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“You’re mulling it over. That’s good.”
“I’m trying to decide how full of it you are.”
She laughs. “The only one who’s full of it is the dean. I don’t get why you’re not more angry about this. You’re being targeted for your sexuality!”
“That’s not entirely true. I’m still heterosexual. Mark and John are the ones who are bisexual.”
“Fine. They’re being targeted. It’s semantics. You get what I’m saying.”
“I don’t get it, Jessica. I appreciate that you’re on my side, but I don’t want you to take this too far.”
“I never take things too far.”
I shoot her a look. Once, a tree was going to be cut down in our neighborhood. Jessica knew nothing about the tree or the street where it stood. She just decided that she was going to stop it from being cut down, so she stood in front of it from dawn until dusk for a week.
The tree got cut down anyway because it was super dead and would have been dangerous to keep up. Jessica hadn’t known that it was a safety hazard. She had unintentionally put four houses in danger.
“It was one time!” she exclaims, but we both know that isn’t true. “Okay, fine, but that’s not what’s happening now. I’m telling you, Mari. This punishment is stemming from the bisexual part of your relationship, not the professor/student part.”
“Jessica, it’s written right in the handbook that professors can’t date TA’s and that neither professors nor TA’s can date students. I had to read the stupid page aloud, remember?”
“Yeah, and I’m pissed about that, too. However, I believe that if it had been just you and John involved, the punishment would’ve been less severe.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Want to bet?”
“What?”
“I think I can prove I’m right.”
“If you can prove it, go for it.”
Jessica hops off the bed to get her phone from her coat pocket. She opens up a search engine and starts looking for proof. I doubt she’s going to find anything. I’m not even sure what she thinks she might find. Is there a secret forum for professors who got fired for having illicit relationships with students?
The thought makes me laugh. I should look for a support group to join. Like Jessica said, these kinds of relationships happen all of the time. There’s bound to be a community out there for me.
It seems like a joke, but maybe it would be a good idea. Jessica clearly doesn’t understand what I’m going through. Mark and John do to an extent, but it’s still different for them. They’re set after this because of their other work, but what will I do when this is over? I’m not strong enough for the ridicule I’m sure to face when the story breaks.
“Got it!” Jessica exclaims. “I knew I remembered a story about this recently. Here’s one from last semester, and it happened here at NYU.”
She hands me the phone so I can read the article. It talks about a student and a professor who were caught in a relationship. It even names them both. I guess they’re allowed to do that since they’re both adults. I don’t want my name in an article, though!
At the end of this article, it outlines the punishment that the professor and the student faced.
My jaw hits the floor.
“She was forced to drop his class? That’s it?”
Jessica nods. “See? I told you. The dean may have talked a big game, but you’re being discriminated against. This professor still teaches here, and the student still goes here. Neither of them were actually punished. I doubt they even faced any backlash from their peers.”
This is insane. “Dr. Dryer made it seem like the same punishment would be given to anyone who made this mistake.”
“She was lying. She doesn’t want to get in trouble for forcing out a bi professor and a bi grad student.”
This still seems insane, but the proof is right in front of me in print. Dean Dryer is even named in the article as heading the investigation into the allegations. I can’t chalk it up as different people having different methods when the same woman is involved in both cases.
I start to cry again. Jessica returns to the bed and holds me as I sob into her shoulder.
Tomorrow morning, I’ll wake up with another headache, just like I did this morning. My eyes were only just starting to lose their puffiness, and here I go bringing it back. I hate crying. I blame the pregnancy for all of these tears.
Then again, I think I’d be upset even if I wasn’t pregnant. This is all a lot to handle, especially knowing what I know now.
I may not have believed Jessica when she first started spewing her theory, but I can’t deny the evidence she’s presented.
“Jessica, I’m so fucking scared.”
She strokes my hair. “Don’t be, sweetie. You have me, and you have Mark and John. You have this baby. Everything is going to be okay.”
