As was the case for most of her days as a young professor, Margaret Susan Thompson was busy at work at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs history department. When the dean walked into the office, he saw Thompson and patted her head before continuing with his business.

After mentioning the incident to some of her male colleagues, they laughed about the degrading pat. Looking back, Thompson sees humor in the incident, but she still knows:

“He wouldn’t do this to a male,” she said.

Thompson has seen the campus evolve since arriving at Syracuse University in 1981. She’s taught in the history, political science, religion, women’s and gender studies and honors departments. While she’s seen many faces come and go, she’s still advocating for change.

Earlier this semester, Thompson spoke out against a fellow SU faculty member who claims the recent faculty-student relationship ban restricts women’s freedoms. Thompson pointed out the professor’s lack of acknowledgment of the one-sided power dynamic involved with these relationships and use of outdated sources.

Now, Thompson is speaking on the current women’s movement, her experiences with sexism in academia and the advice she has for survivors of assault, as she too is a survivor of sexual abuse.

“Whether it’s verbal or whether it’s physical or it’s both, it’s traumatic,” Thompson said.

Thompson’s office walls are riddled with books and novelty items like nun figurines. Diana Riojas | Feature Editor

Mark Rupert, a professor of political science, has known Thompson since he first arrived at SU in 1987. He said he has seen her unapologetic persistence firsthand in University Senate meetings and in her work on the role of women in the church.

Thompson, a Catholic, has been an outspoken critic of the role of women in the Catholic Church and has critiqued the Vatican in its stances toward women taking on leadership roles. She was once arrested in St. Peter’s Square while protesting the treatment of women in the church.

“If you (were) going to be a woman having this kind of career, you kind of suck it up,” Thompson said.

Since her time at SU, Thompson has inspired a former student who teaches at the university today.

Aileen Gallagher, now an associate professor in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, was a student in Thompson’s modern presidency class. At the time, Gallagher hadn’t had many female history teachers, and she admired Thompson for her combative teaching discussion and vast knowledge.

“Peggy Thompson was the smartest woman I ever met,” Gallagher said. “She was a huge intellectual influence on me as a woman because a) she was so brilliant, and b) she could stand up to anyone.”

In talking with both colleagues at SU and grad school, Thompson said it’s unusual to find a female professor who has not had similar experiences in their professional or personal lives.

Thompson’s abuser was her ex-husband. He was a Rhodes Scholar and a graduate of Yale undergrad and Yale Law School. For Thompson, the sexual abuse was only part of her past experiences. She was also emotionally abused for far longer, which she said can be just as bad.

Despite her ex-husband’s academic track record, Thompson said that’s still not an excuse to overlook someone like him as an abuser.

“My ex-husband was very similar in a lot of ways to Brett Kavanaugh,” Thompson said. “I think it’s important to acknowledge that ‘I’m this accomplished person’ is not an excuse.”

Last year was the first time in 40 years that Thompson had publicly acknowledged her experience. She recognizes acknowledgment as an incredibly difficult task, especially during the years that she was a student and young professor.

Thompson’s advice to students is to find allies and notes there are some at SU.  Diana Riojas | Feature Editor

Along with this experience, Thompson said when she studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for graduate school, a male professor shut his office door, put his arms around her when she was meeting with him for advice. She also had negative experiences with her senior male colleagues at SU and formerly at Knox College, where she taught.

Thompson said she sees sexual harassment and assault as two of the most important areas of focus for the feminist movement to address. She hopes conversations around it will lead to a bigger conversation about the issues of sex discrimination and misogyny.

To achieve this, she believes feminists across generations must unite.

Older generations of feminists have a responsibility to listen to the priorities of younger feminists, she said. She does this by welcoming conservations around the topic and is always open to learning from students and offering advice. She said her main advice to survivors and young feminists looking to push the movement is to find allies.

“You have allies on the faculty; you have allies on the staff. Know who those people are,” Thompson said. “And if your first experience in speaking is not as constructive, it doesn’t produce results as you’d like, then do it again and find someone else. Be persistent.”

Published on October 29, 2019 at 8:24 pm

Contact Alex: ajrouhan@syr.edu