Ah, Closure

Nothing like waiting for class to end on Friday to find out if I’m no longer “the accused”, or if I’ll be spending the rest of my University career in pinstripes. Sure, the MBA Program left me a letter at the office regarding “The Threat”. But, of course, they don’t open until noon. Agony.

The result? Read the letter for yourself:

Dear Brendon

This is in response to your September 17, 2002 email to Anne DeWolfe and me.

Anne and I met with Kara McNair and you on September 17, 2002 to discuss an allegation that you made a verbal threat on September 10, 2002 in the Core Classroom. Theresa Pan, Manager Exchange Program, thought she overheard you make a threat, which was not directed at a specific individual.

At our meeting, you were given an opportunity to respond to the allegation and you denied making the verbal threat. You also agreed with us that it would be inappropriate and unacceptable to make such a threat. Given your response, we now consider this matter closed. There is no record of this issue on your student file.

If you have concerns regarding the Core administration, please see Steve Alisharan, Core Team Leader.

Yours truly,

Brian Bemmels

There you have it. Closure.

While I’m relieved with the result, I’m still disturbed by the implication: we’re watching you. Is this the way a university is supposed to operate? Last time I checked, universities were supposed to be pillars of freedom of speech. Even my father was shocked:

But seriously, the latest “Nasty Little Shock” is really scary. Are people really that paranoid?

In this post-Columbine, post-WTC, post-Age-of-Innocence atmosphere, there’s a question we should be asking ourselves as a result of this incident: Are we, as a society, just looking for trouble in every corner now, even when it’s not there? Instead of solving the real problems, are we just going out there, looking for problems to solve because we don’t actually know how to begin solving the real problems?

Want to solve real problems? Here’s a hint: stop bullying people that have done nothing wrong.