The Hedonist (2 page)

Around his 40
birthday, he earned his PhD magna cum laude. His professors gave him only the highest praise during his graduation. He was joined by his mother and a number of past and present students from his community college.

Although his mother tended to be restrictive, she turned a blind eye to the strong interest he showed in his students.

Fresh from his latest graduation, Stevens attended a party with many of his students. It was a wild night of beer pong, tequila shots, half naked girls, and rock ‘n roll.

The following week he gave a test. When he returned their grades, he was confronted by one of his students, a 19 year old girl named Alexis. She was unhappy with the letter grade “D” brandished across her scantron sheet and demanded he change her grade.

At that point, Stevens had already changed the grades of many other students as personal favors. The department head was looking at him strangely and he was unable to change anymore grades. When he told Alexis no, she became angry.

Alexis informed her mother that she attended a party with her instructor who gave many eighteen and nineteen year old students alcohol. Her enraged mother went straight to the chairman of the department.

The Chairman, Dr. James Reeve, confronted Stevens immediately. Stevens adeptly downplayed the incident. He admitted attending a small event with a few students but denied giving alcohol to anyone.

When the student’s mother remained persistent, there was only one thing left to do. The chairman told Stevens he acted in poor judgment but wanted the problem to go away as quickly as possible. He told Stevens he would be given a positive recommendation if he agreed to break their current contract and leave quietly.

Stevens weighed his options and agreed. Although he would have a strong case for the community college breaking his two year contract, he knew leaving was the best option. He wanted a fresh start with his PhD and this was his chance.

In December, Shawn, now known as Dr. Stevens, applied for the position of Assistant Professor at Ashmore Regents University in Ashmore, GA. ARU was a budding university with roughly 7,000 students. Although protocol was to accept new professors in the fall, they were looking for a quick replacement to fill a spot in January.

In early December, Shawn met with Dr. Laura Daniels, the Department Chair of Political Science and Public Administration. She had short blonde hair and wore only pantsuits. She was the person who did the hiring and the firing at Ashmore Regents University. This time, Shawn knew a more stylish dress sense would be in order. He wore a navy blue fitted suit, a pinstripe shirt, and an embroidered pink tie. He topped the look off with dress shoes and Cartier framed eyeglasses.

They shook hands as Shawn put his skills to the test as a master of charm.

“Well, Dr. Stevens, your previous college gave a great review and I see your PhD was acquired with high honors.”

“My academic endeavors are undertaken with only the strongest position of solidarity. I’ve uniformly researched this college and I couldn’t imagine my skills being put to better use than here.”

“I think you’d be perfect for the Assistant Professor track,” she grinned. “Now this is a probationary track as you may know. It gives you four years to potentially make your way up to a tenured Associate Professor.”

“Sounds terrific,” said Stevens.

“Now there’s one other thing… the person whose job you will be taking over doesn’t officially leave until after the next semester. So you’ll have to put up with her for a few months.”

“Oh, I’ll be on my best behavior. I’ve yet to meet a soul I could not sway.”

“I just love your confidence, Dr. Stevens.”

“Likewise. I can tell you’ve got a great grasp of what goes on around here. I’m sure nothing gets pass you.”

“That’s exactly how I like to work,” she laughed. “You’ll begin the first week of January. And I’ve got a lovely spacious office with your name on it, Dr. Stevens.”

“You know what,” he told her, “Feel free to call me Shawn.”

“Well if we’re going to get on a first name basis, I’m Laura,” she said with her constant smile.

In early January, Shawn made the office his own. Two weeks later he strutted into an auditorium-level classroom occupied by 150 undergraduates. By the end of the 75 minute class, he commandeered the room and won them over.

CHAPTER 2

When Shawn Stevens took the role of Assistant Professor of Political Science at ARU, it meant moving to another city. And that meant leaving his mother, Francine. Parting with her was difficult but he was ecstatic to finally be free. His unwavering devotion to her made the decision to leave rather hard but freedom was a stronger incentive. And when the time came, her attitude was bitter but sweet.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” she asked, “You know what kind of trouble can come your way when you’re not supervised.”

