Department Chair Professor Jen Lawless spoke to the Christian Science Monitor for an article, out yesterday, on recent sexual harassment allegations against New York governor Andrew Cuomo and the Democratic Party's struggle to enforce clear standards of behavior in its ranks. Professor Lawless commented on the challenge that the #MeToo movement faces in maintaining public attention on sexual harassment and keeping pressure on prominent offenders. “With Donald Trump out of the limelight, by definition, the entire movement stepped back a bit.... We’ve seen so many egregious examples of sexual harassment and sexual assault and just hostile working conditions for women that – and this is a terrible way to put it – the novelty has worn off,” Professor Lawless says. “In some ways, people have become almost inoculated against these kinds of charges.”

Read the full article here.