Death of the Ayn Rand Scholar by Gray Cavender (classic literature list txt) 📕

“Told you…although you’d obviously done your homework. You were straightforward…as much as you can be…main thing…you weren’t flustered. And, yes, that was a load of questions.”

“And thanks for getting everyone to calm down…so I could answer their questions one at a time. By the way, how’d you do that…they were going crazy…and you got them to quieten down…and you didn’t yell or anything.”

Sarah laughed. “You went to Gammage Auditorium to hear Justice Sonia Sotomayor, right?”

Jillian nodded ‘yes’ and smiled at the memory of that night.

“OK, remember, at one point, Justice Sotomayor was taking questions—she was back on the stage after walking down into the audience—and there was a question that asked her for advice for women who wanted to be lawyers?”

“OK, I remember her walking through the audience…I couldn’t believe she did that…it was amazing…and how everyone responded to her…and I do remember that she took questions…but I don’t remember them exactly…”

“Maybe I was just listening more, being a lawyer and all. Anyway, Justice Sotomayor said that women lawyers have to learn to speak-up to be heard by men…to project…without seeming to do so. And she said that projecting is both speaking from the diaphragm, clearly and distinctly, but it’s also a matter of demeanor…of how you present yourself. Anyway, that’s what I did just now…and it worked…almost always does. So, yeah, very good advice from a ‘Supreme’ for a young lawyer…or one in her 30s.”

Most of the Task Force members were back in the room, if not at the table—some were getting coffee—when Sarah said, “Let’s get started.” Her presence quickly pulled everyone back to the table.

The next item on the agenda was a report by Sarah and Professor Martin about procuring online anti-sexual harassment training that all ASU faculty and staff would be required to complete. There were several potential vendors and Sarah and Professor Martin were ‘auditioning’ their training modules.

The topic generated some discussion because Professor Farrell asked, “What about creating our own training…why buy something from someone else? I mean, who knows our needs better than we do?”

Professor Martin paused before answering. “Sarah and I share your view to a degree—we actually discussed doing just that…but these other products have been field tested…in practice. We have data on them…from not-so-good to very good…a reliability measure, if you will.”

Jillian raised her hand and Sarah acknowledged her. “I’m swayed by Professor Martin’s opinion because she’s written policies for other campuses and knows what they should address…you know, best practices. And Sarah will be ‘up’ on all the legal issues…best practices there, too.”

Sarah acknowledged Ersula who said, “I want to echo Jillian’s point. This is Natalie’s area of teaching and research, and Sarah will know the legal side. So, yes.”

For the moment, everyone agreed that Sarah and Professor Martin should continue with their evaluation of the existing training modules.

Despite the personalities and the competing agendas, Jillian was impressed with the work by the Task Force. Sarah set the tone, but there was also a sense that this was important business that needed tending, and everyone was on his/her game. Even Cedar, once he got beyond his posturing, was an important contributor, although he always came back to ASU’s ‘brand. In a way, the image issue was relevant. When the student anti-harassment movement first gained national attention, ASU had been mentioned because there had been several high-profile sexual harassment cases at the various campuses. No one wants to be on the front page of the newspaper for that. Which, Jillian thought, “is exactly Al’s point.”

Professor Martin also described a research project that she was just beginning: an anthology of original research articles analyzing news coverage of students (athletes and non-athletes) who were accused of problematic sexual behavior, also professional athletes who had allegedly raped or harassed women, and an analysis of legislation that was designed to prevent harassment in state legislatures (including in Arizona), and finally the Trump Administration’s efforts to undo those efforts and protect those, especially students, who were accused of rape or harassment.

The edited book seemed like a great idea to Jillian, and could see herself signing-on to do one of these analyses if she’d been in a grad seminar or shopping for a masters’ project. She’d always been impressed with Professor Martin’s knowledge in this area. For example, she said that the statistics showed that as many as 60% of the people who lodged sexual harassment charges suffered some form of retaliation. Jillian hadn’t known this statistic, but upon hearing it said to herself, “well, of course.” Professor Martin said that ASU’s policies had to protect people from retaliation. She also urged that the Task Force must recommend policies that actually did something, actually changed the cultural and legal landscape of the victims of harassment, and not just create some compliance-based policy that only appeared to address the issue. And, she added, because these situations usually involve the powerful taking advantage of the powerless, notions of inequity had to inform ASU’s policies as well.

The last agenda item was to make assignments for the next meeting. These included a request for Sarah and Natalie to keep working on the online vendor issue. And, Ersula and Jillian were tasked with drafting for their respective departments policies that pertained to investigations into allegations of harassment or rape. These would, of course, need the approval of higher-ups.

After the meeting, Jillian and Ersula walked together back to Headquarters. The walk was a short one, but they talked quickly and discussed possible wording for the policies of their respective departments. Ersula admitted that she’d enjoyed the ‘fireworks’ at the Task Force meeting, especially when the faculty ‘went after each other.’

They also compared notes about Professor Martin’s Domestic Violence class. Ersula was impressed that Professor Martin had presented the problem as a range of issues, from sexual harassment to rape and other gender violence, including domestic violence. Jillian said that what had most impressed her was not only Professor Martin’s academic knowledge, but also her action-oriented approach. She was active in the community…discussing