s hearing provides for the complex factors that make any person who they are. When we examine someone’s integrity, the past is a part of who they are. When we are validating accusations, circumstances matter. Brett Kavanaugh’s environment in addition to Ford’s testimony should factor into verifying–or denying–her claim. We should hear from others who were there and who say they are familiar with the incident. Hmm, we need some way to gather all this information. Wish we had an FBI–oh we do! A full investigation will make sure that all voices are heard and we have a tapestry of voices, not just two. ![]()
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