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At that press conference, Eden and his attorneys discussed whether or not to play
a particular answering machine tape to the reporters. They decided, in the spirit
of the moment, not to do so. The message was from Eden's first judicial advisor,
Fran Walker, director of student life, whom he had chosen in January 1993 from
the list of "good and well-trained advisors" presented to him by the Judicial
Office. On the Tuesday after the May 14 hearing, alarmed by the aberrant
university police report that the JIO had been planning to introduce as the
compelling document of the case, Kors had called Walker to confirm, once again,
that she had been present when Robin Read had stipulated that her investigation
showed that Eden had said merely "water buffalo" and "zoo," and not any epithets.
She confirmed that. Asked if she would put that it writing or testify to it at a
hearing, she said that she would have to get the permission of the general counsel
to do so. Reminded that she was a critical witness in a judicial system that
promised "substantive justice" to "the University community," she replied,
candidly, "I am not just a member of the university community. I am an
administrator, and my attorney in this instance is the general counsel.
I must get the permission of the university's general
counsel."51 The next
day, she left a message on Kors' answering machine: "The general counsel's
office has instructed me that I am not permitted to testify about that meeting."
*****
The aftermath? The administration appointed a university commission to
investigate what went wrong in the water buffalo case. In April 1994, it
concluded that there had been two main sets of villains: first, Jacobowitz
and Kors, for talking to the press and taking the case outside the university;
and second, the Pennsylvania ACLU, for "interfering" in a purely internal
university matter, and even threatening to take the University to the nation's
courts. Penn's judicial system, it reported formally, "could not withstand
the stress of intense publicity and international
attention."52 That is indeed
true at most universities. It is why we are writing this book. Penn's report
was reminiscent of those Southern sheriffs in the early 60s talking about
"outside agitators" stirring up trouble in their counties, where justice was
fine, thank you. Well, academic justice is not fine, as we shall discover.
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shadowu@world.std.com
9/19/98
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