Freshman Just Wanted Dinner — Until Three Bullies Made a Mistake That Cost Them Everything
Chapter 32
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Tyler's lawyer was on his feet: he was talking about chain of custody and preliminary evidence and the need for independent verification. Dean Hargrove asked him to sit down.Then Carol presented the security footage from Miller's Diner. She had a laptop and a projector; the footage played on the wall at the end of the conference room: no audio, just a clear, wide-angle image of what had happened on Friday night—Tyler watching Claire's laptop sticker, Tyler walking to the back to make a call, Tyler returning, the water glass, Marcus's hands on his phone under the napkin.The room watched all of this in silence.When the footage ended, Tyler's lawyer said something about public spaces and the inadmissibility of third-party recordings.Carol said, "The footage was provided by the property manager, who is the sole authorized administrator of the security system. It was obtained lawfully. It is admissible."She then submitted the three prior student complaint files: Rachel Brennan, Devin Harris, Priya Okafor. She noted the routing note in each file: the two letters JW in the margin. She said the university's general counsel office had identified a pattern of complaints filed against scholarship students over an eighteen-month period; all three students had left the university following the complaints; none of the complaints had been fully and independently adjudicated. She said she wished to submit these files as evidence of an institutional pattern.Tyler's lawyer was speaking again. He was less polished now: the words were coming faster, and the structure was looser.Dean Hargrove was very still at the center of the panel table.The door opened. Everyone in the room turned. Two men walked in:The first was a tall man in his sixties, silver-haired—the kind of posture that comes from decades of being the most senior person in any room he walked into. This was President Arthur Keene of Hartwell University. He had come himself. He sat in a chair along the side wall without a word.The second man was Nate Aldrich. He had a notebook and a recorder. He sat in the back row of observer chairs; he did not say anything either.Tyler Weston looked at both of them. For the first time that morning, Tyler Weston looked like a person who was uncertain.Dean Hargrove said he understood there was an additional matter to be addressed before the panel continued.Carol said, "Yes."She placed the Eleanor Matthews gift agreement on the table. She placed the codicil beside it. She read paragraph seven aloud:"Any institutional action that disproportionately targets, penalizes, or seeks to remove scholarship recipients identified under this agreement without full independent adjudication shall constitute a breach of this gift agreement. In the event of such breach, the donor or the donor's designated heir retains the right to seek legal remedy."She said, "Claire Elizabeth Matthews, the respondent in this complaint, is the designated heir named in the codicil. She has the legal standing to assert a breach claim."