We’ve been doing some thinking. Pepperdine’s affirmation statement proclaims “that truth, having nothing to fear from investigation, should be pursued relentlessly in every discipline.”
Whether in political science, languages or scientific research, we are instructed, as students of this university, to pursue truth relentlessly. Not half-heartedly, not so-much-as-we-desire, not so-long-as-it’s-comfortable, but relentlessly.
In September 2010, Steve Moore, then deputy director of Public Safety, was summarily terminated after refusing to abandon his public crusade to free American student Amanda Knox from Italian prison after she was sentenced to 26 years in December 2009 for the murder of her British flatmate Meredith Kercher. Moore, a 25-year veteran of the FBI, had appeared on NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America” detailing the reasons he believed that Knox and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, who was sentenced to 25 years, had been wrongly convicted.
Moore claimed that the University first asked him to stop the investigation, citing the safety of those in the Florence program. Moore replied that he could not do so in good conscience, considering that the evidence he examined completely exonerated Knox. Days later, he claimed, the University asked him to resign with a severance package and a promise to keep Pepperdine’s name out of media attention related to the controversy.
After his termination, University administrators neither explained nor defended their decision to fire Moore, but Moore explained in an interview last September that Chief Administrative Officer Phil Phillips and Executive Vice President Gary Hanson told him initially in April 2010 to go for it, but keep Pepperdine out of it.
There had been no mention of Pepperdine in either television appearance, yet, less than three weeks after the Graphic interviewed Moore, he was gone.
While, at the time, most in the Pepperdine community probably paid little attention to the termination, it was big news in our newsroom. But we’re nearly as addicted to consuming news as we are to consuming Starbucks coffee. We understand it’s not the majority of Pepperdine students who can pick Amanda Knox from a lineup, despite the media storm surrounding her trial, conviction and release, and despite the fact Steve Moore was right. So, you might be wondering, “Why should I care?”
Well, it’s the transparency issue at its core. It’s the mission statement.
We understand that nondisclosure must exist for any institution to run properly. If we were advocating complete disclosure, for better or possibly much worse, Julian Assange would be president of Pepperdine. No, we’re glad President Andrew K. Benton is at the helm.
Strategic nondisclosure is one thing. But sometimes, what you’re not saying can only hurt you. It makes no difference to those students who can’t tell Amanda Knox from Julian Assange, and those who have followed the case must not care this much. But there are people out there familiar with the case and, more importantly, Pepperdine’s involvement with it in its treatment of Moore.
We don’t know what the terms of settlement were, but would a public apology to Moore hurt? In this case, we think silence does more harm than good.
Unless, of course, we’re considering the “having nothing to fear from investigation” clause. Yes, it is perfectly reasonable to assume we do have something to fear from this investigation — the safety and well-being of our International Programs students and faculty in Florence. The prosecutor in the Knox case, Giuliano Mignini, is nicknamed the “Monster of Florence,” after all. Let’s not upset him. If there is an ounce of danger, we completely understand dissociating ourselves from someone championing the innocence of “Foxy Knoxy.” And we see that the University was aware of this issue when it first contacted Moore about dropping the investigation. Perhaps we could’ve made a statement allowing Moore to do his thing on his own time, but also saying that his opinion does not reflect that of Pepperdine and the institution is not responsible for what he does on that free time.
As a seasoned veteran of the FBI and as a man unwilling to compromise his integrity for the sake of his job, Moore deserves an apology. At the time of his termination, the University, as an institution that respects the rule of law, may have been justified in their concern. But today, six weeks after Amanda Knox was declared not guilty, the University owes Moore a public apology.
Moore should be lauded for his unwillingness to compromise his integrity and his search for truth. He is a living example of why “truth, having nothing to fear from investigation, should be pursued relentlessly in every discipline.”