Not adding up (part 3)

As detailed in parts one and two of this series, Marti Harvey is a mystery: The student media director’s professional experience doesn’t add up — but now it seems that’s just part of a bigger pattern.

She admitted to a misdemeanor possession charge on her application. But like those of her alleged journalism experience, the dates and details she supplied don’t line up with the documents I uncovered. And it all just makes me wonder what the heck Student Affairs was thinking when they hired her — and what this means for the quality of assistant student media director they’ll supposedly hire this summer.

Curious as to whether Student Affairs even looked into Harvey’s criminal record, I called Associate Dean of Students Terry Mena yesterday. He’s Harvey’s boss.

Apparently afraid to return a student’s call, Mena sent me an e-mail. When I called him again later yesterday afternoon, his work cell went right to voice mail. Today, he still won’t return my call.

I guess Harvey isn’t the only one in Student Affairs with something to hide.

So, now that neither Harvey nor Mena will have a conversation with me about it (Harvey said this morning that her illegal behavior is irreleant), I’m forced to draw my own conclusions from documents. And here’s what they tell me:

• Harvey’s application for the position of student media director:

1. She admitted to a “misdemeanor possession of marijuana in 1995.”

• The State of Texas vs. Marti Harvey deferred adjudication judgment:

1. She — along with both her son and her now-husband — was read her Miranda rights on Dec. 24, 1996, for marijuana possession. Harvey wasn’t a teenager or even in her 20s. She was 36 years old.
2. When one of the officers called to her home asked how much marijuana she had in the house, Harvey claimed “only two joints.”
3. Upon searching their home, however, “officers recovered triple beam scales, paraphernalia, and a usable amount of marijuana” and had to call “narcotics investigators” to the scene, according to the police report. Those investigators then found another “46.6 grams,” which, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, is enough to roll 116.5 average-sized joints.
4. On Aug. 6, 1997, Harvey was brought before a judge (whose official finding was that “evidence substantiates guilt”).

It makes me wonder how the year 1995 ended up on Harvey’s application — unless she was high when she filled it out. I suppose she could have confused her marijuana possession charge with the three her husband earned in Dallas County, but those went to court in 1976, 1997, and 2002.

But since no one’s talking, I’m forced to conclude that shady math and disingenuous descriptions of past experiences are lifetime habits for the mysterious Marti Harvey.

Oh, and that Student Affairs wants to “move student media forward” but can’t hold their own employees to the same standards.

Advertisement

Tags: Marti Harvey, Terry Mena