George Will defended his highly controversial column about sexual assault in an interview with C-Span on Friday.
The conservative commentator sparked major controversy when he recently claimed that being a rape victim is now a "coveted status" on college campuses. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch subsequently dropped Will's syndicated column, and the Chicago Tribune revealed that they had passed on the piece.
In the interview, Will refused to take back any of his comments. Instead, he repeated the thrust of his initial message, worrying about the damage that sexual assault allegations would have on college men:
"A lot of young men and young women in this sea of hormones and alcohol...you're going to have charges of sexual assault. You're going to have young men disciplined, their lives often permanently and seriously blighted by this, don't get into medical school, don't get into law school, all the rest, and you're going to have litigation of tremendous expense."
He also said that, in his view, the definition of sexual assault has become dangerously broad.
"Remarks become sexual assault," he said. "Improper touching: bad, shouldn't be done, but it's not sexual assault."
He also responded to the senators who objected to his column last week, saying, "I take sexual assault more seriously than they do."