🚆⚖️ ONE ENCOUNTER ON A TRAIN HAS SPARKED A MUCH BIGGER DEBATE. An 18-year-old Yale student accused of groping a woman in front of her children has drawn renewed attention after comments about sexual harassment training resurfaced. The case is prompting fresh discussion about accountability and whether current approaches to prevention are effective.

A YALE student who allegedly groped a mother in front of her young children had slammed sexual harassment training.

Ari Shtein, 18, has been charged with sexual assault, aggravated sexual abuse, forcible touching and child endangerment.

He allegedly assaulted a mum from behind on a crowded train in Manhattan as her four kids, aged seven to 11, watched on.

Cops said the 30-year-old woman recoiled after the attack on June 28.

They said Shtein then told her: “My bad, didn’t know you were gonna react that way.”

The woman got off the train at the 28th Street station in Chelsea and immediately sought help, police said.

She was taken to hospital by emergency responders and Shtein allegedly fled the scene.

He surrendered himself to police days later, investigators said.

Shtein denies all the charges against him and was released on bail.

Police said the student had no previous arrests in New York.

The charges come years after Shtein railed against being “made to spend an hour and a half in a sex harassment training” during his first year at Yale.

In an article from 2025 Yale’s conservative student newspaper The Buckley Beacon, he questioned the point of the training.

Shtein claimed “almost nothing worthwhile is gained” from harassment training.

He asked: “What exactly was the point of participation in this program?”

“Was there anyone in that room who planned to go around harassing and assaulting their classmates without the understanding that it would be wrong to do so?”

Shtein claimed anti-harassment training sessions “make students angry”.

He raged: “Mandatory sexual misconduct trainings …[are] pretty good at convincing people that comments like ‘you look good in your jeans’ are always inappropriate harassment.”

After Shtein’s arrest, his biography was pulled from the student paper.

The publication confirmed he would not continue in his role as opinion editor.

Shtein is originally from Michigan and is spending the summer working at the Washington DC-based think tank Reason.

His lawyer Priya Chaudhry claimed the charges against him were “nonsense”.

She said: “Every strap-hanger has encountered unhinged people on the subway. Unfortunately, when Ari visited our city, it was his turn.

“Ari did not assault anyone. He was visiting bookstores with a friend when his life was turned upside down by a woman who falsely accused him of a vile crime.”

The lawyer added: “His reputation has been destroyed before a single piece of evidence has been made public.”

Shtein’s next court appearance is set for later this August.