‘It’s Good to Be Home,’ Hill Tells Cheering Crowd

NORMAN, Okla. —  Anita Faye Hill was late coming home Monday, and the crowd began to mill, looking expectantly toward the door each time someone entered the ballroom of the student union of the University of Oklahoma.

At 4:50 p.m., Hill strode into the room to the sound of 400 people applauding her. And for the first time in public since alleging in a press conference a week ago that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her, she burst into a wide smile.

She clearly relished the ovation after a weekend in which her motivations had been called into question in an all-out attack led by the White House.

“What has sustained me through all this has been knowing that I could return home, back to my way of life, back to you,” she told the cheering throng.

In a short statement, the 35-year-old law professor derided those who had tried to paint her as someone who had motives other than the truth.

“It seemed that every 15 minutes I was being subjected to yet another new theory as to why I broke my silence,” she said. “It was suggested that I had fantasies, that I was a spurned woman and that I had a martyr complex. I will not dignify those theories except to assure everyone that I am not imagining the conduct to which I testified.

“I have been deeply hurt and offended by the nature of the attacks on my character. I had nothing to gain by subjecting myself to the process. In fact, I had more to gain by remaining silent.

“The personal attacks on me without an iota of evidence were particularly reprehensible, and I felt it necessary to come forward to address those attacks.”

In the ballroom, a large gold and white banner proclaimed: “We admire your courage.” A dozen red roses were placed in front of the podium and a cluster of red, blue and green balloons were off to the side.

Hill paid special thanks to friends and colleagues who had come to Washington to testify in her behalf.

“They did so at personal risk to their careers, but they did so out of their sense of duty as attorneys and as citizens,” she said.

She said she had no regrets.

“The only personal benefit that I have received from this experience is that I have had an opportunity to serve my country,” she said. “I was raised to do what is right, and can now explain to my students firsthand that despite the high costs which may be involved, it is worth having the truth emerge.”

Her short address was interrupted by applause three times--twice when she mentioned how happy she was to be home.

She looked rested and upbeat. And to her supporters here, Anita Hill looked like she had weathered the storm just fine.

“It’s good to be home . . . back to my way of life,” said Hill, a native of Oklahoma. “I cannot wait to get back in the classroom.”

Shirley Wiegand, also a law professor, said that Hill planned to stay at her home Monday night and resume teaching classes in the morning.

Todd Galloway, 25, a first year law student, said he expected to see her in class. “She’s not the type to get into an emotional turmoil. She’ll want to get back to class,” he said.

Hill’s appearance was her first public statement since her appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday, in which she charged in gut wrenching detail that Thomas sexually harassed her a decade ago when she worked for him at the U.S. Department of Education and later the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

But Thomas vehemently and categorically denied each and every allegation while accusing liberal groups of conspiring with Hill to “destroy” him--in part by fabricating details that, he said, played to racial stereotypes about black men.

Thomas’ backers also questioned Hill’s motivation and sought to portray her as an emotionally unstable, and perhaps spurned, woman.

Like her appearance Friday, Hill’s voice and eyes were steady. Unlike Friday, she smiled frequently as the applause and cheers washed over her.

Hill also urged victims of sexual harassment not to be reluctant in coming forward.

“I am hopeful that others who have suffered sexual harassment will not become discouraged by my experience but instead will find the strength to speak up about this serious problem,” she said.

The crowd waved banners and cheered her arrival and departure.

Yolanda Johnson, 25, a first year law student, said: “It saddens me she was put through all of this because it will never be normal for her again.” But Tom Decker, 25, a political science student, contended that Hill would get all the help she needed at home.

“In Washington she was talked down to and treated with no respect whatsoever. Now that she is home, she can feel our support. This school has never rallied around an issue or a person like this.”

As a reflection of that, the University of Oklahoma Faculty Senate on Monday passed a measure condemning sexual harassment and also gave a ringing endorsement of Hill.

Wendy Anderson, 23, a zoology graduate student, held a sign saying “I believe Professor Hill.”

“I believe her beyond a shadow of a doubt,” she said. “She won’t benefit in any way. But women will gain from her courage. She got the bad end of the deal.”

Hill took no questions from the press before she left the ballroom.

Wiegand said Hill is “exhausted but she is fine. She doesn’t welcome this publicity. All she wanted was to give the information and get on with her life. This is not her life. Teaching is.

“She will be touched by this forever. But if you know her like I do, you know she’ll resume as normal a life as you could imagine. That’s just the way she is.”

Staff writer Edwin Chen contributed to this story from Washington.