Some of you will have seen the post the other day. Apparently I made a girl “uncomfortable” via a text exchange (I assure you, there was nothing untoward on my part).
I pressed the University for details, and now I am told I am being formally investigated. They’ve formally accused me of misconduct, now, and told me that I must speak to them over the phone, this week…
For various reasons I won’t go into, I simply cannot do the phone thing, this week. I just can’t. I’ve told them so, and I’ve also told them that I will be seeking legal advice.
They linked me to a web page which essentially, very nebulously, outlines that anyone can make an allegation against a student, even anonymously, and it will be investigated, even if the situation in question has nothing to do with the University…
It even says “Anything can be sexual harassment, even if it only occurs once”. So I gather that is what I am up for…
Fuck me. This is so fucked…
My grandmother just died, among several other things. I have an enormous assignment due, that I haven’t had the opportunity to work on.
That is why I’m panicking. Not because I’m worried I’ll be “caught out”.
I’m far more worried I’ll miss a) the deadline, or b) my fucking grandmother’s funeral, in another state, a six hour flight away…
Edit: I basically watched my grandmother die, a few days ago, after myself being extremely ill, to the point of being in hospital, the 48 hours prior.
I was edgy before the allegations. Hence the inability to “manage” it calmly right now…
The University knows those things happened, and yet they, at the apparent insistence of my accuser, are still pressing on this week. Hence my “hysteria”, if you want to call it that…
you should tell the school those issues
I did. They literally didn’t care…
I got vague sympathy from subject coordinators, but not so much the “investigating” person…
Hence “panic”.
Hence my telling them: “I’m sorry, I can’t do this, this week. Please allow me to do this after this other stuff”
I didn’t get as much “understanding” as I guess I might have hoped…