Diana returned to the hearing room alone and sat down.
Addressing the panel, she said firmly, "My next witness will be
in shortly. She is helping Sarah because you upset her so much."
Anuse and Henry looked pleased. The women were anxious
and concerned except for Esther who appeared puzzled.
Shortly thereafter, Helen Schauer marched into the room and
took the witness chair as if she owned it. Her Teutonic
ancestors would have been proud. Helen, at age thirty,
considered herself a responsible adult. She owned property
and was very serious about her abilities and her nursing studies.
She had begged Diana to let her come as a witness. A little
taller than average, she was a strong looking woman. Blonde hair
framed a face that, while not beautiful, reflected a healthy
radiance that enhanced her image of strength. Now, sitting
there, exuding confidence, she gave her name and was sworn.
Her testimony should have been important, but Diana wasn't too
certain that the panel would listen. It backed up what Roz
had to say about the feelings of the medical students concerning
the radiology course.
The most Diana hoped to accomplish from this testimony was
to have the committee order NERD to make available the course
and instructor evaluation for the previous year. That was
the year that Lyle had claimed the students loved the course
and the instructors. That was the year Diana did not teach in it.
"Are you acquainted with any medical students who took
the radiology course this last year?" questioned Diana.
Helen testified that two of the rooms in her home were rented
by medical students. "The gist of the conversation around
our dinner table was that they felt the course was a complete
waste of time. `Most of the year, it seemed as if we knew more
than the instructors,'" she quoted one of them as saying.
Jane couldn't wait for Diana to complete her questioning
of Helen and broke in with, "Would the students come and
talk with us?" She pretended to forget that medical students
were not allowed at the hearing.
"No. Medical students were told they should not testify.
They did request that I tell you that both she and my other
roomer gave a bad evaluation of the course in the SmurFFs
they filled out this year. They hoped that by doing that,
the course would be changed and improved for the students next year.
You have been told that all the evaluations were positive that year."
Henry appeared to misunderstand. "If they didn't think their
evaluations were done correctly, they should go to the dean."
He said to Helen, severely.
"Huh? I didn't say anything about them feeling their evaluations. . .
what do you mean?"
"If there is a problem with their evaluations,
they should go to the dean."
"I didn't say there was a problem. I don't know where you
are coming from. I will repeat what I said since it appears
that I have been misunderstood. They told me that they had filled
out a very negative evaluation on the radiology course, and that
they knew that others in the class did also because there was
great dissatisfaction with the course."
Henry immediately reminded the panel members that this was all hearsay.
It will be trouble, he thought, if anyone on the panel asks for the
SmurFFs for the year Diana didn't teach that course. Lyle doesn't want
them seen and for good reason. He and his boys have perjured themselves.
No one seemed to have any more questions. Even Anuse appeared wary.
This was one witness that they weren't going to confuse. She not only
had both feet planted on the ground, she looked as if she'd enjoy planting
the panel under them. Noting that there were no more questions coming,
Diana thanked her and said, "Looks like we are finished with you, Helen."
"You may be finished with me, but I am not finished with you!"
She took in everyone in the room with that remark, surprising Diana
as much as anyone on the panel. Even Janet looked up with
a startled expression.
One could almost hear the horns of the Valkyrie sounding as
a Brunnhilde spirit sparkled in the body of this nursing student.
"I am concerned and distressed," she continued. "First,
for how you treated that young woman who testified before me.
I have known Sarah for several months and she is as honest
and sincere as anyone I have ever known.
"You know what she told us when she came out? She said you
didn't believe her because you had already decided on the basis
of the graphologist's report. She said it wasn't fair. That person
swore only to an opinion. She, Sarah, had sworn to a fact.
"Also, from what the other witnesses have told me and what
I have just experienced myself, I don't believe you want to
find out the truth. You just want to terminate our teacher.
"No, I am not finished yet." Helen held up a warning hand to
Henry who was about to protest, palm flat out like a traffic cop.
"I have a BA in German and I am working toward a BA in nursing,
and I am disgusted, I am really disgusted at what happened with
my nutrition course evaluation. Despite what we were told in the
classroom concerning the use of the evaluations for the course
and professors, they were sent off-site to a graphologist. . ."
"Only a few, there were only a small number," insisted Henry.
Good Lord, he thought, abashed, I never should have admitted
that any were sent.
"So what! Maybe mine was one of them. You shouldn't be breaching
student confidentiality to expedite some personnel matter.
And let me tell you, I'm not the only one in the class that feels that way.
You have deceived us and we will not fill out any more of those forms
unless we are forced to."
"But you must understand," urged Esther, "no other writing
by students went out at the same time. There would not be any
chance that anybody would know who was the person who wrote them."
Esther really was out of it, thought Annette.
"That is totally irrelevant." Helen replied firmly. "The
point is our confidential evaluations were sent off-site.
