Monday morning began just as it was supposed to. Bryce arose at six, and, leaving his partner to snooze for another two hours, made his way to the campus fitness center by the time it opened at 6:30. There he met his usual workout partners, Curtis and Roland, and sweated with them for the next hour and a half on the machines and in the sauna. While they worked out, they also talked about campus events. Bryce shared the news from his father, which was confirmed by Roland, who had spent some time with his uncle, Mark Castleman, going over campus events. Roland was also able to report that the conversation between Sterling Winslow and Annette Rimbault resulted in a list of the eleven suspended students, and the families of all eleven had been contacted. Two students had gone home, but the other nine remained in Clifton, and, in fact, were attending most of their classes. The faculty, it seems, were simply ignoring the Administration’s decision to suspend them. In most classes, no roll call was carried out, so there was no record of who attended and who did not unless there was a test or something else to be handed in. In this instance, the Faculty Senate faithfully reflected the general opinion of the faculty that the Administration was acting unjustly, probably attempting to cover up some unethical dealing. That usually meant something having to do with money.
Encouraged by what Roland had to say, Bryce returned to his apartment in good spirits. In their usual manner, Bryce woke Damon, who prepared breakfast while Bryce got himself ready for class. Bryce complimented his partner, saying his breakfasts were getting better all the time.
“That’s Caroline’s influence,” Damon replied. “She told me about the things I can mix into the scrambled eggs, or in an omelet, that enhance the flavor. That’s her phrase, ‘enhance the flavor.’”
“Well, it’s working. These eggs are delicious,” Bryce declared. “What did you put in them?”
“This morning I’m experimenting with a touch of cinnamon,” Damon revealed.
That rang a bell in Bryce’s memory, but he could not imagine what it was he was supposed to remember about cinnamon.
As Bryce cleared off, putting dishes in the dish washer and clearing the table, Damon departed to begin his own preparations for the morning. He was still at it when Bryce left to walk to campus for his 9:00 class with Dr. Anjot. Damon’s first class was not until 10:00.
On the way to class, Bryce stopped by Dinklemore Hall to check in with the placard carriers from the LGBT Club. They were at their stations, and just as on Saturday they were joined by others from across campus. He spoke with Scott Huong, the member of the LGBT Club Executive Committee, who was in his ROTC fatigues.
“I didn’t want the whole campus thinking the entire battalion was made up of homophobes,” Scott said with a grin.
Scott was accompanied by his brother George, who was a pledge of Sigma Alpha Tau. He poked his brother and added, “And I didn’t want everyone thinking it was only queers and perverts who were upset by injustice.”
Scott clasped his hand over his brother’s mouth. “I know you’re just being an obnoxious little brother, but some people who don’t know you might take that seriously.”
“Sorry,” George said. “I guess I should leave pestering my older brother to more private places and times.”
“See,” Scott said to Bryce, “even little brothers can learn.”
“You two behave,” Bryce admonished them. “I have classes the next two hours, but I’ll be back at eleven to put in my time on the picket line.”
With that, he departed for Dumesnil Hall and his French class. This was the last class on Jean Racine. Dr. Anjot was summing up, after having in previous classes analyzed Racine’s plays minutely. When the instructor mentioned Jansenism, one of the students commented, “I’ve seen that word used several times in connection with the troubles leading to Racine’s withdrawal from the stage, but I’m not sure what it means.”
Rather than embarrass the student by pointing out that he might have consulted an encyclopedia or Wikipedia on line, Dr. Anjot turned to Bryce. “M. Winslow, I believe you are covering this topic in your paper. Would you give us a brief definition of the Jansenists.”
Bryce responded, “If you would think of the English Puritans about this same time, like Cromwell and his followers, and then have them speaking French, you have a decent working idea of who the Jansenists were.”
“Tres pr�cis. Tres exact,” the Professor lauded his student.
Marc Rimbault gave Bryce a very searching look, but said nothing.
In his English class the next period, Dr. Drake was lecturing on Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726). This transplanted Fleming had an interesting career, which included four years in a French prison for spying. His plays are not especially memorable, but are typical of the period. While the term “Restoration” might not be appropriate in the political sphere after 1688, it continues to be used in the literary realm into the following century. Sir John produced The Relapse, or Virtue in Danger in 1696 and The Provok’d Wife the following year to considerable audience approval, but was never again as successful.
