"That a transfer student has filed a misconduct complaint against Derek Stole, and that the situation is being watched carefully by the athletic department." She paused. "And that the student in question has an unusual quality of stillness about her that several people have independently remarked upon."
Ren wrapped her hands around her tea.
"I have been a professor at this institution for 31 years," Marsh said. "I have watched Derek Stole move through four years of undergraduate education in a way that has left damage in its wake that this institution has consistently declined to address. I have written three letters to student affairs. I have attended two faculty senate meetings at which the pattern of certain complaint resolutions was raised. I have been told, each time, that procedures were followed."
She looked at Ren directly. "I am tired of procedures being followed," she said. "I am interested in the right thing being done."
Ren looked back at her.
"I am going to ask you something directly," Marsh said. "And I would like you to answer directly, because I think you are someone who can."
"Go ahead," Ren said.
"Do you have what you need to make this work? Not to file a complaint. That has been done before, and it has not worked. Do you have what you need to make this actually work?"
Ren thought about the video from the cafeteria. The video from the courtyard. The threatening text, with its timestamp and unknown number. Tusk's contact in Columbus. Fuller's commitment to keep the hearing on schedule. Seth's account.
She thought about what was still missing.
"Almost," she said. "There are two things I still need."
"What are they?"
Ren set down her tea. "I need the three previous complaint files in their original form," she said. "Not the summaries in the current system. The originals, before they were closed. If those files exist anywhere outside the managed record."
Marsh was very still for a moment.
Then she stood up. She went to the bookshelf on the far left wall, the one that held not books but a series of labeled binders organized by year. She ran her finger along them. She pulled out one from 6 years ago and one from 7 years ago. She set them on the desk in front of Ren.
"I was on the faculty conduct review committee for 12 years," she said. "When a complaint is filed, committee members receive copies of the supporting documents for review. I kept mine. I keep everything." She paused. "When the digital records were migrated to the new system 4 years ago, certain documents were not transferred. I noticed this at the time. I made additional copies."
Ren looked at the binders.
"That is one thing," Marsh said. "What is the second?"
Ren looked up at her. "Deanna Marsh," she said. "No relation. Columbus. Civil engineering."