Speaking Truth to Power - Anita Hill [41]
Almost by chance, I was asked to interview for a position at the O. W. Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, not far from where I grew up and where my parents still lived. The request to interview for the job came during a trip I made to the university to give a presentation on the agency’s enforcement areas. Thomas had taken me and Bill Ng, an attorney and another of his assistants, who did part of the presentation as well. I still recall that on that fateful trip to Oklahoma Thomas had wanted me to sit with him in the rear of the airplane. I told him I preferred to sit up front because the smoking allowed in the rear in those days bothered my allergies. Of course that was only partly true. I could not bear to spend any kind of time in such close proximity to him.
My interview at Oral Roberts went well. After it was over, the dean of the law school, Charles Kothe, told me all that was left was to check my references. Kothe was clear: he made the decisions at the law school, and the job was mine if I wanted to accept it. I had not planned to return to Oklahoma; I had not planned to go into teaching. I would leave behind me in Washington a budding relationship with a young surgical resident for whom I cared very deeply. But the opportunity to leave the employ of Clarence Thomas and to be nearer my family was most compelling.
I had my misgivings about the law school at Oral Roberts. In an effort to attain accreditation, the school had gone through one lawsuit against the American Bar Association and another lawsuit was a possibility because the school was only provisionally accredited. Without full accreditation, the school would likely close. I gave some thought to the conservative ideology of the school, but having just come from the Reagan administration, I felt prepared to deal with conservatives. Moreover, Oral Roberts was not as engaged in political activities as were his counterparts, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. The religious aspect of the school did not dissuade me either. I had grown up in a religious home, was well grounded in my beliefs, and had no sense that they would interfere with my duties or vice versa. I decided to go to Oral Roberts University to escape the harassment and be near my aging parents. It was not the best of all possible alternatives, but it was hardly the worst. I was settling.
I returned to Washington and asked Thomas for a reference. “I take you on a trip, and you end up getting a job offer,” he said only half-jokingly. I can only assume that he gave me a favorable reference, however, because in May 1983 Oral Roberts University made me an official offer to start teaching there in the fall. I finished any outstanding work and left the EEOC as soon as I could afford to, living off savings and withdrawing money from my federal retirement fund in order to get out as quickly as I could.
My family was overjoyed that I would be returning to Oklahoma, though not everyone was thrilled that I would be working for a religious university. Still, my parents had none of the same reservations about my job change this time, since it involved moving closer to them. I had never spoken to them about the difficulties I had on the job, unable to bring myself to mention them, out of either embarrassment or a sense that my parents would be pained to hear it and helpless to do anything.
After I gave notice that I was leaving, Thomas asked if he could take me to dinner. I resisted, explaining that I did not think that it would be appropriate. He promptly countered that the dinner was simply a professional gesture offered as a matter of courtesy, not a social overture. In the hope of maintaining some level of professionalism, I took him at his word and consented. So, on the last day of my employment at the EEOC in July