Isobel Asks The Internet

XII - The Exposé

I leaked scandalous information about a professor who made inappropriate comments to me. Was this ethical?

Hey everyone!

So, a few days ago I was attending one of my university lectures (I am a part-time head manager of a supermarket while studying for a degree in physics). This was part of a module I was taking on plasma physics, a subject that I am deeply interested in, so I was very eager to attend this part of my course.

Although I was fascinated with my lecture, to my annoyance I had been receiving multiple SMS messages from Nigella, the people manager of my workplace, who was having an argument with the site manager, Quentin, about the fact that she had tried to hire military personnel for the premises without obtaining permission. I was trying to text her vaguely supportive messages while still paying attention, like "aw hun, that sounds like a problem" but I accidentally wrote "aw hun, that sounds like a plasma" (omfg).

Due to the fact that I am very accomplished, and have attended multiple seminars on multi-tasking, I was able to placate Nigella (not an easy task) AND absorb all of the information I needed from the lecture. I was, however, quite stressed by the end of the period, and it took me longer than everyone else to gather all my stuff together. As I moved onto the staircase in the centre of the lecture theatre, one of my books fell out of my bag. I bent down to retrieve it, but I was wearing a long, lavender-coloured, silk gown and heels so I lost my balance and fell all the way down to the bottom of lecture theatre where the professor (Dr. Sivam) was getting ready for his next class.

Dr. Sivam rushed over to me and helped me to my feet. I didn't require help, but I firmly believed in the power of humouring people so I allowed him to go through the motions. He asked me if I was alright, to which I replied "yes, thank you!" breezily. He then said to me "y'know, Isobel, maybe for the next lecture you should wear a bra". My jaw DROPPED (internally). I was astonished to hear him say this to any student, let alone a locally-acclaimed professional such as myself. I wasn't feeling at my best this morning, so I had dressed more for comfort than for style; I did not think that a bra would be necessary. 

I giggled awkwardly, flicked my hair over my shoulder and then left IMMEDIATELY. 

At first, I did not know what to do about this invasive comment. After thinking on it for a while, I realised that I needed to escalate this infraction in order to prevent it from happening again. I went to the student services office of the physics department, and asked to speak to the co-ordinator, Mary. Due to my reputation, I was seen very quickly.

Mary was SO dismissive.

After I had told her about my experience, she said "well, I guess Dr. Sivam shouldn't have said that to you, but have you considered this from his perspective?". My eyes rolled so hard that I could feel them scraping the back of my skull. 

Not reading the room, she continued; "As a man working with younger women, he has to exercise a certain amount of restraint. As women, we really shouldn't make that any harder for him". I was about to blow a fuse and primed myself to tear her argument into ribbons, when the door SLAMMED open and a panting woman who I did not recognise swanned in. I got to my feet, about to put the intruder in her place, but she spoke first.

"Mary! A fight has broken out in seminar room four. We need emergency mediation" the unknown interruptress yelled. 

Mary looked at me, and said that she wouldn't be long before leaving the room. I was APPALLED at her rudeness. I knew from her tone that nothing was going to be done, and I would have to take matters into my own, more dextrous hands. As Mary had left in a rush, she had left her computer monitor on and therefore her password would not be needed to access her files. I knew that she had access to faculty records, and therefore I decided that I would do some digging in her absence. If she (somehow) caught me then I would report her for a violation of data protection rules.

I accessed the files on Dr. Sivam. Most of the things listed in the file were procedural documents, but I knew that anything potentially scandalous would be found here too. There was a folder that was titled with the date of a few months ago, and I decided to investigate further. Inside the folder, there was a file titled "Inappropriate Relationship Report", which sounded promising. I moved the cursor on to the file's icon, and clicked it twice; this action would allow me to open the file, and subsequently read it's contents.

As Mary's computer was quite outdated, the file took a while to load. During this time, I decided to lock her office doors just in case she came back while I was investigating. The report contained details about how Dr. Sivam had been carrying out an inappropriate affair with a university student up until a couple of months ago. My jaw DROPPED when I saw the name of the student; it was MAVIS. What's more, the affair had continued right up until her death. 

I knew that I could use this to my advantage, so I uploaded the files to my Google Drive account; I paid for extra storage, so I knew that I could take it. Once I had done this, I returned everything to how it was before Mary had left. Before I had a chance to unlock the door, Mary returned and banged SO hard on the door. I let her in, and she asked me why I had locked her out of her office. I told her that I'd had a menstrual emergency; I had led several university-wide campaigns surrounding menstrual stigma, so she accepted this excuse readily.

She was ready to jump back into our WORTHLESS conversation, but I had everything that I needed. I told Mary that I wouldn't be proceeding with the complaint, and she said "ok hun!!! catch you later!!!" and got back to whatever work she had been doing before I had arrived.

I knew that I had to do something with the documents I had obtained. The report alone was damning to say the least, however I did some research to try and find out even more. I had hired a professional photographer for Mavis's funeral, so I looked back through the pictures that I had received from them. I saw a picture of all of the guests standing near to the electrical generator we had used that day and I spotted Dr. Sivam in the crowd; this looked SO suspicious. 

I gathered all of the evidence I had, and sent it all to Katie who was the vice-president of the student newspaper at the university. Usually all editorial decisions were signed off by the president, Winona, but she was away at a conference on publication ethics in Norway, so Katie was temporarily in charge. After I'd sent everything to Katie, she sent me a message saying "omfg. this is GOING in next weeks issue!".

When the newspaper came out, it caused SUCH a stir. The front cover of the newspaper was a close-up picture of Dr. Sivam's faculty picture, and there was also a picture of Mavis taken on the night she died. The article itself detailed what we knew about the affair, and that it had carried on right up until her death. Katie also made sure to end the article by stating that "questions are being asked surrounding the potential role that Dr. Sivam may have played in Mavis's death". We thought that including this might make Brindie, Debra and Marlene reconsider blaming us for the death of Mavis. However, Katie did also include the story about them sabotaging our blood donation event (with pictures of them SOAKED in cow blood) so that may have enraged them further. 

I'm SO proud of the article. Was this the right thing to do?