I'm a little at a loss myself. It's obviously one of those ideological cat fights that occur on campuses every day, but this one seems to have spilled into the 'secular' sphere. I'm unclear as to what the professor's politics are. The student spoke of the 'inappropriateness' of challenging patriarchal authority?! Have things changed that much? I must be out of touch.

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Venkatesan said the incident occurred when she was lecturing about “The Death of Nature,” a book by Carolyne Merchant, and the witch trials of the Renaissance. The student went on a “diatribe” about the inappropriate nature of challenging patriarchal authority, Venkatesan said. Vakatesan respected the student’s right to express this opinion, she said, but the manner in which he vocalized his views and the applause afterward were disrespectful and offensive.

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