The Hearing - Part 3

CASE HEARING RACISM

Chair:                           Professor Deltdrick Ross, Head of Electrical Engineering

Department

Committee Members:   Professor Floyd Bohrer, Architecture

                                    Professor Elena O’Brien, Civil Engineering

                                    Professor Moses Fogel, Mineral and Mining Engineering

Witnesses:                    Delbert Ballas, Electrical Engineering student

                                    Frank Covington Posey, Electrical Engineering student

Agnes Davis, Electrical Engineering student

                                    Carlo Erickson, Electrical Engineering student

                                    John Martin, Electrical Engineering student

                                    Yolanda Miller, Electrical Engineering student

                                    Angeline O’Connell, Electrical Engineering student

                                    Jennifer Wallace, Electrical Engineering student

Logan Wittels, Electrical Engineering student

Professor Phyllis Bligh, Electrical Engineering

Professor Richard Grant, Electrical Engineering

Victim:              Frieda Pianas, Electrical Engineering student

                                   

Accused:                      Jennifer Miller, Electrical Engineering student

                                    Dina Wise, Electrical Engineering student

Professor Deltdrick Ross is leafing through the papers in front of him.

DR:                              Ah, here we go: Could Agnes C. Davis, please make it to the witness stand?

Agnes Davis looks a bit flustered and insecure, when she takes her seat.

DR:                              Ms. Davis, tell us about what you heard three weeks ago.

Agnes Davis (AD) doesn’t look up and clasps and re-clasps her fingers: Well, Ms. Miller started to tell something funny to Ms. Wise. I’m not sitting too far away, so I could hear it was some kind of joke. Ms. Wise thought it was funny and laughed out loud, drawing the attention of Mr. Ballas, Mr. Covington Posey, Mr. Erickson, Mr. Martin, Ms. Yolanda Miller, Ms. Wallace and Mr. Wittels. I… I tried not to listen in, but the joke Ms. Miller told next wasn’t funny in my opinion and racist. I don’t remember the exact wording, but it went along the line: Why do Hispanic women hate swans? Nobody knew the answer, so Ms. Miller gave it. She said swans are beautiful and generally know who the father of their babies is. Everyone of the group surrounding Ms. Miller laughed. I thought it was odd Ms. Miller was telling such an inappropriate joke, since one of her friends was Columbian American. She was encouraged by Ms. Wise to tell another joke. That one was about a Middle Eastern, Hispanic and an American drinking together in a bar. They all have guns. In the end the American shoots the other two, because he thinks there are too many illegal immigrants that he hasn’t to drink with the same twice. The small group found it funny. I didn’t. I think Ms. Pianas heard at least one of the jokes. She was absent minded and not talkative for the rest of the day.

EOB:                            Who is Ms. Pianas?

AD:                              She is … I mean … was befriended with Ms. Wise and Ms. Miller. Ms. Pianas is from Columbia.

EOB:                            Did you speak to Ms. Pianas about what happened?

AD (shakes her head):  Not immediately. I was too shocked myself and wanted to talk with Mr. Wittels, my boyfriend, about it. We decided we didn’t want anything to do with the others and Ms. Pianas probably neither. Logan – Mr. Wittels – also thought we should inform one of our Professors, because the student’s behavior had been unacceptable, and it was better to hopefully stop racism before it got out of hand.

We divided the tasks. Mr. Wittles went to Professor Bligh, while I offered Ms. Pianas to sit beside us the next day. I told her I was sorry about the other’s behavior and not everyone was racist. Ms. Pianas accepted our offer.

EOB:                            Was this the end of it?

AD (plays with her fingers): I … No. There were two other incidents. I don’t know if                                        the first had anything to do with it, but the second…

EOB:                            Tell us about them.

AD:                              Well, about a few days after the incident Ms. Pianas came into

class and told me she was a bit late, because she had to go to

the administration and called the police. Somebody had scratched her car. It’s an old timer, a Porsche from the 60ies, so the repair was going to be very expensive.

EOB:                            Was the police able to locate the guilty party?

AD:                              Not as far as I know.

EOB:                            You said there were two incidents. What was the second one?

AD:                              Around two weeks ago I was concerned. Ms Miller, Wise and

                                    Pianas weren’t at their seats. I went looking for Ms. Pianas. One of the places I wanted to look was the ladies rest room.

When I opened the door I was nearly run over by Ms. Pianas. I asked what was wrong, but didn’t get an answer. She seemed stressed and didn’t answer either where she was going to. I followed her, and we ended up at Professor Bligh’s office. Ms. Pianas asked, if she could talk to Professor Bligh and was granted access. I had to wait outside. Professor Bligh asked me a few minutes later to come in and tell her what I had seen in the rest room. It wasn’t much. I caught a short glimpse of Ms. Miller sitting on the floor and Ms. Wise was hovering near the entrance. I guess the three had an altercation.

EOB:                            Thank you, Ms. Davis, for shedding light on the issue.

AD:                              Thank you.

©2012