His interest had been whetted when the story first broke. Everyone repeating it on campus was incredulous....termination for cause on account of seven SmurFFs? Really? It must be a joke.
But Igor, casting out his informational net, discovered that it wasn't. It was discrimination, pure and simple and he, because of his race, knew discrimination when he came on it.
He remembered how close he had come to not landing his present position. A man in his late forties, he had impeccable credentials and years of experience in archival work. He was also an African American. Strong, competent and unassuming, he had applied for the posted position of senior archivist and then waited for the decision from personnel.
Time passed. They told him they were still interviewing, but he had learned from a contact he had made in the library that they had reposted the advertisement for the job because no qualified applicants had been sent from personnel. That was how Igor's pool of informational sources began.
Then suddenly, he was called in for an interview. By now his contacts had grown and he discovered that his name had won him the job. Someone in the personnel department had inadvertently listed him to the library as a viable candidate based on his last name.... obviously Irish. His race had been overlooked.
The library director was delighted with his credentials and called him in for an interview. This firmly established to all and sundry that he was black. Back then, tokenism was rampant so when the director hired him, the administration went along with it, albeit reluctantly. After all, the archives were in the basement, who would notice?
Now having enjoyed many years at Belmont and made many friends, he was turning the last few pages of his scrapbook. It was by now a huge tome, meticulously kept and recently augmented by Diana's contribution of letters, court papers and related documents. He had reached the final section dealing with the people involved and the aftermath.
Grimly, he noted that despite the several instances of plagiarism committed by the two faculty men, Ian Heathson and Randy Fecesi, they were promoted and given tenure. The years of adverse student evaluations of their teaching abilities were all thrown out on the basis of five 'suspect' ones and Henry's report.
Randy, at the insistence of the medical students, was moved out of the medical radiology course and into an undergraduate nutrition course. A year later there were problems involving some of the young women in the course. The women were hushed up and Randy was given an immediate sabbatical of indefinite length.
Ian continued in the radiology course but was never able to capture any grants to continue his research.