CHAPTER 25

Ann Biggot was a crawling morass of nerves. As she explained to the panel, it was not really fear of retribution for what she might say, it was fear that she might be understood incorrectly and that would harm either her chairman or Diana. She was overwhelmed, she exclaimed, ". . .because I heard that this is the first Termination for Cause Hearing ever held in Belmont!"

What an airhead, Henry thought. She swings so widely back and forth that her testimony is generally contradictory and always rambling. When she criticizes Lyle, in answer to a question from the panel, she, in nearly the same breath, praises him on a totally unrelated issue.

Lord protect me from these dithering female types, he implored, raising his eyes toward the ceiling. He looked back at the witness critically. She's held her own in the looks department for a woman of her age, he decided, but has let herself go to fat somewhat. Must be, from the looks of her about ten years or so younger than Diana. 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 sex discrimination in the department, she said that in the past, she had felt some discrimination because of sex, 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 harassment. 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 harassment.

Jane knew that Ann had heard complaints--from women in the department and from medical students who had suffered discrimination and harassment. She shook her head sadly, wondering what she would have done in similar circumstances. 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 relationship. She was also generous with her assertion 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 damning 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 assiduously 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. Anuse interrupted Diana's questioning and

attempted to gloss over the damning 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 Anuse in no uncertain terms.

After finishing off Anuse, 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 Anuse, 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.