Academic Suicide?
In academia, taking an unpopular position is dangerous, especially if one does it without evidence to support his argument. This is the case for a Harvard professor who alleges in an article that Korean teenagers and young women used for sex by Japanese soldiers during World War II were prostitutes. J. Mark Ramseyer has created an international incident with his piece and put himself on a downslope of reputation. Fellow academics charge that he did not look at extensive evidence that would contradict his position nor did he cite facts that would uphold his point of view. Why would a professor do that? It is unclear but his beliefs must be deeply held to put himself in such a position of PR poison. An open question is what Harvard will do about him, if anything. Censure might be too lenient. But, at the present time, he is an embarrassment for the university.
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