I didn't learn the full story until much later.
Grace hadn't stayed untouchable for all those years simply because she brought in research funding. She had also served for years as the director of one of the university's flagship research programs. The Associate Dean was one of her long-time collaborators. The administrator overseeing research affairs had co-authored multiple federal grant applications with her.
Many people probably didn't agree with what she was doing. But almost no one wanted to see her fall.
Because if Grace went down, a lot of other people would go down with her.
In the end, they weren't protecting Grace. They were protecting themselves.
I won. But victory came with a price.
The same day Grace was suspended, the university informed me that my dissertation defens
