Ruth M. Sprague

“ Diana Trenchant and her witnesses had arrived early. One of the witnesses asked Lorraine where the group might wait.
"There are two rooms I was told to open. This is the best one right opposite the hearing room," she offered, walking ahead of them into the room, proud as a general leading the troops to battle. "I'll give you guys the best one since you are here first and because of what you are doing."
As she turned to leave the room, she put her hand on Trenchant's shoulder. "Hey, good luck. You know, you are the only person that ever tried to help us custodians get a fair shake. ”

“ Dr. Lyle Stone, Chairman of the Nutrition, Embryology and Radiology Department, relished the power of his position as fervently as he detested the acronym, NERD, that had been irreparably attached to it. He passed a small pile of forms across his desk to Diana. "Obviously you wanted to cause harm to the two other instructors in the course," he replied smugly. His expression and demeanor suggested a small boy torturing a bug and extracting the utmost enjoyment out of it.
"Harm them?" Dr. Trenchant laughed scornfully and sat back in her chair scanning the evaluation forms. ”

“ Henry and Frank Anuse excused themselves after the meal and adjourned to the men's room to plan strategy. "We can't say too much to the women now with the other witnesses around but when we get back, you take Esther out somewhere and I'll handle Jane. Annette's no threat, we'll forget her. Anyhow, explain how all that bullshit about the chain of custody doesn't have any bearing at all. Everything rests on the document examiner's evidence. Nothing else counts. Got it?"
"No problem, Henry. I'll set her straight," Anuse said reassuringly. "Christ, Diana really stuck it to Lyle, didn't she?" ”

“ He would have written, 'I want her out of here because....' Instead, he wrote two pages filled with unsubstantiated hearsay and charges of insubordination and dishonesty based on Lyle's accusation and I want to answer them!"
"Nonsense, the charges are clear. You forged seven SmurFFs. The rest was only a chronology of the events."
"But the chronology is untrue and biased."
"No. Everything is based on the testimony of the handwriting witness, we just filter through the rest of the material." Anuse turned to the chair, a bored look on his face. "We waste time with this useless trivia." ”

“ Henry laughed delightedly as he stood up and assumed a lecturer's pose, unwittingly mimicking the profession he disparaged. As he warmed to his subject, he walked back and forth across the office, adding punctuation to his lecture with his body. Jonathan watched him intently.
"Then there are the most enjoyable ones. They're on the make for any man who is looking for an easy lay. They trade their ass for any glory that may fall their way through association. As workers, most aren't worth shit but they do as they're told. ”

“ All of her witnesses were waiting in a high state of excitement when Diana reached Howard Hall the next morning.
"Roz came in early," she was told. "She wanted to be sure we got this room again today."
Roz brushed aside the praise, "Hey teach, I've got some great news. The rest of the class is kicking in to make up for what we lose in wages by attending the hearing."
Diana was delighted. The fact that many of her witnesses were losing time at work to help her had caused a nagging pain of remorse. Already, most of them had lost a day's pay just sitting around waiting to testify yesterday. ”

“ The lawyer for the defense only knew what he had been told by Henry Tarbuck and Henry only knew what he had been told by Lyle.
Diana's attorney knew only what she had told him and it was obvious there was a lot that he hadn't remembered. How little the truth counted in these proceedings, Diana thought as she listened to the screw up. Neither of these men, who are being questioned and are the only ones allowed to speak, were at Belmont when these events were occurring. Most of the time they are way out in left field with their answers. ”

“ Continuing his mentation, Igor allowed as how, like the monastery, the university structure is maintained because it is supported throughout the governmental system of a state or country.
Now comes the turn of ethnicity as students of all races, religions and creeds are storming the ancient fortifications. Thus far, they have not even cracked the surface. What appears to be maneuvers that should embarrass a university administration only serve to entrench it even more. ”

