Wild Justice | Page 7

considered every concession we made as `a day late and a dollar
short'--utterly maddening! And what really frosts everyone's ass is that
she is just as recalcitrant when she argues on behalf of someone else.
Who the hell is she to care if someone feels unfairly treated by us?"
"Well, of course I'm still using the only frame of reference that I have
which is her personnel file and from what I can see she was as much
`sinned against as sinner'."
"That might have some validity up to the point where she openly and
publicly challenged the president of this university," retorted Henry
waving the file he was holding in Jonathan's face for emphasis, "but not
anymore."
"You mean she picked on The Pope, Henry?"

Chapter 3
John T. Pope had been president of Belmont University for nearly
twelve years. Because of his belief in his own infallibility, he soon
became referred to as The Pope. He greatly increased the senior
administrative staff which now occupied one whole wing of the
administration building. This wing was known as the Vatican and when
a person spoke of kissing the Pope's ring, it was well understood what
part of the Pope's anatomy they were referring to. The slew of vice
presidents, associate vp's and assistant vp's around the president were
soon called the Vee's. Most people believed Vee was short for vice
president but insiders knew it really stood for vestigial virgins.
He located the personnel office close by the Vatican. It was the
administration's muscle and the buffer between it and the so-called

support staff. Patterned after the military, it was directed by, and key
positions held by former military men. The military analogy persists
throughout the university structure. Upper administration and faculty
are designated as officers.
In order to insure staff cooperation, President Pope had created a
company union called the Staff Association. To keep tabs on the
members, he appointed the director of personnel an ex-officio member.
The current director, Greg Harrison, attended every meeting, answered
questions, directed staff activities and channeled them into acceptable
areas.
"Yes, I do," Henry continued glowering. "A year after Trenchant got on
the Staff Association, she was elected its chair and that body turned
from being a very convenient rubber stamp into a cohesive,
confrontational group of people. She was reelected unanimously for a
second term and during those two years she managed to upset nearly
everybody in the Vatican--especially, The Pope. It seems, from what I
was told when I was appointed academic vp, that during this time a
great deal of energy was directed toward damage control.
"Nothing worked with her. All the tried and true methods of threat or
blandishment had no affect. She didn't seem to notice or understand
that if she played ball she would become more important than the staff
she represented.
"She and the Staff Association encouraged the rest of the staff to bring
problems to their office. We had almost daily calls from the Attorney
General's Office because she advised women to make complaints if
they were discriminated against or harassed. She even boxed in Mark,
the university attorney, and just four years ago, she made a shambles of
personnel by kicking Greg, the director, out of the Staff Association.
"And that's not all. Under her direction, the Staff Association started to
by-pass personnel altogether. They investigated several grievances and
represented the grievers they felt were abused by the system.
"They started a staff newsletter to inform everyone about their rights--

especially concerning sex discrimination and sexual harassment. The
staff was told to stay away from the affirmative action office, which
was described as a tool of the personnel department, and take their
complaints directly to the Attorney General-- they even printed her
phone number, for Christ's sake. . . . "Trenchant and a committee met
with a federal EEOC investigator. He was presented with a list of staff
and faculty positions with a notation of the total number and how many
were held by women. The investigator was here to make sure the
university was in compliance for a million dollar federal research
grant."
Surprise suffused Jonathan's face. "How did she get that information,
Henry? I thought that was one of our better kept secrets."
The Vee exploded. "We were exceedingly careful never to publish
anything like that. Members of the Staff Association went through the
campus directory to compile the list. Took a lot of time, but they kept at
it."
"Sonofabitch!"
"Yeah," agreed Henry. Lyle gave her a faculty appointment to get her
out of staff politics. He had her teaching every semester with the hope
that she'd be too busy to cause anymore trouble. Next thing we know,
she's threatening to sue the NERD for plagiarism. You know the rest
and