My speculations in no particular order:
- Getting bad news out of the way for 2018 and in particular for 2020
- Grudge between NY Times executive or editor and HW
- HW not centrist enough or not leftist enough in Dem circles, so must be removed
- Per unsourced comment in another blog, a power struggle within the HW company
- Feminist purity: how can NYT rail against strengthened rights for the accused in colleges without cleaning house
- Intellectual honesty: this is a story regardless who it is about