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NYU Fellow Nir Rosen Resigns After Making Light of CBS Reporter's Egypt Ordeal

The uprising and protests that have consumed Egypt and the world have grown increasingly chaotic in the past couple weeks. Not only were the people of Egypt in harm's way, but many reporters from America were also harmed during the protests. Even though it seems that the protests are dying down, the fallout from reporters being harmed has not.

reports that Nir Rosen, a fellow at New York University's Center for Law and Security, resigned from his position today. He resigned after being blasted for what some have called inexcusable comments regarding the sexual assault of CBS News correspondent Lara Logan in Egypt last week. Rosen was ranting about the whole incident on Twitter, but after angry replies, he deleted his comments. was able to find screen captures of what Rosen said via Twitter, including that he "ran out of sympathy" for her and also stated we have to "find the humor in small things."

The condemnation of Rosen reflects a lot of negative attitudes toward sexual assault and rape. People often try to blame the victim in these situations by saying they deserved it or that they should not dress a certain way. reports that University of Connecticut President Michael Hogan also made light of an allegation of sexual assault at the campus in 2008.

"It just makes me feel sick to hear this," Hogan said. "We do so many things to discourage people from going to these parties and we offer so many other events."

So, essentially, Hogan blamed the victim for her sexual assault for going to the party, which is often a common thing to do in college. These statements by Hogan infuriated many of the students at the campus because they felt something more should have been done and he should have condemned the attack.

Instead of Hogan coming out and saying he wanted more education to go toward how to stay safe on campus, he says that the victim took on the risk by going to the party. This is highly infuriating for many college students because you should be allowed to go to a party and stay safe; it does not mean you want to be sexually assaulted. There was a lot of backlash from students and parents alike because this was a sexist remark and it showed he had little interest in what could possibly be going on at parties.

Based on the outcry students and parents had when Hogan made light of sexual assault claims, Rosen should expect many angry e-mails and letters. I do not think he can weather the storm of public outcry completely because this is a huge issue in America and around the world. Rosen was just plain wrong to express how he felt via Twitter because it was invective and just plain ignorant.

The police are called in during alleged sexual assaults for a reason: to determine whether or not the incident occurred and to judge according to the evidence. We do not need people like Hogan or Rosen coming out to publicly bash a victim of a crime as serious as rape or sexual assault. Blaming the victim is a common occurrence in our country, and is one reason why people refuse to come forward when it happens. This is only going to infuriate those people who have really been sexually assaulted or raped; Hogan will probably hear about it for a long time.

As a reporter or public figure, you need to keep your mouth shut about your personal feelings and let the incident go through the legal process. Rosen's best bet right now is to just go away for a while and come out and admit he was wrong and that he is sorry. Although an apology will not make this go away, it can make people more likely to forgive him and move on.

Eyeblast TV Staff, "", Big Government

Jim Geraghty, "", National Review

Ashley, "", Safer Campus