But Vanbrugh achieved success in another, and seemingly totally unrelated, sphere. He was also an architect, in the shadow of the great Sir Christopher Wren. He designed Castle Howard in Yorkshire, built beginning in 1699, and made famous worldwide in the film version of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. Originally filmed for television, the cinema version came out in 2008, both featuring this impressive stately home. Sir John was the first person knighted by King George I at the time of the Hanoverian Succession in 1714.
Something like the problems Racine had were also experienced by Vanbrugh and others. Jeremy Collier (1650-1726), clergyman of the Church of England, attacked the stage as frivolous, blasphemous, and immoral in his Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage (1698). This led Bryce to consider that only a comparative study of any given period could be complete. Any which focused solely on one nation was bound to be incomplete and misleading. How many people studying conditions in the American colonies before the Revolution were familiar with the parallel conditions in Ireland? How many who lauded the writings of Thomas Paine or Thomas Jefferson knew of the parallel writings of Edmund Burke? But then Bryce sighed. With more and more Political Correctness and emphasis on gender, race, and class in so-called “Social Studies” classes (I don’t think they teach history in the public grade schools and high schools any more, he mused), how many people even knew about Paine, or Jefferson, or even George Washington. Who is that guy with the funny hair on the one dollar bill, anyway?
As Bryce’s thoughts wandered into these depressing channels, he was interrupted by movement around him. The class had ended, and he was being left behind by his classmates. “Sleep well?” Mike Sandoval kidded as he thumped Bryce on the back.
Bryce shook himself and rose, following Mike out, and with him headed to the quad to see how the situation there was developing. On the way, Mike asked, “Did you see The Herald this morning?
“Oh, that’s right. Annette said there would be a third article. No, I never read the local paper, so I didn’t think about it. My brain has not been working at full capacity lately,” Bryce complained.
“You can get a copy in the Union later, if they’re not all sold out,” Mike said. “We get it at home. Basically, it quoted anonymous sources as saying there were parallels between the attack on Peter Boyington and that last year on Damon. It then cited a memorandum from the President’s office to the Campus Security people telling them to lay off ‘harassing’ ... that’s the word quoted ... Campbell and Lomax. This was followed by recap of the trial of those two last year, with due mention that the guilty verdict was now under appeal. But the real kicker was a list of donations to the University Development Fund from the Campbell, Lomax, and Cuttlesworth interests, both individually and their businesses, with amounts and dates. Supposedly, this is public information, available on demand to any citizen, although no one had asked previously, evidently.”
“Oh boy! I’ll bet that went over well in Dinklemore Hall,” Bryce exclaimed.
By this time, the two had made their way to the front of the named Dinklemore Hall, where Bryce relieved another student who had to get to class. Mike saw Denny Burgess, a member of his fraternity, there with a placard. When Denny said he also had to get to class, Mike offered to carry his sign for the next hour. There remained twice as many placard carriers who were not LGBT members as who were. There was another ROTC student, in this case in his dress uniform, who, Bryce found, had relieved Scott Huong an hour ago. There were females from Gamma Nu, a well-respected sorority. There were two students from the student newspaper, who were protesting the gag order imposed on them. Patricia Murphy was there with a sign identifying her as a member of the Newman Club. She informed Bryce that if he did not watch his tongue, she would organize a protest against him as well. Bryce also discovered Wayne Diebold, the football player who had overcome his homophobia last year with Bryce’s help. He was carrying a sign that proclaimed ‘Jocks for Justice.’
“Very clever,” Bryce commented on the slogan. “Did you come up with that yourself?” he asked Wayne.
Blushing, the jock replied, “Naw. It was one of your friends. You know Kurt, don’t you?”
“Kurt Bordenkircher? Sure. He’s a member of my fraternity,” Bryce acknowledged. “He came up with this?”
“Yup. He’s on the team with me,” Wayne said.
“Of course. You’re both on the football team. How’s the homecoming game shaping up next weekend?” Bryce asked.
“We’re going to whop the Hilltoppers,” Wayne assured him. “Will you be at the game?”
“Sure. Sigma Alpha Tau has a float in the parade, and the whole fraternity will turn out to cheer you on,” Bryce promised.
The time was passed congenially in this manner until about quarter before noon, when a secretary came out and announced, “You students can go away. The President has decided to readmit the students who were suspended last Wednesday.”
Everyone cheered, and prepared to disburse. But then Bryce thought of something. “Wait a minute,” he called. “What about the records? Will any of this appear on the students’ records?”
“Yeah,” Mike seconded him. “How about that?”
