Op-Ed: Poetry Magazine and Academia's Integrity Issue

By Gretchen Gales

My mother and grandmother always wanted me to pursue higher education beyond my current Master's degree. For a while, I planned on entering the world of higher education, hoping I would one day be called Dr. or at least Professor Gales. 

If I do, it probably won't be an MFA.

There are a myriad of reasons, most of them financial. Even with full funding and stipends, it is unlikely I would ever have a return on the investment or a job as a full-time professor with such oversaturation in the field. But it is mostly because I am greatly disturbed by the number of times “prestigious” institutions consistently enable bad behavior or keep things hushed to avoid any stains on their legacy. 

I’m looking at you, Poetry Magazine. 
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What Did Poetry Magazine Do?

A widely-known, respected, and home to many emerging and established poets, ​Poetry used to be on the publishing “someday” list for me. Then they published Kirk Nesset, a former professor at Allegheny College with an unspeakable public record of abusive, predatory behavior, in their February 2021 issue highlighting the voices of incarcerated poets. 

To put the situation into perspective, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Trabold reported during Nesset’s sentencing that it was “the most child pornography that [Trabold had seen] in 15 years as a federal prosecutor.” Nesset was also known to use his position of power to victimize his students at Allegheny College. 

Prompt backlash from many in the poetry community spurred the magazine to release a response on Twitter. As I expected and feared, it greatly ignored the bigger issues at hand:
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We recognise the life-shattering impact of violence and denounce harm….it is not our role to further judge or punish them as a result of their criminal convictions. The editorial principle for this issue was to widen access to publication for writers inside prison & to expand access to poetry, bearing in mind biases against & barriers for incarcerated people. As such, the guest editors didn’t have knowledge of contributors’ backgrounds.

​​​For a profession partially based on reading comprehension, I don’t buy their explanation. It is very clear what is wrong with what they have done and their response is nothing but willful ignorance. No, it is not their role to further judge or punish, but it is their role to choose the voices they uplift carefully. Many of us grew up being told actions have consequences, but getting older has shown me that those rules only apply to certain people. It is not enough to “recognize” harm, but to follow through with consequences. 
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Why Poetry's Decision to Include Nesset Perpetuates an Oppressive Reality for Many in Academia...and the World

To imply that a man who held significant power in the literary world and abused it to harm many of his students and countless minors is marginalized is absurd. Having power and then losing it as accountability for despicable acts will never be the same as someone born disadvantaged, being subjected to the school-to-prison pipeline, or wrongfully convicted. Nesset’s actions were far from a one-time “oopsie”, and even if it were, his victims did not choose to carry the burden of trauma he chose to inflict upon them. Poetry also willingly chose to publish someone who abused their influence and platform. 

To be any kind of marginalized person in this world means you already have to fight harder for what non marginalized people have by default. A 2015 study by the Association of American Universities found that among 27 notable research universities, 10% of female students at the graduate level or higher reported that they were harassed by faculty members. 

In a crowdsourced survey from The Professor is In, the general consensus points towards a systemic problem in academia that prioritizes those in power: 

"The sum total of these almost 2000 entries allows everyone to see that sexual predation is endemic to the power hierarchies of the academy….powerful older men are gatekeepers to vulnerable younger women, use their power for sexual predation, and are then protected by other senior men and women invested more in preserving the power structure than in defending victims."

It is clear that Poetry was more concerned with maintaining the status quo when publishing Nesset, who not only destroyed his own career, but left a path of destruction, trauma, and distrust among his victims. 

To lump him in an issue claiming to uplift the voices of incarcerated poets ignores the glaring issue of severe inequities between how BIPOC prisoners are treated versus someone with privilege. Uplifting incarcerated voices is a chance to showcase the writing of those who have never had a voice or had it silenced.
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Why Poetry Represents a Bigger Problem In Academia

Words are powerful. Any writer or academic knows that, as should places that claim to boast the very best of the literary world. Yet here I am, continually disappointed by the majority of them. And before anyone cries “censorship”, think of the way victims of enabled predators are continuously censored and silenced from speaking their truth in order to save someone or something’s reputation. 

I hope that one day things will truly change or that I will feel comfortable enough to take the chance to pursue an MFA or a similar opportunity without fear of being a target or giving my cash to losers. For now, I will continue to seek out mentors who don’t prioritize prestige over a moral compass and experiences that benefit my own growth as opposed to an institution.