Shawn used to hate when his mother spoke to him like a child but he eventually became use to it and merely rolled his eyes.

“I’ll be fine,” he assured her. “I’m a grown man.”

She acted clingy before finally letting him leave. She made him promise to visit as often as possible and he offered to continue helping out with bills. But it wasn’t his money that his mother wanted as much as his time and attention.

So he smiled and promised that he would call frequently and visit when his schedule permitted. The commute wasn’t long. Her home was only two hours away from his new residence in the city of Ashmore.

Ashmore was a growing city but as the old saying goes, “old habits die hard.” It was a town-turned-city filled with older, conservative citizens. When Shawn made the move, he learned that nothing could prepare him for how quaint and conservative the city would be- at least from first appearances.

The two biggest things the city had going for it were the university and the Wilmot Golf Tournament, or WGT. The WGT was an international tournament that attracted the most famous golf players on the planet. It was an event considered an extravaganza that lasted through the month of April and annually televised worldwide.

On the other hand, Ashmore Regents University had been around for roughly a century. It was initially a small college but began to grow under the leadership of its latest president, Dr. Carlos Rodriguez. Shawn learned these details from other professors who only spoke sparsely.

In fact, the disengagement among faculty surprised him. Everyone was on pins and needles and outside of staff meetings and the professors rarely associated with one another. Every now and then he would get minor details out of a few of them who spoke and he pieced the information together himself.

Dr. Rodriguez’s vision was to transform ARU into a large-scale research university that attracted international attention. He consistently applied for state grants that allowed for the construction of larger buildings and before anyone knew it, Ashmore Regents had several thousand students and numerous large-scale facilities.

Dr. Rodriguez began by gutting many of the departments. He fired the entire Nursing faculty and replaced them with instructors and professors who wouldn’t let students slide by with low grades. If ARU was going to become a large-scale research university, their science department had to be top notch.

The next thing to go was the Social Work department. That department attracted a large urban population and that simply wasn’t acceptable for Dr. Rodriguez. Although he was raised in a poor town in Mexico, he placed his nose far in the air the moment he earned a PhD.

He gradually disassembled the Social Work Department piece by piece. First, he stopped the program from receiving further funding. That meant the department was unable to hire new professors which he knew was a necessity for a thriving program. Then he forced the Ashmore Regents Director of Social Work out. This was done by refusing to grant her tenure and forcing other staff members to make unfounded complaints against her. If the staff members refused, he’d threaten them with the possibility of losing their own jobs to “cutbacks.”

After the Social Work Director was ousted, the program was left with a total of only three staff members but required at least four professors to function as a full department. So that was the end of the Social Work program. The relatively small amount of money that the department was given was turned over to the Ashmore Regents Science Department for research purposes.

Dr. Rodriguez was a shrewd man who’d commit any white collar crime necessary to make his college the best and biggest in the state. Unfortunately for him, his accomplishments were still very far from his ambitions. He knew it would take many more years to build the reputation he desired. He wanted his college to be known as “The Best and Boldest Research University in the South.”

On a Tuesday afternoon, Shawn was in his luxurious office, stretched out in a large leather chair behind his desk. Sitting across from him was a 19 year old student named Ben. It was the third week of class and they had hit it off quite quickly. 

“I just wanted to say you’re definitely the coolest professor I’ve ever met,” Ben told him.

“Yeah, I get that from time to time. I mean, I just like to have a good time.”

“You can seriously relate to us.”

“Yeah, what other option do I have? Be a fuckin’ stick in the mud like the rest of the bozos around here. Everyone’s already tight lipped here because of Rodriguez.”

“What’s Dr. Rodriguez like?” Ben asked.

“Eh… I’ve only met him a few times. His nose is way too far up his own ass for my tastes but the rumors are mostly true.”

“So he wants to get rid of most of us?”

