Stepping back from academia during a time of immense personal loss, I decided to channel my energies in a positive direction and fulfill a lifelong dream – writing and publishing a fiction novel. My book, Chasing Dr. Banks, a year-and-a-half in the making, is about a young college professor, who, driven to learn the hidden truth behind suspicious activities in his college, and the dark secrets that haunt his university, pushes too far, and finds his life turned upside-down. Alone, and on the run from sinister forces that seek to silence him, he must rely on his wits and intuition, a lost love, and a few friends and unexpected allies, to save not only his reputation and career, but his very life.
Chasing Dr. Banks, at its heart, is about the consequences that good people might face when confronting unethical or scandalous behavior in higher education.
I have worked at two amazing universities over the course of my career – Texas A&M University and the University of Florida. I respect Texas A&M for its commitment to honor and integrity, and the University of Florida is very near and dear to my heart. I have worked as faculty and in administrative capacities at both universities and count it an honor to have served them. I also have great respect and appreciation for those universities where I received my degrees. I’ve had an amazing career and known and worked with some of the best people on the planet. Sadly, however, over a lifetime in academia, in conducting research for the book, and in speaking with university faculty, staff, and administrators, I am aware of those in higher education whose dishonorable behavior casts a dark shadow over the universities they inhabit.
Having worked as a graduate student assistant, and up through the ranks from assistant to full professor in the fields of sport, recreation, and public health, and later as an administrator who interacted with the highest reaches of the university, my lens is at once both penetrating and expansive. I have learned that scandal and bad behavior are not inherent to a university in a holistic sense (there are no inherently corrupt universities), but are rooted in the pockets and folds of the institution - not unlike what one might find in certain large corporations or bureaucracies. This can be due to compartmentalization, where individual units lack accountability or, as happens in Chasing Dr. Banks, where the university turns a blind eye to the behavior of certain powerful and corrupt faculty who generate large sums of money through various endeavors.
So, at this point I’ll stop lecturing – a habit for us in academia – and dig a bit deeper into some of the ideas and inspiration behind the book. To some of my former colleagues and supervisors, fear not - there is no need to run to the liquor cabinet for a stiff drink before reading further. What I am about to say comes from one place or another, and is not attributable to any specific person or place. Also, ideas for the plots and sub-plots are akin to seeds - ones that I watered and fertilized with my imagination for the sake of fiction, with the intent to grow in a way that would foster enjoyment and entertainment – the primary purpose of my book.
Friends and colleagues who have read Chasing Dr. Banks have made assumptions, and I’m often asked the origin of my ideas. Some have assigned a “real life” identity to certain characters. To that end, I can assure you that all characters in the book are solely a product of my imagination. Certain characters may be imbued with some of the worst human qualities that I have encountered during my life and career, but these qualities do not serve to depict an actual person. One colleague went so far as to say that he knew the exact circumstances about which I was writing, while still others have said that the book sounds like an autobiography. I assure you that this is not an autobiography. I have never had malicious files planted on my computer, nor have I ever been accused of anything like what Noah endured. I have also never been threatened with termination, nor have I had to run for my life. Despite a meaningful and purposeful career and spotless record, however, I do feel a certain kinship with Noah in that we both have experienced cruelty and subterfuge that goes beyond the pale.
Those of us in academia can be a paranoid bunch, and for good reason. Many of us have seen or experienced some very bad behavior in the work environment. As a good friend and colleague was fond of saying, “This profession is not for the faint of spirit or weak of heart.” I would tend to agree, as I’ve seen my fair share of things I would have preferred to have not known. In conducting research for the book, and in speaking with university faculty, staff, and administrators, I’ve “seen” even more. It is from this perspective that I will share some of the “sparks” that set my imagination afire.
I thought that it would be fun to take the fears and concerns of my colleagues - some of which have marinated in my subconscious over the course of my education and career - and put them to a story. What if, for example, we in higher education were actually under constant surveillance without our knowledge. Taking that a step further, what if the “watchers” and “listeners” were intent on doing us harm should we say or do the wrong thing in their eyes. I can say that in the real world, faculty and students have had serious suspicions. They have spoken in whispers in offices and meeting rooms, bought and used noise-canceling devices, or left the building so that those whom they believed were spying on them would not learn of matters they sought to keep in confidence. Also, fueled by suspicion, faculty have gone so far as to consider hiring private investigators to sweep their offices for hidden listening devices. I know that computers are sometimes monitored directly, but as for covert listening devices, it was fun to play with the idea of what if we really were spied upon while we naively went about our daily business in our offices and meeting spaces.
Some faculty have feared that their supervisors, or perhaps even powerful faculty colleagues with IT connections, would plant malicious files such as child pornography on their computers either while they were out of the office, or when they turned in their old computers for new ones. In conducting research for the book, I learned that some faculty take their laptops and hard drives home with them every night to keep them safe, and plant hidden cameras in their offices out of fear that someone who means them harm might plant malicious files on their computer and frame them for it. Faculty have even taken special precautions, much like Noah did in the book, when returning computers in fear their supervisors would plant malicious files to frame them. What if this fear was justified? The book engages this paranoia in a sub-plot that sets the stage for the twists and turns of the story that follows.
What if, I thought, the bad behavior of those in authority, when left unchecked, morphed into something even worse than the sum of its parts. In Chasing Dr. Banks, people in positions of authority do some very bad things. This is not unlike what I have learned happens in academia. The bad behavior to which I have been privy through my research, and over my career, is of a such a nature as to be both unconscionable and nearly unmentionable. Faculty and administrators having sexual relations with students under their control, administrators belittling and demeaning subordinates with lies they pass off as “jokes,” faculty and administrators engaging in the use of illegal narcotics, powerful faculty creating “cancel culture” by engaging in persuasive misinformation campaigns, administrators and powerful faculty engaged in fraud and misuse of funds, administrators engaged in intimate relations with peers within the university that creates bias in their decision-making, faculty sexualizing female students in the classroom, administrators basing pay raises and promotions on personal favors and selfish motives – are just a few examples. Chasing Dr. Banks draws upon these reprehensible behaviors, and others beyond this list, to form a plot that sets up and reveals the wicked master plan of Noah’s colleagues.
Although Chasing Dr. Banks is a work of fiction, designed to provide entertainment and a sense of escape, it is hoped that the reader will take from this book a bit more - that bad things do happen to good people, and our institutions of higher learning, much like certain aspects of our society, are on the brink. We are at an inflection point where the qualities of faith, empathy, and integrity are needed now more than ever in higher education leadership. It will take courageous people willing to step forward when the bad behavior of their colleagues and supervisors is known to them, and leadership that is willing to listen and act in a reasoned and selfless manner, to move the needle in the proper direction. This can be summed up in one of my favorite quotes, “Evil prevails when good people do nothing.” I think that Dr. Noah Banks would agree.
Chasing Dr. Banks can be purchased online from most major book sellers.