I am not going to recount the travesty of my last year, just the relevant bare min.
Trouble with ex housemates, threatened and accosted on campus, Dean gave a stern talking to them (assumedly) and also (assumedly) instructed us both never to speak to or about the others... Upright idiot that I am, I obeyed her dictate of silence despite the other side continuing low level harassment, including telling folks I'm a convicted sex offender. Was an absurdly rough semester, first year law is tough and isolating as it is, my grades are bottom 5% (still passed everything tho, hurrah).
Last Monday I get a note in my school mailbox, all caps, FAG. We have had winter break, its a month in, jesus christ will it never end. But ahah, I've got something solid. I report it, told to come back later and let the Dean know what I would like done. Same time, Dean lets me know there is a student org for such incidents 'both real and imagined'. Oh, by the way, when I first went about the whole being accosted on campus (after the security report) it was 'well, your story is consistent'.
At this time, Screw the Deans first order, I chat with some folks about it. Find out just how pathetic that guy is and how despite the actions being so shocking and out of place on a law school, no one is surprised once they hear his name. I'm feeling loads better, chat with a school priest, feel better, and all around things going really well for the last two days.
I talked with the Dean today¬hing but revisionist history and ass covering. I told her I don't want anything done, I just want the administration aware in case there is some future incident with this guy (who is a disgrace to the law school). She tells me that this will not be done, he has and will have a clean history. I tried a different approach, I don't care about his record, I just want the administration to know so that if there is any future trouble its not something out of the blue... She then lets me know that he will of course get no such treatment, he has a clean record and that there will only be a note in MY record.
My mind was rather boggled as you can imagine. Outrageous behavior from the start of the year, threats, stalking, harassment, all out in the open... driven to a sneakier but no less malicious operandi by the Dean herself...
Well, not pressing the point, there was also the matter of the school scholarship. It requires being top 50%, I'm bottom 5%. He response was of course that the scholarship cut offs are automatic as everyone has a sob story and it doesnt matter if one's parents die. I think that an absurdly hard line for a private catholic school to apparently be taking.
Anywho, back to the ass covering. I told her my misgivings about the response of her office what with her using terms like 'your story is consistent' and 'incidents real and imagined'. About the response for incidents real and imagined, she says she was just trying to refer me to a student support group 'GALLA'-Gay and Lesbian Lawyers Association for 'students of my mold'. Which of course prompts me to respond that I'm not gay. This makes her then say that Well, so it wasnt sexual harrasment... that makes things easier.
So yah, I went on feeling pretty darn good, getting an exec spot on the largest student org, having a good line on a summer position, compliments/support from classmates ect ect, right back to the bottom of the well. I just got beyond the harassment nonsense, but now this is pissing me off.
If the Dean did not make it the schools business, the police would have handled it and they and the court don't mess around. The Dean decided not to do anything but a 'talking to'. I was told to, and I obeyed, the gag order about the buggers. The response to tangible, go look at the note in my SCHOOL Mailbox, harassment was to talk about 'incidents real and imagined', and then to go on about how this guy's record is clean so his image is spotless in our eyes diatribe.
I finally have more forward-looking thinking, what with gaining perspective by disobeying the Deans directive, but because I followed it in the first place my semester was ruined. The Scholarship rank requirement is ongoing, so its not like I have a fresh chance this semester. Nice legal notion is that when someone's position is bad but you make it worse, you pay for that difference. For scholarship purposes I want that last semester discounted. I really don't think Im asking something outragious here. So, do I cut my loss, transfer to another school that costs less, or engage, go over the unpopular dean's head?
If nothing else I suppose I could investigate the validity of the 'it doesn't matter if a person's parents die' assertion.
I don't mean to be whiny, but yeesh, how about some justice?