“I don’t know,” the obviously flustered woman said. “I was just told to tell you they have been reinstated.”
“I don’t think that’s sufficient,” Bryce said. “Those students do not deserve to have something like ‘suspended for endangering the peace of the campus’ or whatever it was they were accused of, on their permanent records, and then let the Administration look like they were being generous for granting a pardon, when it was the Administration which was at fault in the first place.”
“Yeah, Bryce is right,” George Huong said. “We stay until we know those students were treated right.”
Most of the others who had been protesting agreed, and refused to leave.
“Oh, dear,” the secretary (who was officially entitled an Executive Assistant) said, and ducked back inside.
It was nearly half an hour later when Dr. Burnett, the Vice-President for Student Affairs, emerged from the building. Just as at the LGBT meeting the previous Wednesday, he was accompanied by three members of the Campus Security team, not including John Zoeller. He looked very uncomfortable as he announced, “The eleven students who were suspended following the demonstrations last Wednesday have been reinstated in good standing, and all reference to this incident has been expunged from their student records.”
A great cheer went up from the assembled students, both those with placards and those who merely came to see what was happening. With that, the students began to disperse. Bryce found himself joined by Damon, who had put in an appearance when his class let out around noon. They turned to head for the Union to get some lunch. As they did, Bryce espied Annette Rimbault.
“Congratulations, Annette,” he praised her. “This is mostly your doing. Those were killer articles.”
“Thanks. I really put some effort into them. But I’m suspicious. Last I heard the President was talking about dismissing me from school and suing The Herald. Why this turn-around?” she wondered.
“Couldn’t tell you, unless the threat of a counter-suit from my dad and the other lawyers played a role,” Bryce speculated.
“I’m going to ask my source in the VPSA’s office whether there’s anything, even if I can’t publish it,” Annette decided.
“Let me know if you find anything,” Bryce asked.
“Depends on what it is,” Annette honestly answered.
Bryce and Damon decided to take their lunches outside to the patio opening off the cafeteria. Even though it was mid October, it was a sunny day, and warm for the season. Despite this effort to achieve a degree of privacy, however, no fewer than four students came by to congratulate them on the successes of the protests. They didn’t know Bryce or Damon, but had seen them standing in front of Dinklemore Hall with placards. Another student was known to Bryce personally. This was Bob Bentley, the member of the LGBT Executive Committee who had favored Josh Young’s approach to the issues back at Tuesday’s Ex-Com meeting.
“I guess your approach worked better than mine,” Bob admitted. “I’m glad to be officially back in school.”
“Back in school?” Bryce asked.
“Yeah. I was one of the suspended ones, didn’t you know?” Bob asked.
“Sorry, Bob. I knew Annette had the list, and I knew Josh was on it because he was in the hospital. But I never looked at the entire list,” Bryce admitted.
‘Yeah. I got the stuffing knocked out of me on Wednesday. Nothing really serious, but I was lying there when you two came questioning that guy in fatigues. Last night my folks got a call from one Sterling Winslow, so I figured you were involved,” Bob explained.
“Sterling Winslow is my dad,” Bryce said. I spoke with him yesterday afternoon, and he asked about a list, so I put him in touch with Annette, who wrote all the articles. He and two other lawyers got in touch with the families of all the suspended students. Two things come to mind right away, Bob. If you or your family incurred any medical expenses as a result of that melee on Wednesday, and the University refuses to reimburse you, that’s one thing. The other is, if you find that there are any negative entries in your file with the VPSA or anywhere else on campus resulting from that demonstration, then you need to lets us know. My dad, or one of the other lawyers will see to it that this is taken care of.”
“I appreciate it, Bryce. I was treated at the University Health Center. My situation was not serious. But if they try to bill me, I’ll let you know. Likewise, I’m planning on graduate school elsewhere, and so my records are important. I’ll be sure to check before anything is sent out,” Bob replied.
Shortly before one o’clock, Damon left for his Spanish class. Bryce went to check their campus mail. So much was going on that he had not even thought about that since Thursday. There was a card from Nathan Graves addressed to his Uncle Damon, which Bryce was certain Damon would appreciate. But there was also a letter from a Mrs. Sharon Whittakers of Cleveland, Ohio, addressed to Bryce. This was a response to his enquiry of the Greater Cleveland Genealogical Society asking about someone to continue the search for Damon’s ancestors. His own on-line efforts seemed to have hit a brick wall. Mrs. Whittakers outlined her qualifications, and promised to do a thorough search, but, of course, could not promise success. She included a letter of reference from the President of the Society attesting to her qualifications and past successes. Hence, Bryce decided to engage her services, and sent off a reply right away, including references to all he had gathered to this point. This information was handily stored on his laptop in a secret file, which Damon would be unlikely to access.
