Speaking Truth to Power - Anita Hill [131]
The trip did wonders for my spirits but, in fact, set back my recovery. Still, all things considered, it was a worthwhile junket. The collegiality which I always experienced at this meeting had special meaning coming within months of the hearing. The minority law teachers’ section, of which I was a member, and also the women’s section, of which I was not a member, honored me with two presentations. The warmth and the camaraderie expressed at those functions belied the stereotypical image of law professors. The issue and the event touched the human side of all of us, and these individuals seemed happy to have that side exposed.
Best of all, much of the legal team was reunited. Emma Coleman Jordan had organized a reception for the team, which grew to include a hundred or so of the law professors present at the meeting. Professor Jordan, there with her husband, Don, and two children, Kristen and Allison, was about to take over the position of president of the association. This responsibility followed a year as president-elect which included her participation in the hearing. In addition to her official responsibilities, she pulled together a gathering of friends and supporters with seeming ease, just as she had pulled together the legal team.
The outgoing president, Guido Calabresi, then the dean of the Yale Law School, was present at the reception as well. Dean Calabresi had testified in support of Thomas’ nomination in the first round of the hearing at the urging of Senator Danforth, another Yale Law School graduate. In short, Calabresi sought to convince the Judiciary Committee that Thomas had the capacity to grow into the role of associate justice. His was certainly no ringing endorsement of the nomination, but coming from a dean of a prestigious law school it was important.
I had known Dean Calabresi since he taught me torts in my first year of law school. As a professor he was a favorite among first-year law students, perhaps because he was more spontaneous in the classroom than his colleagues. Yale being the kind of school that it is and my being in the same profession as Calabresi meant that we saw each other from time to time professionally. I was fond of him, and when we saw each other, he seemed to be sincerely interested in my welfare. In the nearly twelve years since I graduated from law school, I had not returned, however, to New Haven. What, exactly, he thought of the Thomas nomination at the time of his testimony or even on that evening, I do not know. (Rumor has it that he called Danforth during the hearing and tried to dissuade him from smearing me.) That evening he seemed genuinely disturbed by the debacle which had unfolded in October 1991. And he delivered an invitation, partly at the encouragement of the students, for me to speak at Yale.
Like Professor Jordan, many of the members of my legal team were law professors. Professors Susan Deller Ross, Kim Taylor, Charles Ogletree, Shirley Wiegand, Kimberle Crenshaw, and Tania Banks had all been present in Washington and were now reunited in San Antonio. The occasion took on a lighthearted tone, though I suspect that what we were all feeling as much as anything was relief that the grueling process was over. I was also proud and grateful that they had helped me through it.
Classes began on January 13, 1992, and back in the classroom and into a routine, my emotional and physical recovery inched forward. As the spring of 1992 approached, I realized that I was destined to relive the uncertainty and turmoil of the summer and fall of 1991 all over again. After some consideration, I decided to decline all of the invitations to appear on talk shows. The usual format they followed did not lend itself to helpful discussion about the issue. My presence would have only made matters more volatile.