Who is/was Alec Klein

Alec Klein, a professor at Northwestern University, resigned recently after 22 women accused him of inappropriate behavior, including sexual harassment and bullying. He denied the accusations, and after the first of them were publicized (in February of this year) he took a leave of absence but apparently with the expectation the coast would in time clear, the storm would blow over, and he could return to his post.

In August, though, he resigned, full stop.

Who was he? Why was he important enough for the case to attract national attention? That's the tack I often take when these matters come to light. There are lots of jerks -- even lots of criminals -- whose jerkiness and/or crimes never become big news stories. Sometimes when an event like this happens, some of us are left wondering: why does THIS one merit especially keen attention?

Org-chart stuff gives us a clue. The Medill School of Journalism is part of Northwestern U., and the Medill Justice Project is part of THAT -- and Alec Klein was the director of the Medill Justice Project. The MJP was originally known as the Medill Innocence Project. Its mission has been looking into the cases of convicts who may have been convicted wrongly, especially of murder, to make a determination, and if appropriate to seek to secure a release. MIP/MJP has so far brought about the release of 11 innocent men.

http://www.medilljusticeproject.org/2017/09/03/dna-tests-in-wisconsin-murder-raise-questions-amid-alleged-evidence-tampering/

My personal guess -- and I say this without any thought of mitigating the disdain with which one ought to view sexual harassment -- is that Klein is probably still on the plus side of the scales of karma, not the minus side.

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