I think a lot of damage has been done. It is unconscionable.
If we ever do fill out another evaluation form, it will be
completely sterile so it can't be used to hurt anyone by an
irresponsible administration. That is what many of the med
students did in their last evaluation. They just marked
everything average and typed all comments. That is why you
haven't seen any of their SmurFFs from that year."
"Thank you, Helen." Diana stood up and walked around the table
to open the door for her.
"We'll take a short recess," Henry announced.
During this recess, he told the panel that he had decided to adjourn
the hearing until the next day.
Henry had just reached the hallway of his home when the
phone summoned him with its strident demand to be answered.
Loosening his tie with one hand, he picked up the instrument
with the other, "Yes, hello, Tarbuck residence."
"Ah, good. You're home, Henry." This superb example of
deductive reasoning delivered in the imperious manner of
a self-appointed earth-god could only be The Pope.
"Yes, how are you, John?" Henry had pulled off his tie and
was settling himself comfortably in the chair next to the phone.
"Sorry I missed you when I returned to the office, but we decided
to adjourn early so I did a few errands I've been putting off
and then I came home."
"No problem, Henry. I just wanted to check with you to see
how things are going. Mark said there was a bit of a dust up
over the file material he sent the document examiners as standards?"
"Yes. Trenchant is making an issue of every little thing
she can think of. Actually, I think she must have some outside help--
someone is advising her. Perhaps even someone at Belmont."
"Giving you a lot of trouble, is she? Slap her down, Henry,
slap her down. We've got her good on this one. Mark tells me
the document examiner was one hundred percent sure that
Trenchant wrote those things," The Pope boomed expansively.
"That's correct. The only thing is the three women on the
panel don't place much confidence in the examiner's ability
and right now they aren't accepting her testimony. Besides that,
Trenchant has a student witness who claims that she, the witness,
wrote one of those SmurFFs our analyst said was written by Trenchant."
"My God. That doesn't sound good at all. I thought Mark
said handwriting analysis was as foolproof as fingerprints."
"Well, that's the legal argument lawyers use. Apparently,
they aren't. Trenchant gave us two cases as examples of these
so-called experts being fooled. One was concerning the Hitler
Diaries and another she called the White Salamander Affair.
She also listed several other sources for the panel to check on."
"What are you going to do? You've got to whip that panel in line
and do it fast, Henry, we're in this thing too deep to back off now."
"I know, and I'm on top of it. Mark is going to testify
concerning his experience as an attorney with handwriting
evidence. Also, I've ruled most of Trenchant's testimony
and that of her witnesses hearsay. That cuts out a lot of
potentially damaging information.
"Did you know, John, that those two guys who brought the complaint
against her in the first place had plagiarized several textbooks
as well as Trenchant's stuff and that both the dean and Lyle Stone
knew about it?"
"Penny ante stuff, Henry. Everybody copies material for their courses.
That's why every department has a copying machine."
"Well this sure sounded serious. They photographed a whole
atlas and presented it to their class as their own work."
"So? It's just Trenchant's word, isn't it? Who's going to
believe she isn't just indulging in sour grapes?"
"The whole panel, that's who. That stupid son of a bitch,
Ian, admitted to it."
"Don't worry so, Henry. Surely you can explain that away
as a misstatement on his part. He can just say that he didn't
understand the question and. . ."
"I've already done that with the panel but I can't keep up forever
explaining away every boner they pull. I've got to call Lyle back
to testify again and the panel wants to hear from one of his faculty,
Ann Biggot, and from Jimbo as well."
"What can I do to help you, Henry."
"Get on their asses, please, John. Those dilettantes
in the medical school just made a very poor showing.
They weren't prepared or. . .would you believe, John,
that Lyle couldn't even remember how many SmurFFs he was
given and the dean contradicted a vital part of his testimony.
Both Ian and Randy stunk. Please, lower the boom on Lyle
and the others slated to testify tomorrow. They have got
to do their homework."
"I'll get right on it, Henry. Don't worry now. Just remember
that we can keep everyone--reporters, local, state and federal--
out of our business simply by claiming academic privilege.
There is nothing we can't explain away. Nothing we can't
make disappear if we need to."
"OK, John, and thanks."
"Right. Good evening, Henry."
Henry hung up the phone and stretched. Strange, he thought,
sniffing the air experimentally, I don't smell anything cooking.
Wonder if we're going out for dinner. For that matter, I wonder
where Kate is, haven't heard her moving around. Oh, well, she's
probably in the back yard.
Resigning himself to the distinct possibility that he would
have to get ready for another night out, he went in search of her.
The kitchen first, he decided. I'll grab something out of the
refrigerator to eat and. . .what's this note on the table?
Henry started to read it and then sat down heavily in a
nearby chair to finish reading. "Be damned," he breathed.
"She's left me."
THE HEARING - DAY 3