On June 14th, Quillette published my lengthy investigation into the 2020 sex-ring social panic at McMaster, a large research university located in the Canadian province of Ontario. Because this was a news report, and not an essay, I generally omitted my own views regarding what these events could teach us about sexual-violence prevention-and-response policies at post-secondary educational institutions.

In this follow-up blog post, I set out my opinions on this issue—as based on the information I reported, as well as on certain facts that I wasn’t able to report with specificity, either for legal reasons or because doing so would have breached confidentiality assurances I provided to third parties.

McMaster’s Imaginary Sex Ring

In 2020, a Canadian university tore up its psychology department in search of a non-existent network of sexual predators. Documents obtained by Quillette reveal how administrators allowed it to happen.

QuilletteJonathan Kay

For those readers who haven’t read the original article, the following point-form chronological synopsis of events at McMaster will prove helpful: