ndwriting of more than one person.
At no time was any evidence presented that showed the standards sent by
the administration to the handwriting analysts to be the writing of
Diana."

Remarking on the fact that the committee was chaired by Henry Tarbuck
who had already decided that Diana was guilty, the A. G. wrote, "The
committee applied different rules of evidence to her and her witnesses,
it badgered them and cautioned them against giving hearsay testimony.

"The committee rejected direct evidence by one student who testified
under oath that she had written one of the 'suspect' documents. It
ignored the testimony of Diana as well as that of her witnesses."

Then the LOD turned to the report from the hearing committee that Henry
had authored. One paragraph stated: "The effect of the suspect
critiques on the two people who were said to have been hurt by them had
not been assessed, but did affect the individuals involved." To this,
the A.G. declared, "One questions the committee's findings as an
accurate reflection of the evidence. No underlying facts were stated
by the committee that explain its findings that 'individuals were
affected,' nor does the committee state how it could make that finding
while stating that it had not examined the effect."

As precedents or comparison, the LOD reported that no penalties were
imposed on two male Belmont faculty members, one who had altered
promotion papers, the other convicted of child molestation. It quoted
the testimony of Stacy Denton, the university psychologist. She had
declared she knew of many instances of faculty misconduct more serious
than what was alleged in this case. Those people had not been
terminated.

Concluding that the university's stated explanation for terminating
Diana was not worthy of credence, the report found there existed
probable cause for sex and age discrimination and disparate discipline
by Belmont against Diana.

The LOD was sent to the regional EEOC office which accepted it and
confirmed the acceptance with the A.G. by phone. The newspapers and
television reporters had a field day with it. Diana and her supporters
felt vindicated beyond measure. Almost everyone believed that it was
all over--that Diana had won. Congratulatory letters and phone calls
flowed to Diana and Belmont University administration was given a
verbal drubbing.

Chapter 39

The university PR system was cranked up to its fullest. Letters were
sent