That accomplished, Bryce went off to visit Peter Boyington in the hospital, telling himself at the same time he also needed to visit Josh Young. He stopped before entering Peter’s room, and sent off an e-mail to Josh asking how he was.
At the hospital, Bryce found Peter in good spirits. Evidently, the books David Simpson brought him the night before were alleviating his boredom. They talked for a time about the settings of the three stories, with Thomas and Charlotte Pitt living in the last phase of the reign of Queen Victoria . Bryce noted that Victoria came to the throne in 1837 as a nineteen year old girl, and lived until 1901, the longest reign in English history, so the term ‘Victorian’ had to be modified. Lord Peter Wimsey, on the other hand, served in World War I, and his first mystery story takes place after that, with the series in fact covering about 15 years from the early 1920’s to the mid 1930’s. Finally, the Annie Darling stories are set in contemporary America. The historical differences are increased by the first two being English and the third American. Thus, it required some shift in mental parameters when going from one to the other.
“That’s probably good,” Peter remarked. “It’ll keep me from getting mentally rusty while my leg gets back into useful shape.”
They also commented on the fact that the best detective stories were written by women, but were unable to draw any definite conclusions from that. By the time he completed his visit to the hospital, Bryce found that it was just about time for the medieval England class. As he made his way toward Filson Hall, he encountered Dr. Dickinson heading in the same direction.
“Ah, Mr. Winslow,” the Professor greeted him.
Bryce almost burst into giggles, as it suddenly occurred to him that this greeting made it sound as though the Professor was surprised to find him on campus. However he restrained himself, and answered very politely, “Good afternoon, Professor.”
“I have been to another meeting of the Faculty Senate officers. If you would be so kind, please convey to Miss Rimbault that the Senate will, at its next meeting, consider a resolution commending her for her role in exposing an injustice on campus.”
“I’ll certainly be glad to do so, Professor,” Bryce said. “Annette lives in the same building as do I. In fact, the place you recommended, the home of Dr. Caldwell. I shall have no difficulty conveying this message, and I’m sure she will be delighted to receive it.”
“Good, good! Well, I must be off to my office to collect my notes before we continue the effort to unite the British Isles,” Dr. Dickinson proclaimed, and scurried up the staircase to his office.
When Dr. Dickinson entered the classroom, he surprised everyone by asking for a show of hands. How many of the class had seen the film Braveheart? About half the class responded. “Ah, well, it did come out about 15 years ago, when most of you were barely weaned,” he commented. That did not go down well with some of the students, but Dr. Dickinson was a master at ignoring reactions he did not want to recognize. For the rest of the period, he compared the historical situation with that depicted in the film. He commented on the fact that William Wallace was not a highland farmer, but a lowland landowner. He noted that no one in the thirteenth century wore kilts like those shown in the movie. He mentioned the irony that in the film the Battle of Sterling Brig was depicted without a bridge, which is the meaning of the Scottish term ‘brig.’ The bridge played a significant role in the outcome of the struggle. He saved the last two inaccuracies for last. In the film, it is implied that William Wallace had an affaire with Isabelle of France, wife of Prince Edward, the future Edward II. At the time of Wallace’s capture and death, Isabelle was in fact thirteen years old, living in France. He died in 1305, but she did not arrive in England until 1308. While it is implied in the film that Wallace was the father of Edward III, he was not born until 1312. “That,” Dr. Dickinson observed, “would have been the longest pregnancy on record.” Finally, Dr. Dickinson noted that the term ‘brave heart’ was traditionally applied to Robert Bruce, not to William Wallace at all.
As he prepared to leave the classroom, Dr. Dickinson noted, “It was a good film, which is a shame. More people will believe the film than the facts of British history. This afternoon I shall not cite the ‘Memorable History’ of Messrs. Sellar and Yeatman, as Mr. Gibson has outdone them in presenting a memorable but totally inaccurate account of history.”
Chris Robles, who had purchased his own copy of 1066 and All That, mentioned to Bryce that a lot of the inaccuracies mentioned by Dr. Dickinson, including confusing Wallace and Bruce, were also found in that little volume. “I wonder,” he speculated, “whether Mel Gibson owned a copy of 1066 and All That.”