A lesbian philosophy professor who harrased her gay male student

An 11-month Title IX investigation found Professor Ronell, described by a colleague as “one of the very few philosopher-stars of this world,” responsible for sexual harassment, both physical and verbal, to the extent that her behavior was “sufficiently pervasive to alter the terms and conditions of Mr. Reitman’s learning environment.” The university has suspended Professor Ronell for the coming academic year.

Mr. Reitman, who is now 34 and is a visiting fellow at Harvard, says that Professor Ronell kissed and touched him repeatedly, slept in his bed with him, required him to lie in her bed, held his hand, texted, emailed and called him constantly, and refused to work with him if he did not reciprocate. Mr. Reitman is gay and is now married to a man; Professor Ronell is a lesbian.

A bizarre case indeed.

One of the reasons I (and presumably everyone else ?) think philosophy should be studied is to give a more objective self-perspective and help prevent precisely these kinds of behaviours. More than knowledge and conclusions, philosophy examines the methods. So you might naively think (at least I do) that this should be readily applicable in broader contexts than its focus area. Yet apparently this isn't the case. I've never heard of Ronnell before, but Feynman is the classic example : an eloquent master of examining the scientific method, yet pretty horrendous in his not-so-private life. Why should this be ? Do such people simply use their rationality to justify - rather than analysing - their own behaviour ? How is it that someone can understand the methodology so well yet be so abysmal in its implementation ?

https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/33789434
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/nyregion/sexual-harassment-nyu-female-professor.html