Sunday, January 24, 2010

Getting Out

Today’s post is going to be about me – partly because lots of you have asked and partly because I’m just really pleased to be able to write what I’m going to say. In the coming days I’ll explain, as much as I’m able, how today’s news came to be. But for now, I’ll just present the news.

When I went off to college a few years back, one of my major goals was to graduate and to go on to law school. Over the past year, the Butler administration seemed to be attempting to do everything they could to keep me from realizing that goal. Because many law school applications ask about on-campus disciplinary actions, and because many law school admissions counselors made it clear that if an applicant indicated that such disciplinary actions had been taken against an applicant, admission was made very much more difficult, I was particularly upset about Butler’s desire to trump up charges against me. I was confident that I had done nothing wrong – and lots of national and international groups were confident that I had done nothing wrong. After all, all I had done was to express my opinions and to share the opinions that faculty in the School of Music quietly shared with me because they were too frightened of administrative retaliation to make their voices heard in public. But it became very clear at Butler that expressing a viewpoint that is unpopular with the Butler regime comes with very high costs.

If I were to have a good chance of being accepted to a law school that I wanted to attend, I had no choice but to fight the outrageous disciplinary charges that were leveled against me once Butler realized that their attempt to sue me was generating far too much negative publicity.

Well, just before leaving for Peru to visit my brother in December, Butler and I reached an agreement. While I can't tell you what that agreement is, I can say that I am very comfortable with my law school applications.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to say that just a week after my application was completed at one of my top choice schools, while I was in Cusco, Peru, I received an e-mail informing me that I had been admitted to their law school.

As I said, I’ll explain a bit about the legal struggle to get to this point soon, but for now, I simply want to thank all of you who have stood by me and who have consistently asked Butler administrators to take responsibility for their disgraceful actions. I’m confident that I would not be in this position without the amazing support so many around the country, indeed, around the world, have shown.

4 comments:

  1. Congratulations! You reason and write well, and I believe you will be an excellent law student and lawyer. I look forward to your upcoming posts.

    TB

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  2. I have been following this for some time. I am happy for your admission to law school Jess. These ordeals are sometimes trying, but the principles are worth standing for.

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  3. Congratulations on law school. They are fortunate to have such a fine student. It has been such a trying year. The stress has been unbelievable for you and those that love you. I am so glad that you have reached an acceptable agreement with the Butler administration. Your life is all in front of you now. Thank you for shining light on the darkness of the corrupt Butler administration and for acting as a catalyst for change. Your situation has offered the opportunity to reexamine mt beliefs and really decide where my line in the sand is. For this, I am truly grateful. God speed on your excing new adventure.

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  4. Congratulations! You have amazing tenacity. I am glad that you have had some amazing support through this very challenging time. Continue to hold on to who you are and to stand up for injustice.
    You are a leader, not a follower.
    Move on. Be strong. All the best to you!

    Seize Law School! Please update us as to what school you will be attending in the Fall.

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