Power Dynamics

After formally reporting workplace misconduct--

After disclosing trauma and elevating serious concerns, including retaliation and harassment--

Elizabeth Schmidt remained my supervisor.

She continued approving my paychecks. She responded to my formal class inventory submission with nothing but a single punctuation mark: "."

Not a comment.

Not a question.

Not even a professional acknowledgment.

Just a dot.

Before my complaint, Elizabeth's replies had always been professional--at minimum, a "thank you"

or a brief but respectful acknowledgment. That sudden shift in tone? That wasn't just laziness. It was

retaliation. And it was unmistakably petty.

At that point, I had already reported the use of a dildo as a substitute training tool in a medical

education setting. I had identified it as sexually inappropriate, humiliating, and entirely unacceptable.

I raised this issue through internal channels. What was the result?

No accountability.

No interim reassignment.

No protective measures.

Elizabeth Schmidt--named in the complaint--was never removed from authority over me.

In fact, my follow-up complaints about her continued control over my role were also ignored. Imagine this scenario reversed: A male supervisor remains in charge of a female employee after a sexual harassment complaint.

He continues signing off on her pay.

He responds to her documentation with a single dot.

Would that fly in any other context? Apparently, here--it did.

I wasn't protected. I wasn't heard. I wasn't given the decency of procedural fairness.

Instead, I was left to operate under the authority of the very person whose actions I had reported--until I was forced out.

This isn't just bad policy. It's complicity. And sometimes, retaliation doesn't even bother hiding--it just leaves a period.

-- K