Abstract
In the televised United States Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Judge Clarence Thomas as a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, law professor Anita Hill claimed that she had suffered sexual harassment from Judge Thomas 10 years earlier. Right after the hearing, students in two undergraduate classes at a Southern university were asked who they believed the most, Professor Hill or Judge Thomas. Although about 25% of the population of the United States reported believing Professor Hill, her support in these two classes was almost nonexistent. Only one student in each class believed Professor Hill. The results are consistent with the expectation that Southern university students, both male and female, would be less likely than the national average to believe her sexual harassment charges. However, the strength of the findings was surprising.
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I thank numerous people for discussions related to this study: Carl A. Bartling, Linda Brannon, Bob Eisenman, Henry B. Sirgo, Jerry Whiteman, David Eisenman, Georgia Eisenman, and Susan Eisenman. The usual caveats about responsibility apply.
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Eisenman, R. Professor Anita Hill versus Judge Clarence Thomas: The view of students at a Southern university. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 31, 179–180 (1993). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03337317
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03337317