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"Bayous, Books & Balls - A Cajun Love Story (Chapter 2)" by PaulBourgeois

Emile Lavigne, an academic super star, comes to River Ridge University to establish himself in the academic community and meets head on the political and social stresses of the time that challenges what he holds to be important and causes him to almost loose everything.

Category: Book: 1st Chapter

Tags: Fiction Novel Chapter Two Literary//Mainstream

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Chapter Two

            By mid term of his first semester at River Ridge University, Emile Lavigne was already the rising star in the language department. His academic achievement in linguistics at the University of Chicago, his current research into the different sounds of Louisiana French dialects, and his publication of Cajun French, the Language of South and Southwest Louisiana had set him apart from the department faculty.

            On this, the first Wednesday in November, Emile arrived early on campus to post his mid term grades for his basic French grammar course. He knew that Linda Dupuis, the chairman’s administrative assistant and his star graduate student, would be there to give him the key.

            Emile approached Linda from the side hallway. He had come to love this old building that once served as an Army barracks. It looked like three buildings slapped together to form a “U” so that the front stretched across one side of the quadrangle with wings extending backwards toward the Mississippi River.

            “Linda, here’s the chairman’s copy of my grades for French Grammar. I need the key to post them.” He handed her two sheets of paper.

            Linda handed him a key ring from her desk. “Congratulations! You’re the first in the department with all his grades in, Professor Lavigne.” She smiled. Emile ignored her smile.

            He hung the two grade sheets side by side with thumbtacks and stepped back. Even his shortest student could read the pages. He locked the glass door and returned the key to Linda.

            As he turned to go back to his office, Linda called out, “Professor Lavigne, thank you for the 99% on my exam. And the “A” for mid term.

            “Keep up the good work,” he said without turning and continued walking down the hallway.

            Emile sat working on his research plan when the ringing phone broke his concentration.

            Linda spoke without introduction, “The chairman wants to see you, Doctor Lavigne.”

            “Do you know what it’s about, Linda?”

            “Dr. Lavigne, you know he doesn’t discuss his business with me. But he did receive a call on his other phone. I couldn’t hear what it was all about.”

            Emile hastened down the hallway, nodding to Linda as he passed her desk and peered into the inner office. The chairman sat concentrating on his work as if deliberately ignoring Emile at his door. Emile shifted his weight from foot to foot, waiting to be noticed.

            “Go on in Professor Lavigne,” Linda said, pointing to the inner office with her yellow lead pencil, “... he’s expecting you.” Again that smile.

            And again, he ignored it.

            Emile walked in and sat in the chair facing Bernhard like a schoolboy called to the principal’s office. He waited. Bernhard did not look up. He’s doing this on purpose. He wants me to feel uncomfortable.

            Emile looked around the office. A picture of a horse with a rider swinging a polo stick in a wide arc hung on the wall behind the desk; a bronzed golfer extended in a full back swing stood tall on the credenza under the side window; and bookshelves teeming with impressive tomes carrying ornate titles in French, Italian, and Spanish lined the walls but their newness intimated disuse. Emile coughed and Bernhard feigned surprise when he looked up and saw him.

            “Coach Edwards just called; he is furious at you…and me. Did you give Trembley a failing grade for mid term?”  Bernhard’s raised eyebrows question this act of boldness.

            How could Edwards get those grades so quickly? He had just posted them. “Trembley failed himself. The boy won’t study. He hasn’t opened his book this term.” 

            Bernhard’s scowl betrayed his otherwise impeccable appearance.

            “What difference does it make when a student fails?” Emile would rather not have athletes in his classes.

            “Don’t you follow campus football?”

             “I have no interest in college sports.” His lack of interest in collegiate sports put him in a special group on campus. Even the most dedicated faculty members tracked the football schedule. Bernhard stared at him.

            As Trembley’s professor, Emile knew he was the one who controlled the grade. “If Coach Edwards wants his football players to pass their courses, he should encourage them to attend classes ... to study once in a while.” Emile leaned forward. “I don’t harbinger students who think their skills on the gridiron earn them a passing grade in my class.”

