Wild Justice Part 29

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.

Ann declared that she, "could not remember saying that. It is possible that was what Andrea understood me to say."

When asked directly if there was s.e.x discrimination in the department, she said that in the past, she had felt some discrimination because of s.e.x, but she knew now that this was not the case. She gave several reasons why she was not treated the same or paid as much as the males in the department.

"It probably was because my research is so much different from the rest or because Lyle was new in the position and didn't realize what he was saying."

Jane felt anger toward Ann as she listened. She had asked around for information about her when she knew Ann would be testifying.

Ann, of all people, knew what the situation truly was because Lyle had named her as the department Affirmative Action representative.

Reflecting on the efficacy of the AA program, Jane knew that Belmont, like most universities around the country, had continued problems with grant procurement due to being out of compliance with the laws concerning discrimination and hara.s.sment. To counter this, or rather, to nip any potential problems in the bud, the administration created a setup whereby every department had an appointed representative for Affirmative Action.

All complaints had to be brought to this person. At NERD, this was Ann--who in turn took them to the department chair.

A case of the proverbial fox guarding the chickens, Jane thought wryly.

The complaints and the person complaining, the complainant, were "handled" by a special administrative flunky. It was made crystal clear that problems would increase if one pursued a complaint.

Faculty women on tenure track were especially vulnerable to these kinds of threats.

If the charge was serious and the complainant had evidence and witnesses, and could not be persuaded to drop the charges, the common practice was to transfer the complainant to another department. No one could ever remember a male at Belmont being punished, transferred or discharged for discrimination or hara.s.sment.

Jane knew that Ann had heard complaints--from women in the department and from medical students who had suffered discrimination and hara.s.sment.

She shook her head sadly, wondering what she would have done in similar circ.u.mstances. Would she also chose not to reveal the truth to the committee, fearing reprisals?

In response to several other questions posed by the panel, Ann Biggot proclaimed that she had no fear of reprisal for her testimony, but every so often a Freudian slip would break out from her careful answers. She was confirming a question from Diana concerning how both of them were often overlooked when departmental journals were circulated. "If I didn't get a journal, I would just take it out of someone else's box," she said angrily, then with a guilty expression, "Maybe I won't be working there next week."

Jane asked, "Does he customarily yell or get angry at people?"

Avoiding the question, Ann replied, "The biggest problem with him is getting him to put his answers down in writing."

She did, however, confirm that she had been asked to testify by Diana and had begged off. "Not really because of losing my job. . .it was just that it was so serious a charge. . ."

Ann amply substantiated what Diana had already testified to regarding her many attempts to communicate with Lyle and establish a better relations.h.i.+p. She was also generous with her a.s.sertion that Diana was a totally honest person.

"We have had problems sometimes working together, but the one thing I was sure of was her absolute, utter honesty.

This charge came as a horrible shock to me, and that is the truth.

"To give you an idea of how much I trust her, there are two people in the department that I would feel right about leaving alone in my office and she was one of them. I wouldn't even trust Lyle."

Throughout the testimony of this witness, the panel continually interrupted the cross examinations of Diana. This happened at especially crucial times when important evidence was on the verge of being brought out or confirmed. One time, to the chagrin of Henry and Frank, it worked in Trenchant's favor.

Henry had interrupted to ask Ann about a rather d.a.m.ning quote attributed to her by Lyle which appeared on Diana's yearly Reappointment Appraisal Sheet. It read, "I believe that she (Diana) is completely ineffective in the summer medical nutrition course and should be replaced."

Ann was adamant that she had not said that. Instead, she insisted, "When the chairman came to me for my input on your appraisal, I told him what you had told me," directing her answer at Diana, "which was that you felt ineffective. I told him that I thought you had tried desperately hard to learn this material.

I said to him that you were working a.s.siduously and trying unremittingly but that you and I both felt that you needed at least another year of study to be really proficient."

On hearing this, Jane blanched with shock. Here was information that Lyle had falsified a senior faculty person's (Ann) appraisal on the reappointment papers of Diana. a.n.u.se interrupted Diana's questioning and attempted to gloss over the d.a.m.ning admission.

He suggested that it was just a misunderstanding in terms.

