Part I summary:
1) Hopkins student Alex Ranciato was accused of using the N-word multiple times, in videos and across social media.
2) Hopkins student Lilly Panagos - at the time friends with Alex - was the primary accuser.
3) Dwayne Reginald Betts was hired as Hopkins' Writer-in-Residence in the fall of 2021.
4) Lilly Panagos and her friend Sebaga Kombo and were in a Tiktok video together; one that they produced on November 16th, 2019 which used the N-word in background lyrics.
5) Sebaga would produce another video on October 17, 2020 -- two days before Alex Ranciato's disciplinary hearing.
Before resuming with Alex's hearing however, a few more details need to be fleshed out.
Jasmine Simmons was a senior in the 2020-21 academic year, and she was seen dancing in a video which, perhaps uncoincidentally, used the N-word as well in the lyrics. Approximately one week before Alex Ranciato's hearing, Lilly Panagos would speak with Lars Jorgensen, Hopkins' dean of students and head advisor.
Two other details uncovered in Lars' deposition:
- the assistant head of school is also the chair of the Disciplinary committee. - the assistand head of school and the head advisor will work together to determine the degree and category of behaviors brought forward in allegation(s).
- making false allegations possibly qualifies as 'very serious misconduct' - no policy existed at Hopkins on explicit use of the N-word at the time of the allegation.
Lars Jorgensen's deposition reveals a great deal, notably how much liberty both the faculty and students had at Hopkins regarding use of the N-word. Hopkins' Writer-in-Residence at the time was Dwayne Betts. In the deposition details, Jorgensen seems almost painfully unaware of the public tweets Betts was making during his tenure at Hopkins. Among Betts’ numerous tweets, "I think I'm a publish a list of niggas doing life every week so we can publicly just figure out who we should be getting out of prison."
While asking about use of the N-word, attorney Allen asks, "And you understand that this is his tweet, that he actually typed up those words, correct?" Jorgensen: "That I would make that assumption, but you never know."
Per the lunchroom incident (Part I) the boy on the receiving end of Alex's comment was another Caucasian student, Andy Constantine. The only African American present at the same table was a student named Pearson Hill. Constantine's affidavit:
Alex's student advisor during the fall of 2020 was a lady named Meghan Maxwell. It was Maxwell's first year at Hopkins, and when Alex came to her in October of 2020, "[Alex] was concerned" Maxwell would later write.
Lily claimed she had evidence.
When Lilly approached Jorgensen in his office on October 13, 2020, she made a bold allegation: that Alex Ranciato was using the N-word repeatedly, in “offensive” jokes to Lily. Allegedly, Lily would also be producing evidence; according to Lars' deposition, he stated, "Lilly said she 'would look for it'".
Lars also claimed in his deposition that Lily Panagos was 'worried about her anonymity'. He mentioned to her - claiming it was “standard practice” - that 'if there are other people that you are aware of that would feel comfortable coming to talk to me, that would be a good idea.' Yet the email supposedly sent from Lily Panagos to Lars Jorgensen was mysteriously never found--not even on Hopkins' network servers, in spite of their director of technology.
However, as to what Lilly sent Mr. Jorgensen is no mystery: it was a video. Lars claimed that John Roberts and the head of security, Andy Burke, were invited to his office to view this video, supposedly because Jorgensen did not know what he was going to witness. There is no record that the three aforementioned did in fact convene in Jorgensen's office; and Lily had another video she had sent to Alex Ranciato.
Lars Jorgensen, upon seeing the second video, still did not inquire as to Lilly supposedly wanting to remain anonymous. The video that Panagos had sent to Jorgensen contained the video known as "The Cum Zone."
Megan Maxwell’s role
Back to Megan Maxwell, Alex's advisor.
Maxwell sent an email to "Alex, Senior Ranciatos" (Alex's parents); in the email, "Lily says that she has proof of Alex's racist attitudes on social media platforms and will bring them in tomorrow or Thursday." (October 14th or 15th, 2020). Jorgensen claimed that Lily told him merely, "I'll look for it" after claiming to have the proof. Maxwell wrote a draft to Lars as well, based on a text from Alex's father; the draft is in the screenshot below.
It reads as follows:
"This is what I was going to send to [the Ranciatos]. I decided to run it by you first.
‘Dear Alex and Mr. and Mrs. Ranciato, Mr. Jorgensen has advised me that this is now a disciplinary matter. The entire process is now out of my hands. I am sure Mr. Jorgensen will speak with you next week, but I don't really know anything more than that.
Please know that we are all taking this quite seriously and without regard to political affiliation. We want to find the truth, as do you. For now, all I can say is that Alex needs to focus on schoolwork. I hope that this no-homework weekend might help him relax a bit about falling behind over the past few days. My best to you all,
Megan Maxwell
Stay tuned for Part III.