            “This weekend’s game is a big one, perhaps ‘the’ big game of the season. This game is a ‘must win’ for a Sugar Bowl bid.”

            Emile felt under attack. “It is not my responsibility to rescue the university’s football season. I pass or fail students based on academic achievement. Etienne Trembley failed every quiz including the mid-term exam.”

            “Etienne Trembley is one of our ‘special’ students. He requires that ‘special’ treatment we provide to our student-athletes so they don’t fail courses. Our athletes don’t have time to study with practice and away-games.” Bernhard pointed his finger at Emile. “It is your responsibility to make sure our star athletes do not fail your courses.”

            Bernhard’s sardonic smile carried its own message. Emile persisted; he looked Bernhard straight in the eye. “University policy is clear on this point. A student failing at mid-term is prohibited from participation in extracurricular activities.”

            “That policy exists to keep our university accreditation,” Bernhard retorted.

            “If a student wants special attention from me, he asks for it and I tutor him. Mr. Trembley has yet to ask for help.” Emile felt Bernhard’s eyes boring into him. He added, “At this point, Mr. Trembley is beyond help.” Emile wondered if other department chairman were exerting pressure on their faculty members to pass football players.

            “No student is beyond help; you have to find the right approach.”

             “Dr. Bernhard, Mr. Trembley is more deserving of a failing grade than any student I teach. Athletes like Trembley are the reason for this eligibility policy. It gives marginal students time to focus on their studies. Trembley earned a failing grade and it stands.” Emile began to gloat within himself over his victory.

             Bernhard stood up. “Then you won’t fix this before Saturday’s game?”

            “I will not go against university policy to pass a marginal student.”

            “You know our Senator attends every home game. River Ridge University is his alma mater.”

            Emile sat up. The Senator exerted considerable influence on all university activities. Suddenly, the Trembley incident became more than winning or loosing football games.

            “You should be talking to coach Edwards,” he said. He stood and faced Bernhard.

            Bernhard picked up a slip of paper and handed it across the desk to Emile. “Sign this and the problem goes away.”

            Emile studied the paper. “A transfer slip? You’d transfer Trembley to raise his grade?” He felt blood rushing to his face. “This is outrageous! This transfer sends precisely the wrong message - to Trembley, to every athlete on campus. It says athletic skills are more important than academic success.” He waved the slip at Dr. Bernhard. “I can’t sign this.”

            Bernhard snatched the slip from Emile’s hands. “You mean you won’t sign it.” Bernhard sat down again with a pained smile on his face. “I don’t need your signature; I can sign a transfer slip myself.” Bernhard raised his arm in a swirling motion and scratched Emile’s name out and signed his own. He twirled the transfer slip in the air to dry the ink and placed it in his out-basket. He picked up the phone, dialed and waited, facing the window.

            “Hello coach Edwards. Send Etienne Trembley to my office right away.”

            Bernhard swung around in his chair and gazed out the window, ignoring Emile. Emile felt the blood again rush to his face; he seethed in a quiet rage.

             Emile left Bernhard’s office, rushed past Linda’s desk, through the door and across the quad to the administrative building. He would take this higher. He entered the administrative building across the quad and walked briskly down the hall to the University president’s office suite.

            “Dr. Prescott said for you to come right in,” the secretary said as she pointed to the inner office. Bernhard must have called ahead. He knows me better than I thought. He felt disturbed at their collusion.

            Emile rapped lightly on the door and walked in. The furniture in the office gave it a look of efficiency, a cold and uninspiring business office. As Emile approached, Prescott waved him to a chair at the table in front of a window looking out over the vista of the university campus. Prescott wore his dark suit with a vest buttoned all the way up. Emile knew he was treading on thin ice going over his chairman’s head like this.

            Prescott didn’t wait for him to speak but took on the air of the benevolent patriarch. “Giving athletes access to classes they cannot follow is clearly a violation of academic purity. But you must look at the bigger picture. There is much more at stake here. Has an alumnus ever asked a professor at this university what grade a football star earned? I bet not. The Alumni want to know how many rushing yards a star running back gained, how many passes he caught, how many touchdowns he scored? This is all about winning, that’s the simple truth of it.”