“ I assumed that the exemplars that I was given were authentic exemplars or standards of your own writing."
"Just as you assumed that I wrote the questioned documents?"
Diana paused just long enough for that to sink in, then asked, "It has been pointed out that some of us see many dissimilarities in the exhibit you have shown us. Don't these carry any weight?"
"If, in my opinion, the similarities outweigh the dissimilarities, or vice-versa, that would be the basis for my opinion," Alice answered, then forcefully added, "my opinion is based on training, not assumptions." ”

“ The entire academic council have met and decided already on this course of action. If you do not resign on your own, you will be terminated."
"But not without a hearing certainly—according to the faculty handbook. Or are you suspending those rights along with my access to the ombudsman?" Grabbing up the copies of the forms, Diana left the room.
As the door closed behind her, Lyle reached for the phone and dialed with considerable agitation. "Henry, she won't resign. She's gone to see Jonathan and intends to make a public mess of it," he babbled hysterically. ”

“ As soon as she could gain recognition from the chair, Diana requested that the hearing be open. "The purpose of a closed hearing in personnel matters is to protect the employee. I waive that protection." To herself, she thought, I know from experience that I have much more protection in public opinion than I have as a member of the faculty of Belmont University. ”

“ When Diana named her source of information and held up the book of a prominent document examiner, his reply was, "That person must come from a different viewpoint that I do."
"It appears that what you refer to as graphologists, in your profession, are much more thorough in their analysis of handwriting and printing than you are. The author of this book makes a point of insisting on original, authenticated standards and doing several different types of measurements. The idea being that when they decide a document's author, it is based on several different tests. ”

“ Belmont University had always looked upon faculty misdeeds such as child molestation, sexual harassment or record falsification with a tolerant if not blind eye. Strange then that the entire administration mobilized to aim its big guns at Professor Diana Trenchant—or was it?
The inner workings of administrative jingoism are exposed as a popular teacher is given a termination hearing where the presiding officer is the accuser, the prosecutor and the judge, and the testimony in her defense is ignored. ”

“ We administrators use it as a tool to circumvent trouble. Nearly all institutions, battling the emergence of women and other minorities into the collegiate arena, use it to maintain the status quo and rightfully so, Henry decided. Academic freedom was used to shield the many ways we avoid compliance with both federal and state laws. If we opened ourself to public scrutiny, we'd never get anything done.
Universities are, were and should be a law unto themselves. They can tolerate only those who are willing to make sometimes painful compromises. ”

“ Now there was a new angle in the threatening phone calls to the plaintiff. The caller would start out in a friendly fashion. In a conversational tone, he would advise Diana to, "go down to the courthouse and examine the court records for the past ten years. Just check the directory for all the cases that Belmont has been involved in and read the outcome. The court clerk will help you." Then the voice would become threatening. "You will see that no one has ever won a case against Belmont. It owns the courts and it owns the lawyers. You'll lose all your money and you'll be hurt in other ways. ”

“ Randy had come to Belmont from a college in Ohio having sufficiently outstayed his welcome there. As is true in most college administrations, faculty sexual misconduct was considered mere professorial peccadillo and was studiously overlooked. If a woman student appeared to be on the verge of making a fuss, administrators had a remedy called 'The Grievance Procedure'. Administrative personnel talked to the woman and were able to subtly or directly lead her to understand that problems would arise in her matriculation if she persisted with charges of sexual harassment or rape. ”

“ Attempting to save the situation, Anuse asked if the courts accepted handwriting analysis to be as accurate as fingerprints.
Her answer dripped confidence. "Yes."
Janet sensed that the women on the panel were not about to let this polite exchange continue. The very forces at work over the eons that compelled women to defer to men, rewarded them for fearlessly attacking other women. The confident, assertive demeanor manifested by the analyst would not have been questioned coming from a man, but they would not let a woman get away with it. ”

“ Anuse promptly went into a damage control frenzy trying to destroy the point made that the exemplars were not authenticated. He would probably have succeeded had not the examiner been so haughty, so confident. At least three of the panel were not convinced by her testimony.
Janet chuckled to herself. She didn't particularly like the fact that many women never figured out their intolerance of their own sex, but she was delighted to see anything working in Diana's favor. Evidence was evidence and courts made it clear that you couldn't manufacture it. Evidence had to be proven authentic. ”

