Death of the Ayn Rand Scholar by Gray Cavender (red scrolls of magic TXT) 📗

sense of Professor Siemens. Who she was…friends, enemies, anything that might help to figure out what happened. What can you tell me about her?”

Wilson was quiet at first, then seemed to make up her mind, pursed her lips and said, “I’m from Virginia, originally, and my parents always taught me not to gossip, not to speak ill of anyone, and certainly not of the dead.” She cleared her throat. “I’ve calmed myself a bit since we talked earlier, but still can’t quite wrap my head around this. It’s just…” she shook her head.

“I know, Ms. Wilson. This is horrible, and must be even worse for you because you were the first person in her office. I’m so sorry that you saw…what you saw. I’m a police detective, but things like this…they still upset me. I understand your reticence, but the more that we know, the better…all around.”

“I know, and thank you for your kind words...and I really mean that Detective Sergeant Warne,” she said and smiled. “Well, obviously I heard the conversation in the hall earlier about the tensions concerning Professor Siemens’ hiring. And yes, I was aware of the situation. Staff cannot help but pick-up on things like this. Maybe we don’t have a dog in that fight,” she laughed, “but, we exist on the ASU campus, so we know about campus life…about campus issues. All of which is to say that, yes, there were tensions about her hiring. And, there were some continuing bad feelings, perhaps in part due to jealousy about her circumstances—a high salary, her reduced teaching load, that sort of thing. But…” she hesitated, “if I’m being honest with you, I have to say that Professor Siemens brought some of this on herself.”

“How so?”

“Her interactions with people were not always the best. She could be arrogant, especially with people who she thought were beneath her. And in her view, that was most everyone: students, staff, even many professors, especially junior faculty.”

“Did she act that way across the board?”

“No. When it came to people who held a higher status, you know, deans, other administrators, with these people she was fine. To them, she was always professional…personable, even. But, with her there was always a sense of a pecking order.”

Jillian remembered that Professor Gilroy had said something like this. “How was she with you, Ms. Wilson?”

“I’d say mixed. I’m the department’s AC—Assistant Chair—so I hold enjoy a certain status. But, I am, nonetheless…staff. And I always knew that she was aware of that.”

“Was she rude?”

“No, I’d say brusque…imperial, even. She acted as if everyone somehow worked for her. With me, she always had comments about my being from Virginia, about my having attended the University of Virginia. These were seemingly funny, but really were snide. As if a baccalaureate in English from UVA was from some rural backwater-type place. While she was a graduate of Chicago.”

Ms. Wilson showed a little attitude as she said this. She even raised her nose and struck a snooty pose. “She was especially obnoxious about all the Nobel’s in Economics awarded to University of Chicago professors…and was quick to point out that she had an MBA from there and had studied with many of them. She often dropped their names as if gave her some kind of authority. It may sound petty, Detective Sergeant Warne, but every chance I had, I’d mention Paul Krugman’s latest column in the New York Times. I’d read somewhere that his Nobel in Economics was a way of leveling the University of Chicago approach to economics. Or maybe, I just liked his political commentary. Anyway, I’m a little embarrassed to say that I just liked to get her goat.”

“Sounds like you studied more than just English at UVA,” Jillian said before she could stop herself, laughed.

Wilson laughed, too. “And it sounds as if someone else went to university, as well,” and nodded toward Jillian.

“ASU.”

“Goodness, Professor Siemens would not have liked you. She always let everyone know that she was slumming by being here…except for Rand Studies, of course. She even refused to work with any students—undergraduate or graduate—who weren’t focusing their projects on some aspect of Ayn Rand. I think she treated ASU students the worst of anyone. I know there were complaints...especially from students of color.”

“Was she racist?”

She shrugged. “She was just always quick to point that you had to work for grades in her classes, that people shouldn’t expect any breaks because of their…situation. As if students were asking her for some sort of special treatment. She was also hard on junior faculty with degrees from what she considered ‘lesser schools,’ and I always thought she was condescending to faculty of color. Does that make her a racist? Not necessarily. I don’t really know, but then…I guess we never do…” She left her thought hanging, unfinished.

Then she said, “I don’t know if this would be relevant to your investigation, Detective Sergeant Warne, but during one of her courses…this would have been last spring semester…several students walked-out…and even filed a grievance against Professor Siemens.”

“Really? Yes, I would like to hear about this.”

“The grievance alleged that she’d been racially intolerant. There were three students…all English majors…undergrads. Their grievance went through standard channels…the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and then Jonathan Keefer…as department chair.”

“How did it come out?”

“In a sense it was a compromise solution…although decidedly in Nelda’s favor. The Undergrad Committee concluded that although she’d acted in a somewhat insensitive manner, her actions didn’t reach a level of conduct that was racially inappropriate. Jonathan accepted the Committee’s decision, but he equivocated on their comment that she’d acted in an insensitive manner. He framed it that this was merely the students’ perception…then emphasized that the claim of the grievance had not been substantiated. In his memo, he also recounted at length Nelda’s side of the story. In other words, he put Nelda’s actions in the best possible light. But, he allowed the students to drop her course and add another class…even though it was past the drop/add date. That’s why