“From what I understand, he does want to gradually phase out local students to make way for rich international kids. But if you ask me, it’s a pipe dream with no end.”

“You know,” Ben said changing topics, “I wasn’t really sure what to major in but I think I want to go into political science like you, Dr. Stevens.”

Stevens laughed, “Dude, call me Shawn. I don’t care about that formal stuff. Leave that for Rodriguez and his monkeys. But political science is a good direction to go. Y’know, I’m just coasting through life to be honest. And I’m having a blast.”

“Yeah,” Ben agreed, “You look like you’re having a good time here.”

“Dude, this is a freakin’ dream job. I only have to work a few hours each day and the research work is nonexistent!”

They both began laughing hysterically.

“You’re pretty unique,” Ben said favorable.

“Yeah, keep piling that praise on. That’s how I get through the day,” Shawn grinned.

“And I imagine the pay is pretty good too,” Ben continued.

“Yeah, it’s pretty decent, my friend. I’m no medical doctor but I make it.”

In fact, Shawn’s annual pay as an Assistant Professor was $70,000. It was far more than what he made at the community college but wasn’t quite enough to pay for his lavish lifestyle. Based purely on the credence of being a professor with a PhD at Ashmore Regents University, no credit company declined him.

When Stevens moved he wanted a fancy new home so he began leasing a two-story, five bedroom house complete with its own pool in a nice neighbor. This was all despite living alone. He also used his credit line for the down payment on a silver Range Rover that was less than four years old. The credit that remained was used to purchase lavish suits, ties, and dress shirts. He bought a Rolex watch and justified it simply by saying, “I bought the cheapest one they had.”

There was one oddity about his dress sense. He went through numerous dress shoes and disliked them all. He couldn’t wear house shoes to work so he settled on a pair of black All-Star Converses. Those shoes became his trademark look. He wore stylish suits and never paired his wardrobe with anything but his favorite black sneakers.

On the fourth week of class, Stevens entered his large auditorium classroom and asked his students about the curriculum.

“So what did you all learn in my class last week?” He paused and then continued, “Besides absolutely nothing?”

Laughter broke out among the auditorium room.

“Alright,” he said with a smile, “Before we begin, I just want everyone to know you’ll learn just as much this week as you did last week.”

Stevens turned the classroom discussion to current events and partisan divide among political parties. It was enough to keep them occupied for the duration of the class. But shortly before class was over, he noticed the smile of a female student several rows away. He responded with a soft wink and her smile grew ten times wider.

The class was so large that Stevens didn’t bother to learn the names of each pupil but as he expected, the smiling female student waited after class to speak to him. First, she had to wait for everyone else to get a word in. Stevens was so popular that throngs of students stayed after class just to shake his hand or speak to him for a minute or two.  

The other students finally cleared and the young dark haired girl in shorts introduced herself.

“Hi, Dr. Stevens. I’m Lauren Styles. I just wanted to mention how awesome you are… as a professor.”

“Lauren Styles… styles for miles. That much is certain,” he said charmingly as she laughed. “Was that too cheesy, Lauren?”

“No, not at all.”

Her smile was as wide as ever.

“Well thank you for taking the time to introduce yourself, Lauren. I’ve got a short meeting to attend soon but if you’d like, you can visit me in my office in about an hour.”

While Stevens walked to the building that held the offices, he was met with weary-eyed stares by two professors along the way. The first was Dr. Mary Wilkins, the old Political Science Professor whom Dr. Daniels warned him about. Dr. Wilkins was not hostile but she was far from friendly. Stevens was slightly uneasy but held nothing against her as he knew that she was the professor who he was replacing. Despite her constantly pursed lips, he felt somewhat sorry for her.

The other professor whose glance was always sharp toward Stevens was Dr. Hugo Sawther. Sawther was a strict Mormon-raised man who rarely spoke to Stevens. Stevens felt that Sawther was weary of him because he was perhaps too friendly towards his students. Dr. Sawther believed professors and other professionals should behave as if there were a barrier between them and those below them.