Part 29 (1/2)

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.