In interview, famous testifier discusses equality
Anita Hill’s riveting testimony on Capitol Hill 20 years ago almost derailed the Supreme Court nomination of Clarence Thomas and forced much of society to revisit how it treats sexual harassment and gender equality.
On the anniversary of that testimony, Hill will deliver a lecture on campus Thursday afternoon and will also attend an “I Believe in Anita Hill” party, held in Columbia each year to commemorate the testimony. The public lecture begins at 4 p.m. in the Law School Auditorium. There will be no classes Thursday, as students are on fall break, but USC officials say the speech coincides with the anniversary and was planned around Hill’s other obligations.
Hill, now a professor and administrator at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, participated in a wide-ranging interview with The Daily Gamecock that has been condensed and edited here.
Having no regrets:
“Looking back, what I went through was painful. It was unfair. It was a whole lot of things that I shouldn’t have had to go through and that no one else should ever have to go through, but I had information relevant to the nomination of a lifetime appointment to the highest court. Given that I had that pertinent information and I was subpoenaed, I have no regrets. There will always be naysayers, but that doesn’t change what I do or who I am.”
Changes in the past 20 years:
“People no longer assume there is nothing wrong with sexual harassment. We’ve seen a lot of change. We’ve seen legislative change in the turn of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 that allowed for women to get full redress for gender discrimination that had not been available to them beforehand. More women have certainly come forward with sexual harassment complaints, and more employers have instituted policies. Representation of women in the House and Senate has increased. Clearly, clearly there have been positive changes.”
Defining herself by more than the hearings:
“The testimony is not what my colleagues remember me for and what my students remember me for. I was a tenured law professor before the hearing, and I’m still really the same person I was before. I’m sure the world will always have their own impressions of an individual, but that was just an event in my life. That’s not who I am.”
Challenges women still face:
“There are day-to-day issues that have to see change if we’re going to have workplace equality; there continues to be problems. Women still face lower pay, sexual harassment, being shut out from plum assignments and plum projects and work environments that aren’t family-friendly. We tend to make policy that says if we get people in the door, that’s equality. We need to think about ways we have failed to get to that goal because we tend to say we only have to get people in the door.”