Chapter 7: The Hearing
The Nashville Scholarship Ethics Board met on a Thursday morning in a building on Commerce Street that smelled like old carpet and recycled air.
Brittany arrived with her attorney, a careful, grey-haired man named Hargrove who had told her twice in the car to answer only what was asked and to keep her voice level.
Daniel arrived alone.
He nodded at Hargrove.
He did not look at Brittany.
The panel had three members.
The chair was a woman named Dr.
Patricia Osei, who had been running scholarship integrity reviews for the board for eleven years.
She had read both the original 2009 file and the current submission before the meeting began.
Her reading glasses were on the table in front of her.
She hadn't needed them.
"We're here to review a complaint originally filed in 2009," Dr.
Osei said, "which resulted in the revocation of a full academic scholarship awarded to Daniel Carter.
New evidence has been submitted requesting that the original finding be reversed and the record corrected." She looked at both sides of the table.
"This is not a criminal proceeding.
We are here to establish facts and determine whether a correction is warranted."
Hargrove opened his folder.
"My client acknowledges signing the original complaint.
She was eighteen years old and—"
"Mr.
Hargrove," Dr.
Osei said, "I'll let you know when it's time for statements."
He closed the folder.
The board spent forty minutes reviewing the submitted evidence.
The original complaint form.
The co-signers' statements.
Mr.
Aldridge's written account, notarized and witnessed.
Phone records from 2009 showing contact between Brittany and two of the co-signers in the forty-eight hours before the complaint was filed.
And a character statement from Daniel's former academic advisor, who had supervised his work for two years and described the cheating allegation as, in her professional opinion, entirely inconsistent with everything she had observed.
Then Dr.
Osei looked at Brittany.
"Ms.
Collins.
Is the signature on this complaint form yours?"
Hargrove touched Brittany's arm.
She ignored him.
"Yes," she said.
"It's mine."
"And did you have direct knowledge that Mr.
Carter had cheated on the entrance examination at the time you filed this complaint?"
A pause.
"No," she said.
"I didn't."
The room was very quiet.
"Why did you file it?"
Hargrove put his hand on her arm again.
More firmly this time.
Brittany looked at him.
Then she looked at the panel.
Then, for the first time since she'd walked into the room, she looked at Daniel.
He was watching her without expression.
No anger.
No satisfaction.
Just watching.
She turned back to the panel.
"Because I wanted the scholarship," she said.
"And I didn't think I could get it fairly.
So I tried to remove the competition." She paused.
"I was wrong.
I've known I was wrong for a long time."
Dr.
Osei made a note.
The panel conferred quietly for several minutes.
Then Dr.
Osei removed her glasses from the table — she still didn't put them on — and looked at both sides.
"The board finds that the 2009 complaint against Daniel Carter was filed without factual basis and that the revocation of his scholarship was therefore in error.
The record will be formally corrected.
A letter of acknowledgment will be issued to Mr.
Carter.
The names of all co-signers will be noted in the correction file, and the board will review whether further referrals are appropriate."
She paused.
"Ms.
Collins, the board will also be referring this matter to the state bar association's ethics committee, as your complaint involved the coercion of a licensed educator.
That process will be separate from today's proceedings."
Hargrove was already writing.
Brittany nodded once.
Slowly.
Dr.
Osei looked at Daniel.
"Mr.
Carter, do you have anything you'd like to say for the record?"
Daniel was quiet for a moment.
"Just that I hope this makes it easier for the next student," he said.
"The one who almost doesn't get a fair shot because someone else is afraid of fair competition." He paused.
"That's all."
Dr.
Osei held his gaze for a moment.
Then she wrote something on her notepad, capped her pen, and said, "We're adjourned."
In the hallway afterward, Brittany stood by the elevator while Hargrove spoke quietly on his phone.
The corridor was empty except for the two of them and Daniel, who was waiting for the other elevator down the hall.
"Daniel," she said.
He turned.
She walked toward him.
Stopped a few feet away.
"I know it doesn't fix anything," she said.
"But I am sorry.
Not because I got caught.
I've been sorry for a long time."
He looked at her for a moment.
"I know," he said.
May you like
Then the elevator arrived, and he stepped inside.
She stood in the hallway and watched the doors close.
