A Northwestern University professor of journalism was caught up in the fervor of #MeToo allegations in March 2018. At the time, he chose to resign rather than fight, knowing there was nothing he could do during a movement that rewarded vague and unverified allegations over denials and evidence.
“I understood there was nothing I could do about what was happening,” Klein wrote in a book he has published about his ordeal, as reported by the New York Post.
The book, “Aftermath: When It Felt Like Life Was Over,” is now available. In it, Klein details the allegations against him, the evidence that contradicts the claims (that was ignored by the media), and what it was like to experience the false allegations.
As the Post reported, students and staff members at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism accused him of sexual misconduct. Some of those who accused him had years earlier written “stellar evaluations” of their time as his students.
Some of the allegations included:
Klein attempted to kiss a prospective employee, prior to hiring her. On the same occasion, he asked if she smoked marijuana and asked to smoke with her and ordered her several cocktails.
He asked a female employee to come to his hotel room “for drinks” on a business trip.
He gave unwanted neck massages while a female employee was trying to work.
He made sexually graphic remarks at work.
He frequently commented on employees’ physical attractiveness, appearances, attire and bodies.
He sent texts “intended for his wife” to a female student.
He asked an employee if she was a stripper.
A second letter of allegations followed the first. One of the allegations was from a former employee who worked at the Medill Justice Project in 2015. She claimed Klein made sexual advances toward her when she applied for the job and when she was employed, but the school couldn’t substantiate her allegations when she made them years ago.
Further, the woman, according to Klein, made inconsistent statements during her allegations, so he was surprised that the “university did not even lift a finger when it should be defending him even after deciding that those allegations were false three years ago.”
Klein’s work at Northwestern focused on the wrongly accused, so it was surreal for him to become one of the very people he usually wrote about, the Post reported.
“Cancel culture is a phrase but what happens to the real people who are canceled?” Klein asked The Post. “Even very high-profile individuals have for the most part just up and disappeared. It’s dangerous. Anyone can get canceled over anything. It’s the weaponization of the Internet and it’s scary.”
Klein took part in Northwestern’s investigation against him regarding the allegations from 2018, but it is unclear how that investigation turned out. The university hasn’t confirmed that Klein was found in violation of school policy, though several of his accusers claim just that.