After Mark had left, Associate Academic Vice President, Jimbo Jones
was sworn. He had held the chair of NERD for many years,
then when Lyle took over, Jimbo was moved to the central
administrative post. Henry smiled wryly, hoping for the best
because no matter how poor a performance was turned in by senior
administrators, they were never fired--they knew where too many
bodies were buried. They were kept around and use as needed
to plug gaps and cover asses, especially their own. . .
Having few duties as a Vee, Jimbo lectured, teamed with Lyle,
in the nursing nutrition course. He used to refer to them
as a dog and pony show. The students thought of two other
animals that would have described the situation better,
since neither man was greatly liked.
This was mainly because both had a low opinion of undergraduates,
felt it was beneath them to lecture at this level and didn't try
to hide their opinion from the students.
Lyle and Jimbo gave these few lectures because the university policy
of increasing administration personnel and research faculty while
decreasing teachers had decimated the ranks of competent instructors.
Upper level administrators like Jimbo were paid in the six figure category.
A few professors received fifty grand a year; most substantially less.
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.
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. "I don't remember if I found them or who found them,"
he stated. "I have seen them before, but I don't know who discovered them."
Henry started to get nervous. This damn jerk who found
those two SmurFFs professed no recollection of it.
He hurried into the breach. "What you are saying, Jimbo, is that
either you or Lyle found them but you don't remember which."
Even with this prompting, Jimbo couldn't hack it.
He looked over at Henry and smiled without speaking.
"Yes, thank you. Of course, that's it." Henry testified
for him and then tried to prove through Jimbo's testimony
that Diana had a history of conflict with department members.
Once again, Jane observed, no examples were given. The names of
the individuals involved in these alleged conflicts were not given
so there was no confimation of the testimony. When she tried
to get specifics on these conflicts, Jimbo answered that,
". . .it involved the kind of facility utilization problems
that one runs into in a small department."
Pursuing this, Jane asked, "Did they have anything to do
with running a course or what should be taught in a course?"
"No."
At this juncture, Esther, not to be outdone asked if the
difficulty had anything to do with her ability to teach.
Jimbo replied that her ability to teach had never been in question.
He also confirmed, much to Henry's chagrin, that Diana had worn a
brace on her wrist in December but could not remember exactly when.
Since he had been commandeered to help in the radiology lab
after Diana left the course, he was asked how the medical
students responded that year. His answer indicated that
he believed the students generally liked the lab portion.
He also disclosed that the lab had not changed at all from
what had been taught in previous years.
Not bloody likely, thought Diana, since they copied most of the
material from my manual that they were expressly forbidden to use. . .
the manual that was so successful in the course for the previous two years.
When Jimbo declared that the year Diana didn't teach, the course content was
no different from the previous year, Henry tried to hurry him out the door.
He recalled all the testimony from the NERD people insisting that things
were much different and much improved after Diana left the course.
Before he could, Diana said, "I have one question, Jimbo.
We taught that lab together for many years when you were
chair of NERD. During that time, it was my impression that
each year's class could differ immensely from the previous year.
Specifically, one year, the class would like the way the course
was run, then the next year's class would hate it. Do you agree?"
"Yes, wholeheartedly, absolutely."
"Thank you."
Henry walked Jimbo out of the hearing room wishing fervently
that he had never asked him to testify. What a mess, but hopefully
Lyle could fix it.