CHAPTER 22

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