“ Lord protect me from these dithering female types, he implored, raising his eyes toward the ceiling. He looked back at the witness critically. She's held her own in the looks department for a woman of her age, he decided, but has let herself go to fat somewhat. Must be, from the looks of her about ten years or so younger than Diana. Well, Lyle thinks she loyal to him and that's what counts here.
Ann would not confirm her niece's testimony. Andrea had said her aunt thought that the excessive course load given Diana by Lyle was an attempt to break her spirit or drive her from the department. ”

“ Someone once said that all it takes to stop evil is for one good man to speak up and many good men, and women, did just that. They spoke up for justice and fair play. They argued with administration officials, citing example after example of male faculty misconduct over the years that had gone nearly unnoticed and never punished.
They asserted that a witch hunt would hurt the Belmont image and reflect badly on all who worked there. They all knew what a farce the SmurFFs had always been and all this fuss over seven? ”

“ Ordinary forgers are a dime a dozen, but we employ only the most expert. These are people who are trained in document examination. They know what a document examiner looks for and what tips them off to call something a forgery. For example, if a person is trying to disguise his or her handwriting, they make it bigger, wider, smaller or larger.
"Our forgers, as trained document examiners, look for unique or individualistic handwriting characteristics and make sure these are included in their forgeries. ”

“ Citizens who donated money for research into various diseases would be astonished to discover how little of their money went into the research, and how much went into paying administrative salaries.
At Belmont, Friday afternoons turned into happy hours as medical research professors with their light teaching loads relaxed together in the conference room recuperating for the weekend.
When Jimbo was asked to identify the two evaluations—these being the two from nursing nutrition that Lyle had said Jimbo had brought to him, he professed not to recall how they were found or where. ”

“ After the lecture, I want you to tell the students that they must not consult Diana anymore because she is not involved in teaching radiology and is much too busy to be bothered.
"Also, you lay it on the line about your job. You tell them that unless your critiques improve, you are out. Work on their feelings. Most of the students like you and would hate to have you lose your job on account of them.
"After you finish that, you and Randy get in here. I want to talk to you both about that lab material you plagiarized." ”

“ A limited number of excellent teaching faculty worked their butts off teaching course after course for peanuts. The ever burgeoning, corpulent administration and research people had light duties and lots of play time—to say nothing of having the money to play.
At the time Diana was employed at NERD, it was not unique for the research professors to spend one or two afternoons a week on the golf course, lake or ski slopes. Any research accomplished mostly fell to the technicians paid by a grant or the university. ”

“ Did we receive something from the students?"
Diana stood up and walked over to where Anuse sat. Jowl to jowl with him, she said succinctly, "It isn't funny, Mr. Frank Anuse. It is not funny, it is serious." To Esther, she said, "You probably don't see everything that comes in or goes out of this committee.
"Again, I want to state that I have been denied access to all these student evaluations that are needed for my defense. In addition, this committee has steadfastly refused to confirm the testimony of their witnesses concerning these documents by demanding that they be produced." ”

“ Our policy is to protect the employee so we always have closed hearings. There was no need to produce the documents in question. The hearing panel was confident that they were not needed."
"I don't care about how your hearing panel or how your policy goes. I'm asking about an excellent teacher who has served our university for nearly a quarter of a century. If she did what you have accused her of .... good God, man! Five out of thousands—what difference could that make? You've made yourself look silly." ”

“ We don't write every letter the same every time. We look for the range."
Asked if handwriting analysis was as exact as fingerprints, he said, "It is as individual and as unique as fingerprints." Yet when asked if a number of different analysts looked at the same documents, would they all agree, he answered, "If they had equal training and experience."
After a short recess, Diana was allowed to examine the witness. Her first question was directed toward the authenticity of the standards submitted. "Do you know of your own knowledge that the exemplars sent to you were all written by me?" ”