It didn't work because Ann was angry that her honest comments regarding the teaching effectiveness of Diana had been misconstrued in a way that was completely false and she made that clear to a.n.u.se in no uncertain terms.

After finis.h.i.+ng off a.n.u.se, she turned to Diana and said, "For you to come into the summer course with no training at all, at the age of 57, and be trained to teach nutrition. . .for you to undertake such an endeavor amazed me. I made it clear to Lyle that she needed more time, perhaps one more summer to be an effective teacher--not what he quoted me as saying!"

Now the chair stepped in and advised that this was getting way off the subject they were there to discuss, but the panel, except for a.n.u.se, wanted to hear more and Ann, still angry at the way she had been misquoted, obliged them.

". . .and the teaching load put on her. It was a horrible thing to ask somebody to do--seven labs in a week plus directing the radiology lab during the first semester.

In the past, these labs were distributed among the graduate students and to ask one person to do that, I thought was. . .

"Remember," turning again to address Diana. "I told you it was a terrible stress for you to undergo and that if I were subjected to that, I couldn't do it."

Directing her remarks back to the panel, she continued.

"I know, because at one point in my life, I taught five courses at one time and I went about bananas after two years; I had to quit because of the stress."

Henry interrupted decisively this time and announce a recess.

The testimony of his witness was getting entirely to sympathetic toward Diana and he wanted no more references to Lyle's creative editing of Ann's comments on the employee appraisal form.

Falsifying employee reappointment forms was a real no-no, especially now with the union breathing down our necks, he thought.

Chapter 26

Already in evidence and on the record was the incident of Lyle's tampering with one of the so-called suspicious SmurFFs by stapling a note written by Diana to it. Now there was testimony that he had falsified a comment by one of the senior faculty which appeared on an appraisal form. One more example of evidence-tampering was still to come.

When the hearing reconvened, Jane interrupted. "One moment before we go on to the next witness. A point of clarification. From what I heard a little while ago, I think Diana believes that we send the president the recommendation of this committee. Now, my understanding was that we do not make a recommendation, we make a report of our findings."

"That is correct. We are only going to write a report.

We don't make recommendations. We only make a report of the hearing. That's all we are looking at," Henry said frantically.

d.a.m.n and blast, how did she get on to that and why didn't I pick up on it.

I shudder to think what those dingy women would do if they knew that when my report for this committee comes out, it will find the entire panel has made a recommendation that is unanimous and it is for termination.

The hearing was about completed. Henry could feel the relief flooding through him like a torrent. Full of great expectations, he announced that Lyle would be the next witness and "all these little misunderstandings will be cleared up." True to form, like a well rehea.r.s.ed circus act, the performance that followed went off like greased lightning. Henry allowed neither the other members of the panel nor Diana to clutter it up.

First the clarification of number of 'suspicious' SmurFFs found, when they were found and who found them. This time, Lyle looking confident and well coached, consulted his crib sheet and gave the answer without circ.u.mlocution.

Looking both eager and willing to help out as best he could, Lyle earnestly spoke his piece. "After checking with Mark who had the date in the files, we found that the material was sent to the a.n.a.lyst in the fall of last year. There were originally three that Randy and Ian had given him, not two as he had said in his previous testimony. I can't think why I said two, of course, I meant three."

"Jimbo had found and sent him the two 'suspicious' nursing nutrition SmurFFs." To prove this, he conveniently produced a covering letter, which the chair put into evidence, that expressly said that. ". . .and, it is dated and signed by Jimbo.

"Most certainly," Lyle continued, "I never knew that Diana had copyrighted the radiology manual and most certainly, Ian and Randy did not copy from it. That is ridiculous."

His pious account of the meeting with Diana in his office when he told her of the doc.u.ment examiners findings, was ingenious.

He claimed to have been devastated at having to do that to an employee.

He had behaved with loving kindness throughout the "very painful interview.

"Of course no one in the department or among the medical students would be afraid to come and testify. Perish the thought.

"I must have been misunderstood before when the panel got the impression that ALL the critiques were good in this last year when Diana did not teach. I thought I had made it clear that it was Ian's SmurFFs that had improved markedly."