Sunday, 10th April 2011, 11:47 hrs
The last month saw a couple of things taking place at work. The first but not the most important was that of a student taking books out of the library without registration; and this was done deliberately.
It was a rather interesting discovery. On that day I had a strange feeling that this particular student had taken a book out of the library without proper procedure. I searched for the book on the library's electronic catalogue and found it was available, but couldn't find it physically. The library staff helped me but they too couldn't find it. In the end, I decided to instruct the library staff to contact the particular student. In fact, I had no reason to believe she took it, but somehow I smiply had a strange feeling she took it.
After returning to my office I did wonder how she would feel, when there was no reason for us to ask her. At the same time there was this worry in me as to what I should do if she indeed had taken it. When the library staff came to me after about ten minutes, what shocked me was that the student not only took that book, but also three other books. The following day, we further discovered the same student had quietly returned four copies of journals by leaving them just next to the photocopier, without informing the library staff either. When the library staff contacted her to enquire if she was the one who left the journals, she simply replied, 'It's nothing to do with me!' And the strange thing was that after the library staff told me what happened, I was so sure the same student was the culprit. True enough roughly ten minutes after the library staff contacted her when she replied that it was nothing to do with her, she called back to confess she was the one who left them there.
On the day day when it was first discovered, the student had spoken first to a colleague who remarked to her that it was a small matter. Since the student had already spoken to a problematic colleague of mine, I had no choice but to raise the matter to my superior, who is the dean, and left it to him to resolve the matter. But when the student came to me after speaking to the colleague, her first response was one of no remorse as she said, 'In fact I'm not the only one. There're other students who do the same, and I've been telling them they shouldn't be doing this. Yet I'm doing this myself'. She further said she didn't like rules, to which I replied that even God had the ten commandments. To my mind, her response was quite unnecessary.
After this matter was raised to the dean, she became unhappy. First she wrote me an email to say that she was resigning from the part-time library reception post (a paid post we have invited students to apply to help with Saturday openings), citing the problem of this conflict. To which I replied that I wasn't the one to decide and advised her to write to the administration of the seminary. The dean subsequently stopped her library post, after consulting the president who insisted she had to stop immediately. The dean further arranged an appointment with her and, after speaking to her, strangely asked for another session with me despite my insistence that it was unnecessary.
We met and the dean asked her to repeat the whole event honestly. She did not seem pleased and, I suspect she thought I was the one who wanted her to come and explain again, so turned to the dean in a moderately angry look, 'Mr M, I'd like to know how many times I'll have to say this?' To which I replied, 'If you're sincere, even if we were to ask you to explain ten times, you would have done so willingly'. I was upset over two things: first, I had hoped she would simply tell us so we could resolve the matter on the basis that it was just an isolated case of unintentional mistake, but she didn't seize the opportunity but instead, and this is the second thing, she appeared defiant! It was the dean who repeated a couple of times that she confessed she held another copy of the journal which she returned when she was on duty the very last time the Saturday just prior to our meeting. And that was what I was waiting to hear her admit (and to think that just a few minutes before she was defiantly challenging us as to how many times she had to repeat her explanation, when in fact she still had things to hide!). She did not admit to another case of taking a reference book out of the library, which should not be so, only when I brought it to her attention. And it was only when I asked her how often she did this between taking the reference book out of the library (which was the fourth week of the trimester) and the time we spoke to her (which was the twelveth week) that she admitted she had taken books from the reference shelves, the red-dot shelves, journals, and the like. This is something I was deeply disappointed about.
The afternoon when we had met the student had lunch with the colleague and complained that we did not trust her. How on earth can she still expect us to trust her, when she had made herself untrustworthy?
I think the above incident was badly handled for two reasons. The first is the lack of leadership. The dean was wavering throughout. During our meeting with the student, the dean actually said these words, 'In fact, this whole matter didn't have to come to my level and could have been resolved at Mr P's level'. The dean is fully aware that my job is functional, not disciplinary. Yet, he has been behaving in a most unprofessional manner, not only this time but many other times before!
The second reason is the lack of professional ethics on the part of my colleague, who said it was a small matter to the student. How can this be a small matter? And yet it was this very colleague who later kept suggesting to me that the student should be punished, perhaps to get himself out of that troubled statement as I've made it known to the dean.
As all this was going on, the student in question happened to be doing a course under me. Although she submitted every assignment late, out of wanting to avoid being misunderstood I did not deduct a single point out of her grade. Unfortunately, she did not do a good piece of work at the end, as she confused the 'method' with the 'background'. This sort of problem, in any other seminary or university overseas, would have rendered a straight 'F'! Yet I didn't give that grade but instead still gave her a good pass! But now she's going around telling other students that I marked her down because of the library incident. This is a clear case of a thief crying innocent and claiming to be bullied!
The other most unfortunate thing is that the rumour is going around that I had wanted to 'get at her', while the other unprofessional colleague was trying to 'help her'. The truth of the matter is precisely the opposite.
I'm glad the Lord has given me a clear understanding of what my responsibilities are both as a lecturer and a library director, and a professional outlook that can stand up to scrutiny. I'm further grateful to the Lord that I have done what in my capacity I should do and am confident that in this matter, I'm above reproach.
One thing I might have unwisely done was the fact that I had told two students about this incident. One is a friend and the other has actually heard some of these 'half-truths', the latter I meant to explain so as to ensure she didn't get a false picture. But as I ponder over this, I ask myself what purpose my explanation to any other person outside of the issue actually serves. And why should I tell or explain to anyone, if I'm above reproach? This is a good lesson for me - to remain tight-lipped whatever happens, as long as my conscience is clear before the God who knows all things.
'Dear Lord,
Grant wisdom that is spiritual and divine, that honours and glorifies you. Teach me your ways, and guide me in your paths of righteousness. In Jesus' name. Amen'.
