Wild Justice Part 14

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 cla.s.s 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.

While her witnesses occupied themselves in various ways-- studying, reading or conversing quietly, Diana sat down on the couch, closed her eyes and sought to compose herself. Even though the panel had instructed her to be there at nine with all her witnesses, one never knew when the hearing would reconvene.

Good news indeed. What great people these were, she thought.

When the whole mess happened, this cla.s.s of some two hundred nutrition students had rounded up hundreds of signatures for pet.i.tions sent to Lyle, Sam and the Pope. Many of the students had gone to them in person to plead for justice.

Although most of the students were in the nursing school, some came from the colleges of agriculture, arts and science and special education. Collectively, they had filled out and filed more nominations for me to be named Teacher Of The Year than had ever been received before for one teacher. They were devastated when the committee receiving these nominations threw them in the wastebasket, following the instructions of Henry Tarbuck.

Then there were some that went as a group to beg help from the 'Minority VP'--Dan Field. Dan talks a good game against discrimination and even pretends to speak for the black community.

He's a brilliant, fascinating lecturer, a perennial favorite with the students. They considered him to be the most impartial, open-minded administrator they had ever known. His feet of clay surprisingly revealed when he washed his hands of the students pleas and sided with the administration, telling the students who pet.i.tioned him for help that I am a criminal. At least the blacks on campus weren't surprised by this. They had long ago discovered he was not only a smart cookie, he was an oreo.

But, Diana mused on gratefully, Dan was the exception. Many pleaded on my behalf. 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 a.s.serted 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?

Sure, evaluations were used at times by administrators as justification for not reappointing a faculty member, but even then, there had to be a preponderance of negative evaluations.

It was of no avail. The administration was adamant. So much for wise sayings but the fact that some people did try was heartwarming, Diana thought.

Roz broke her revere, gently. "It's time, Diana."

Was it her imagination or was the panel friendlier this morning, Diana mused as she entered the room and took her seat.

I do believe besides saying good morning, most of them smiled at me.

Maybe things are looking up.

A chastised Randy returned to the witness chair. He looks ridden hard and put away wet, thought Diana with amus.e.m.e.nt.

Responding to a question from Annette, he avowed that, "The year that Trenchant didn't teach, we rewrote the lab manual.

We didn't use any material from the manual written by Trenchant."

When all on the panel had indicated that they had no more questions to ask him, Henry asked Diana if she wished to question the witness. To himself, he added, G.o.d help us if the little twerp doesn't do what he's been told. Mark had a.s.sured him that he and Lyle had a good long session with Randy and felt that he had now seen the light and would behave properly.

"Yes, please. I'm confused, Randy. You have said that you saw one evaluation that appeared to be more directed toward one year than both years. You answered that this was one of the reasons why you thought it was suspicious.

"Now these evaluations have no dates on them. Is it not possible that both are from the same year?"

"No."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I don't remember which one was from which year, but these are from two separate years."

"Did you mark them."

"No. I picked one out of each year's evaluations."

"But you don't know the specific year each came from?"

"No."

With further questions, Diana established that from the time the evaluations had been given to Randy, they had not been safeguarded in any fas.h.i.+on. Sometimes they were in a file cabinet, sometimes on a bench or table in his lab.

At least twice, they had left his possession when the secretaries had called for them to use in tabulating the synopsis for the dean.

It appeared that there was some confusion as to when he took the 'suspicious' doc.u.ments to Lyle. "I don't know the exact date.

Certainly after the second year I was in the course--January or February."

"Lyle said it was a year later than that. He said it was last year,"

pressed Diana.

Interrupting imperiously, a.n.u.se jumped in to lead him with careful questions in a direction away from that subject.

When he finished, Diana summed up his testimony. "The 'suspect'

evaluations were not dated. You testified that you didn't know which one came from which year. You have no idea if all or any of the remaining evaluations are authentic, is this all correct?"

Randy nodded glumly.

When Diana again referred to Lyle's testimony that Randy had brought the critiques to him last year, a.n.u.se again interrupted.

This time Trenchant held her ground and forcefully turned toward him saying, "Excuse me. I believe this is my time to examine this witness!"

"Now, Randy, you have stated that none of the material in my laboratory manual was used by you to create the manual you used last year when I was not in the course. Do you want to change that answer?"

"No."

The accused held up two large manila envelopes, thick with their contents, saying, "I have here a copy of my manual and the one you prepared. Clearly marked are the parts in your manual that have been lifted verbatim from mine.

"In addition, I have given the references of whole paragraphs that you have copied from published radiology text books and used without citation in your manual.

"I am prepared to offer this to the panel as evidence that you are not telling the truth."

"This has nothing to do with the Termination For Cause action that this hearing is all about," interrupted Henry.

"You must keep to the subject." How did I ever get into this fix, he thought. Aloud, he continued, "Since this material does not bear directly on the matter at hand, it cannot be allowed into evidence. Please continue."

"I have no further questions."

Whew, she gave up. Henry wiped his brow. That was close, I figured she'd keep picking at him until he blew up and spat- tered all over the room. Hurriedly he said, "You're excused, Randy. Please tell Ian to come in before you leave."

Randy shared in the relief felt by the chair of the panel.

He ran lightly up the stairs to the witness room. "You're on next, Ian." He was surprised when Ian fairly catapulted out of the room, grabbing his arm as he pa.s.sed and nearly hurled them both down the stairs. "What in h.e.l.l is the d.a.m.ned hurry?"

Safely away from the second floor, Ian steered Randy into an alcove from where he could see the stairs. "That Mark!