My firing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), which came apparently because I write a blog that is critical of the Bush Justice Department, was spotlighted by Lindsay Beyerstein in a major investigative piece at Raw Story.
Since then, I have presented my own analysis of the story. I have noted UAB's awkward attempts to present its side of the story. And I have written about UAB's efforts to defend the indefensible.
In the latest twist, UAB seems to have resorted to thievery--or something very close to it. And one is left to ask this question: Why would a major research institution engage in such lowlife tactics?
Here is a clue: Someone connected to UAB seems to be very interested in what I was keeping in my desk and on my computer desktop at work--even though such issues were not part of the reasons the university cited for my termination.
My assessment? This adds to the mountain of evidence suggesting that someone external to UAB was behind my termination.
UAB had no reason to care what I kept in my desk or on my computer desktop. Heck, the university gave me a "personal folder" on my desktop when I didn't even ask for one. And no one connected to UAB made this an issue regarding my termination.
But my former supervisor indicated in my grievance hearing that someone ("we," she called them) scoured my desktop after I was fired.
Why would someone do this?
UAB, by its own actions, had no reason to be interested in what was on my desktop. Its allegations involved "non-work related" use of the Web.
So who might have an interest in what I kept on my desktop--and in the drawers of my desk? And who might have caused certain law-related items to disappear from my desk?
Federal law-enforcement officials perhaps?
