Second Lanark

Revelations - Part 38

I stood outside the conference room in the Athletic's building, waiting for Faith to finish her interview before taking my turn. I was decked out in university varsity apparel from head to toe. I'd been told to dress in line with the team, so I'd worn almost every item the school had given me. Faith and I were posing for some photos before I was interviewed. I was a little nervous about talking to the reporter with so much at stake, but I was also determined to somehow either find out the source or get some hints at who might have leaked the information to the press.

The door opened and Faith came out, somber, but otherwise okay. When we made eye contact, she winked at me, and there was a whoosh of relief in my chest. It couldn't be that bad.

"Elizabeth?" A short, pert woman with dark brown hair and eyes thrust out her hand. "I'm Nadia Zemini – thanks so much for agreeing to talk to me."

We went out to the pool deck to get some shots with the pool as the backdrop. Once she was satisfied that at least one of them was probably good, we headed back to the conference room. As Faith was leaving, she called over her shoulder, "Call me later."

"You two are friends?" Nadia asked, taking a seat at the conference table.

"Yeah, we are. The team is really great, even with all this going on," I said, taking a seat across from her.

She gave me some easy questions to start, about the team, about my role in the team dynamics and then she started the questions about initiation. I gave her all the relevant details, and she just kept nodding her head as she was writing.

She asked a few questions to clarify things that happened that night and then she said, "So, what do you think should happen to those students who were part of organizing this hazing?"

I frowned, unsure how I was supposed to answer that. I already knew that Mark was going to be punished, but I didn't know if that was common knowledge. I thought about what the director had said about commenting on my experience.

"I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't know that a big punishment is warranted. I understand the university wants to prevent this from happening again and that it's against the school code of conduct, but it was a fun night. I always felt capable of stopping or not participating."

She cocked her head to the side and put the pen to her lips. "Do you think everyone who was there felt that way?"

"I wouldn't know," I admitted. I was tempted to add more, but I didn't want to dig a hole for myself. I couldn't defend anything beyond my experience and opinions.

She nodded and made a few more notes. "Do you have any questions for me about the flavor of the story or anything? I know you're a journalism major, so you might be curious."

I pretended to think for a minute. This might be easier than I thought. She'd opened the door to my curiosity rather nicely. "I always wonder how these stories come about. I mean, you must have a lead or a tip or something, right?"

She didn't look up from making her notes, but she nodded again. "Yeah, tips can come from all over the place. It can be anonymous or a source can want to be known or you can track them down."

"I'm guessing this lead would be pretty easy to figure out. It had to be a student, right?" I used my best 'well, d'uh' voice and hoped she might give a little more detail.

She looked up at me and smiled. "You'd think so. This tip was a weird one – anonymous but from a Senator's office number. We didn't bother to chase the source, there was enough detail to start the ball rolling with the university and to put some pressure on people here for the story. We don't want to bury anyone – many of the people who work in our office went to this school – but hazing is an outdated practice that can put students at risk. It was important that we investigated and followed up."