ABSTRACT
The bewildering world of what constitutes sexual harassment, what it means to be a “real” feminist, and how academic tradition and institutional image come together in the lives of individuals are presented in a manner that stirs emotions and thought on all levels. Lurking in the margins throughout is the relationship between sexuality and power, and whether the conjunction between the two is as important as it seems to have become, at least in the academic mind. A faculty member at a prestigious university is forced to resign his position because of developments surrounding allegations of sexual impropriety of which he was unaware and, when informed, strongly denied having committed. Reading The First Stone will alert one to the reality that sexual harassment is unlike any other accusation in the academic environment. The others have to do with the notions of power, institutions, and group prestige, especially the role of feminism on university campuses.