            “Why do we care what the alumni think? It only blurs the real issue here.”

            “Care? We have to care. Most of our state legislators graduated from River Ridge or Louisiana State. Football is critical to both; college football influences legislative decisions that fund our state university system.”

            “What about teacher integrity? Students who get by without learning only do themselves harm. What happens when there’s no more football?”

            “Each student derives his own benefit from his university experience. We are not responsible for a student athlete once he departs the university.”

            The protection of star athletes on campus seemed well coordinated. Emile changed his tactic. “If we give special consideration to athletes, what about a marginal gain for good looks? A female student offers sexual favors for a passing grade.Would the university sanction that?”

            “It’s not the same thing. The former is for the greater good of the university, for all of us while the latter benefits the individual.” Prescott walked to the window and looked out over the campus. “Come, do you see all those buildings under construction?” He pointed out the window.

            Emile joined Prescott at the window and looked where he pointed.

            “For years, I sought legislative support for my expansion program. I succeeded when our football team started winning. Football gave us all of this. While the end doesn’t justify the means, what we have here is a clear case of the ‘greater good’”.

            Emile faced Prescott at the window. “I will never pass a student just to preserve his eligibility. Can you ensure that no athlete registers for my classes?”

            “You have to take that up with your department chairman.”

            Emile read relief on Prescott’s face. He expected more of an argument from him and that made him feel guilty. Perhaps he should go to the Southern Association and challenge the university. He knew papers would be generated, that Trembley would be made to look like Bernhard’s student and he would end up looking like a fool. Besides, it could ruin his career and the very least, he would probably have to leave the university. 

             Prescott’s tone changed. “Have you ever attended a River Ridge football game?”

            “No, I haven’t.” Emile fidgeted as he stood by the window.

            Prescott pulled an envelop out of his desk drawer and handed it to Emile. “Here are three tickets for the ‘president’s box’ for the Thanksgiving weekend. I can’t make that game.”

                As Emile left Prescott’s office with the tickets, he knew that Trembley would play the next two games. He didn’t agree with this but he could do nothing to stop it. 

 

 


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1. Chapter Two

2.             By mid term of his first semester at River Ridge University, Emile Lavigne was already the rising star in the language department. His academic achievement in linguistics at the University of Chicago, his current research into the different sounds of Louisiana French dialects, and his publication of Cajun French, the Language of South and Southwest Louisiana had set him apart from the department faculty.

3.             On this, the first Wednesday in November, Emile arrived early on campus to post his mid term grades for his basic French grammar course. He knew that Linda Dupuis, the chairman’s administrative assistant and his star graduate student, would be there to give him the key.

4.             Emile approached Linda from the side hallway. He had come to love this old building that once served as an Army barracks. It looked like three buildings slapped together to form a “U” so that the front stretched across one side of the quadrangle with wings extending backwards toward the Mississippi River.

5.             “Linda, here’s the chairman’s copy of my grades for French Grammar. I need the key to post them.” He handed her two sheets of paper.

6.             Linda handed him a key ring from her desk. “Congratulations! You’re the first in the department with all his grades in, Professor Lavigne.” She smiled. Emile ignored her smile.

7.             He hung the two grade sheets side by side with thumbtacks and stepped back. Even his shortest student could read the pages. He locked the glass door and returned the key to Linda.

8.             As he turned to go back to his office, Linda called out, “Professor Lavigne, thank you for the 99% on my exam. And the “A” for mid term.

9.             “Keep up the good work,” he said without turning and continued walking down the hallway.

10.             Emile sat working on his research plan when the ringing phone broke his concentration.

11.             Linda spoke without introduction, “The chairman wants to see you, Doctor Lavigne.”

12.             “Do you know what it’s about, Linda?”

13.             “Dr. Lavigne, you know he doesn’t discuss his business with me. But he did receive a call on his other phone. I couldn’t hear what it was all about.”

14.             Emile hastened down the hallway, nodding to Linda as he passed her desk and peered into the inner office. The chairman sat concentrating on his work as if deliberately ignoring Emile at his door. Emile shifted his weight from foot to foot, waiting to be noticed.

