At the beginning of this semester, myself and Abigail Conpropst, the managing editor, received identical copies of an anonymous letter. Three months later, that letter was still impacting my daily life, though I hope that after this week everything will come to a close. 

Receiving an anonymous letter is something out of a movie, especially for a very small student news organization and we were both giddy and anxious about what this could mean. We, in this case, meaning Abigail, Spencer Bates, the chief copy editor and I. We did not tell anyone else about this letter except for our advisor, whom we went to for advice about what we should do. 

The contents of the letter, to us, were shocking and new and directly pointed to the leader of our school, Officer-in-Charge Mary Toale and her spouse, Katherine Thweatt, a professor in communication studies. The letter accused the couple of many things, including alleged ethical and legal violations throughout both of their careers.

Because the letter is anonymous, none of the claims made in it have any validity and everything needed to be triple fact checked. This was a very tall order for a few full-time college students, who, on top of classes and their work at The Oswegonian, also have jobs and are in other clubs. But we were fueled by a love for journalism and the excitement from the opportunity to break a story before any other news outlet. 

This was the start of a months-long investigation of the claims made in the letter with very limited success. We began attending Faculty Assembly meetings, making calls and having long talks about the direction we were headed. Things were moving slowly, as again we were, and still are, incredibly busy seniors, but we did make some progress. Week by week we narrowed down what we could and could not verify and the contents of the letter that had factual backing became fewer. 

Unfortunately, the more research and conversations I had, the more stress and anxiousness that started to surface. Not only because I was running around like a crazy person trying to find reputable sources, but because of what we were trying to do. The allegations in the letter are severe and could have major repercussions if proven and it was clear that people were terrified to talk about anything to do with it. Though people would admit they received a copy of the anonymous letter or had read it, they would not go on the record or have public conversations about anything regarding it. 

But these early conversations were only the beginning of this whole letter debacle. When Toale announced that she was eligible to apply for the SUNY Oswego presidency, everything that we had started looking into carried much more weight. More questions were raised about things that were not in the initial letter and our investigation took new turns. 

Months later, there was finally enough proven information to warrant a story, which I wrote and is published in this same issue in the news section. The article includes information about a different letter, a statement of concerns, that was not anonymous and had validity. At this point, the initial anonymous letter that had started this whole investigation is basically moot. 

It has been an interesting journey since January. I completed my first true investigative piece, with lots of help, support and personal stress. I look forward to having the last few weeks of the semester free of this project. 

As for the anonymous letter, we still do not know who wrote it and it is hanging up in our office next to other notes and statements from The Oswegonian’s past. 

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