Re: My talk with Professor Schwartzberg
On July 26, 2000, I met Professor Stephen Schwartzberg for three hours to talk about his theories on the Jovin murder. I had contacted him after reading a letter he had sent around implicating another member of the Yale faculty (by name) as a possible suspect. I chose not to reproduce the letter here nor talk about it at all because I didn't want to risk dragging another innocent person's name through the mud. In other words, just because the allegations were made in a very public way, I didn't feel they merited public discussion. I was very disappointed that the Yale Daily News chose to write a story over it, and even more disappointed in the story itself because the author chose to regurgitate rather than investigate, a dangerous practice.
For example, the YDN quotes Schwartzberg as saying "he saw Gaddis near the spot where Jovin was last seen alive"... but neglected to say this was at 8pm, an hour and a half earlier! Furthermore, when I asked Schwartzberg how he knew it was Gaddis, he said because Gaddis had said hello to him. I asked if he thought it rather odd that someone who supposedly was wearing a hood (which he also alleged in his e-mail to Yale President Levin), presumably to remain inconspicuous, would want to call attention to himself?
The conversation was pleasant, we covered lots of ground, and Schwartzberg freely admitted we were dealing with possibilities not probabilities. He asked me what I would do in his situation and I said I would definitely go to the police with whatever I thought relevant, no matter how seemingly far-fetched, and let them sort it all out. However, unless I thought the police were doing some sort of massive cover-up, I certainly wouldn't go public with what amounts to total speculation that by mere mention in public might ruin someone's career.
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At some point one has to ask what constitutes news in today's society. I guess that applies to the form of media in question. I suppose if I were the editor of the Yale Daily News and an ex-professor were writing letters to the President of Yale, students, and alumni speculating about a high-profile murder, I might be tempted to write a story about it... but only to put widespread rumors to rest, not merely to report on them. In my particular situation, as one who also chronicles the media, I felt an obligation to reproduce the YDN story, but wasn't sure if or how to comment on it. Suffice to say that I hope that by addressing one small but significant "tantalizing" detail, I hope to render the whole subject as nothing more than unfounded and insignificant fodder.
I truly believe Schwartzberg believes he has found enough coincidences to make for something possibly more than a coincidence. I simply don't share his view... at all.
- Jeff |
