The DOE has an Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management, commonly called OEO. It's supposed to protect people from discrimination.
That's a worthy goal. I spend my career dealing with students from other countries. I see them discriminated against, and I find it sickening. Sometimes I can't stand to watch the news. My wife does. I hone in on the weather and tune out the rest quite frequently.
Here's the thing--OEO vies to be the most inept group in the DOE, and that's saying something. If I do something stupid, they have six months to conduct an investigation and come after me. I've been chapter leader of a very large school for twelve years now, and I have not seen them complete an investigation in six months, ever. Not one single time.
Let's say I do some outrageous thing, make some racist statement, actively discriminate against someone for nationality, gender, or whatever. If OEO can't make a case in six months, I'm theoretically off the hook. I had a member in trouble for something years ago, and a year after the thing occurred, they came around and asked him to sign a "non-file letter." What the hell is a non-file letter?
Your administration has three months after an occurrence to give you a file letter. While they do all sorts of slimy things to get around that, and I've seen them do it, OEO has six months. And what needs to be done here? You interview everyone who witnessed whatever it is. How is it that reporters manage to interview people and get stories out within days but OEO can't do it, ever, within six months? And how valid are interviews that occur years after whatever the incidents may be?
Anyway, if we are out there doing outrageous things, we're likely getting away with it. That, in itself, makes OEO incompetent, an abject failure at its mission. However, that's not the only thing they're bad at.
I know people who've been hounded by them for years about incidents that occurred, of course, years ago. They bring these people in, make them miserable, and place them in whatever it is the defunct rubber rooms are called today.
Some people think purgatory is worse than hell. Friends of mine in purgatory lived on pins and needles. nervous, anxious, utterly freaked out. The people I have in mind did nothing that warranted anything but a conversation with the principal. They hurt no one.
If I were principal, I'd call someone like that in and say, "Hey, that was stupid. Please stop doing stupid things." I might add or remove words based on the individual case, but that would be my message to someone who harbored no ill intentions and did no lasting harm.
OEO, though, goes after these people. Sometimes members come back from purgatory, are restored to their jobs, and OEO calls them in again. They question them on things that are ridiculous. Why did you look at this person like this? What did you really mean when you said good morning? Why did you come to work ten minutes early?
It's like they're sitting around with nothing to do, and someone says, "Hey, why don't we take a random crack at this person on Tuesday morning?" "Yes, sure, I have nothing else to do that day."
Their ineptitude is staggering. If you're guilty, you have little or nothing to worry about. If you aren't, though, they can harass you to the point of madness.
And that is incredibly cruel. These people are guilty of precisely what they're tasked to protect us against.
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