But would it be enough? The door opened again. Dr. Crawford emerged. Mr.
Parker, we're ready. Isaiah walked back in, Dr. Moore beside him. Sullivan taking his seat with the others. Dr.
Crawford held Isaiah's test papers. Mr. Parker, in 43 years of mathematics I have evaluated thousands of students. From MIT, Princeton, Cambridge, the finest institutions in the world. He paused.
Your work today is exceptional. Problem one, completed in half the expected time. Problem two, you used a method I've only seen in advanced research. Problem three, your proof construction shows original thinking at a professional level. Isaiah held his breath.
It is my professional opinion that you are not a fraud. You are a genuine mathematical talent. Dr. Reynolds nodded. Agreed.
The accusations against you are baseless. Dr. Sullivan stood. And I am prepared to provide testimony regarding events I witnessed in 1994. Events that explain how Professor Hartwell obtained the work he has claimed as his own for 24 years.
Isaiah exhaled, the first real breath he'd taken in weeks. Dr. Crawford looked directly at him. Mr. Parker, your father would be proud.
November 28th, 9:00 a.m. University administration building. The hearing room was cold, formal, designed to intimidate. On one side, Isaiah, Dr. Moore, and a stack of evidence.
On the other, Professor Richard Hartwell. Confident, smiling, certain of victory. He didn't know what was coming. This is a simple case. Hartwell's voice was smooth, practiced.
Mr. Parker submitted a solution that no undergraduate could possibly derive independently. He refuses to explain how he obtained it. The only logical conclusion is academic dishonesty. He spread his hands.
I take no pleasure in this, but Whitmore has standards and those standards must be maintained. The Dean turned to Isaiah. Mr. Parker, your response? Isaiah stood, his voice steady.
I didn't cheat. I couldn't have. Because the method I used came from my father's notebooks. Notebooks dated 1994. A full year before Professor Hartwell published the same solution under his own name.
Hartwell's smile flickered. Objection. Those notebooks could have been fabricated. Then explain this. Dr.
Moore stood, placed a document on the table. This is a research proposal submitted by James Parker to the Whitmore mathematics department in October 1994. It describes the exact methodology that Professor Hartwell published in 1995. She placed another document beside it. This is a formal complaint filed by James Parker in February 1995 alleging that his advisor, Professor Hartwell, stole his work and claimed credit.
Hartwell's face went pale. Those documents are irrelevant. James Parker was a proven plagiarist who James Parker was my father. Isaiah's voice cut through the room. And he didn't plagiarize anyone.