Some University of Rochester students want an economics professor censured for comments he made about rape in a blog post after the conviction of two high school football players in Steubenville, Ohio.
In the blog, Professor Steven Landsburg asked whether the law ought to discourage acts of rape in which the person is unconscious and suffers no direct physical harm.
In Landsburg's personal blog, he wrote, "As long as I'm safely unconscious and therefore shielded from the costs of an assault, why shouldn't the rest of the world (or more specifically my attackers) be allowed to reap the benefits?"
Karina Garcia of the group WORD (Women Organized to Resist and Defend) says Landsburg should be held accountable for his actions.
Garcia says her group received responses from more than 1-thousand people in 24 hours who sent letters to the University of Rochester demanding that Landsburg be fired.
The University said in a statement "The University of Rochester is committed to the academic freedom of our faculty and students. Their views are their own; they do not speak for the University. In his blog, professor Landsburg poses some hypothetical questions about an unconscious rape victim. He asks whether such rapes should be illegal. The University’s answer is that rape is abhorrent. It is and should be a crime."