15.             “Go on in Professor Lavigne,” Linda said, pointing to the inner office with her yellow lead pencil, “... he’s expecting you.” Again that smile.

16.             And again, he ignored it.

17.             Emile walked in and sat in the chair facing Bernhard like a schoolboy called to the principal’s office. He waited. Bernhard did not look up. He’s doing this on purpose. He wants me to feel uncomfortable.

18.             Emile looked around the office. A picture of a horse with a rider swinging a polo stick in a wide arc hung on the wall behind the desk; a bronzed golfer extended in a full back swing stood tall on the credenza under the side window; and bookshelves teeming with impressive tomes carrying ornate titles in French, Italian, and Spanish lined the walls but their newness intimated disuse. Emile coughed and Bernhard feigned surprise when he looked up and saw him.

19.             “Coach Edwards just called; he is furious at you…and me. Did you give Trembley a failing grade for mid term?”  Bernhard’s raised eyebrows question this act of boldness.

20.             How could Edwards get those grades so quickly? He had just posted them. “Trembley failed himself. The boy won’t study. He hasn’t opened his book this term.” 

21.             Bernhard’s scowl betrayed his otherwise impeccable appearance.

22.             “What difference does it make when a student fails?” Emile would rather not have athletes in his classes.

23.             “Don’t you follow campus football?”

24.              “I have no interest in college sports.” His lack of interest in collegiate sports put him in a special group on campus. Even the most dedicated faculty members tracked the football schedule. Bernhard stared at him.

25.             As Trembley’s professor, Emile knew he was the one who controlled the grade. “If Coach Edwards wants his football players to pass their courses, he should encourage them to attend classes ... to study once in a while.” Emile leaned forward. “I don’t harbinger students who think their skills on the gridiron earn them a passing grade in my class.”

26.             “This weekend’s game is a big one, perhaps ‘the’ big game of the season. This game is a ‘must win’ for a Sugar Bowl bid.”

27.             Emile felt under attack. “It is not my responsibility to rescue the university’s football season. I pass or fail students based on academic achievement. Etienne Trembley failed every quiz including the mid-term exam.”

28.             “Etienne Trembley is one of our ‘special’ students. He requires that ‘special’ treatment we provide to our student-athletes so they don’t fail courses. Our athletes don’t have time to study with practice and away-games.” Bernhard pointed his finger at Emile. “It is your responsibility to make sure our star athletes do not fail your courses.”

29.             Bernhard’s sardonic smile carried its own message. Emile persisted; he looked Bernhard straight in the eye. “University policy is clear on this point. A student failing at mid-term is prohibited from participation in extracurricular activities.”

30.             “That policy exists to keep our university accreditation,” Bernhard retorted.

31.             “If a student wants special attention from me, he asks for it and I tutor him. Mr. Trembley has yet to ask for help.” Emile felt Bernhard’s eyes boring into him. He added, “At this point, Mr. Trembley is beyond help.” Emile wondered if other department chairman were exerting pressure on their faculty members to pass football players.

32.             “No student is beyond help; you have to find the right approach.”

33.              “Dr. Bernhard, Mr. Trembley is more deserving of a failing grade than any student I teach. Athletes like Trembley are the reason for this eligibility policy. It gives marginal students time to focus on their studies. Trembley earned a failing grade and it stands.” Emile began to gloat within himself over his victory.

34.              Bernhard stood up. “Then you won’t fix this before Saturday’s game?”

35.             “I will not go against university policy to pass a marginal student.”

36.             “You know our Senator attends every home game. River Ridge University is his alma mater.”

37.             Emile sat up. The Senator exerted considerable influence on all university activities. Suddenly, the Trembley incident became more than winning or loosing football games.

38.             “You should be talking to coach Edwards,” he said. He stood and faced Bernhard.

39.             Bernhard picked up a slip of paper and handed it across the desk to Emile. “Sign this and the problem goes away.”

40.             Emile studied the paper. “A transfer slip? You’d transfer Trembley to raise his grade?” He felt blood rushing to his face. “This is outrageous! This transfer sends precisely the wrong message - to Trembley, to every athlete on campus. It says athletic skills are more important than academic success.” He waved the slip at Dr. Bernhard. “I can’t sign this.”

41.             Bernhard snatched the slip from Emile’s hands. “You mean you won’t sign it.” Bernhard sat down again with a pained smile on his face. “I don’t need your signature; I can sign a transfer slip myself.” Bernhard raised his arm in a swirling motion and scratched Emile’s name out and signed his own. He twirled the transfer slip in the air to dry the ink and placed it in his out-basket. He picked up the phone, dialed and waited, facing the window.

42.             “Hello coach Edwards. Send Etienne Trembley to my office right away.”

43.             Bernhard swung around in his chair and gazed out the window, ignoring Emile. Emile felt the blood again rush to his face; he seethed in a quiet rage.

44.              Emile left Bernhard’s office, rushed past Linda’s desk, through the door and across the quad to the administrative building. He would take this higher. He entered the administrative building across the quad and walked briskly down the hall to the University president’s office suite.

45.             “Dr. Prescott said for you to come right in,” the secretary said as she pointed to the inner office. Bernhard must have called ahead. He knows me better than I thought. He felt disturbed at their collusion.

46.             Emile rapped lightly on the door and walked in. The furniture in the office gave it a look of efficiency, a cold and uninspiring business office. As Emile approached, Prescott waved him to a chair at the table in front of a window looking out over the vista of the university campus. Prescott wore his dark suit with a vest buttoned all the way up. Emile knew he was treading on thin ice going over his chairman’s head like this.

47.             Prescott didn’t wait for him to speak but took on the air of the benevolent patriarch. “Giving athletes access to classes they cannot follow is clearly a violation of academic purity. But you must look at the bigger picture. There is much more at stake here. Has an alumnus ever asked a professor at this university what grade a football star earned? I bet not. The Alumni want to know how many rushing yards a star running back gained, how many passes he caught, how many touchdowns he scored? This is all about winning, that’s the simple truth of it.”

48.             “Why do we care what the alumni think? It only blurs the real issue here.”

49.             “Care? We have to care. Most of our state legislators graduated from River Ridge or Louisiana State. Football is critical to both; college football influences legislative decisions that fund our state university system.”

50.             “What about teacher integrity? Students who get by without learning only do themselves harm. What happens when there’s no more football?”

51.             “Each student derives his own benefit from his university experience. We are not responsible for a student athlete once he departs the university.”

52.             The protection of star athletes on campus seemed well coordinated. Emile changed his tactic. “If we give special consideration to athletes, what about a marginal gain for good looks? A female student offers sexual favors for a passing grade.Would the university sanction that?”

53.             “It’s not the same thing. The former is for the greater good of the university, for all of us while the latter benefits the individual.” Prescott walked to the window and looked out over the campus. “Come, do you see all those buildings under construction?” He pointed out the window.

54.             Emile joined Prescott at the window and looked where he pointed.

55.             “For years, I sought legislative support for my expansion program. I succeeded when our football team started winning. Football gave us all of this. While the end doesn’t justify the means, what we have here is a clear case of the ‘greater good’”.

56.             Emile faced Prescott at the window. “I will never pass a student just to preserve his eligibility. Can you ensure that no athlete registers for my classes?”

57.             “You have to take that up with your department chairman.”

58.             Emile read relief on Prescott’s face. He expected more of an argument from him and that made him feel guilty. Perhaps he should go to the Southern Association and challenge the university. He knew papers would be generated, that Trembley would be made to look like Bernhard’s student and he would end up looking like a fool. Besides, it could ruin his career and the very least, he would probably have to leave the university. 

59.              Prescott’s tone changed. “Have you ever attended a River Ridge football game?”

60.             “No, I haven’t.” Emile fidgeted as he stood by the window.

61.             Prescott pulled an envelop out of his desk drawer and handed it to Emile. “Here are three tickets for the ‘president’s box’ for the Thanksgiving weekend. I can’t make that game.”

62.                 As Emile left Prescott’s office with the tickets, he knew that Trembley would play the next two games. He didn’t agree with this but he could do nothing to stop it. 

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