Hey, it’s me and it’s this time of the year again. I am doing extremely well, in case you wonder. No trouble from the Chinese government whatsoever.

My issues remain unsolved. But there has been some interesting developments.

In January 2017, Tyndall was called to a conference room in a building on the edge of campus and presented with a four-page letter informing him that he had violated university policy on sexual harassment.

The letter included MDReview’s findings about his pelvic exams.

“I was shocked,” he recalled. He vowed to appeal and pressed university officials to let him access his office where he had documents.

Then in May, Ainsley Carry, the vice president of student affairs, summoned Tyndall to a meeting, he said. A powerful figure at USC, Carry presided over Greek life, student government, the rape crisis center and student health. He reported directly to Provost Michael Quick.

Carry told Tyndall he was slated for termination. What happened next is in dispute.

Ainsley Carry, USC’s vice president of student affairs, told Dr. George Tyndall at a May 2017 meeting that he was slated for termination. Tyndall later resigned quietly with a financial payout.

Tyndall said Carry proposed an alternative to firing. If Tyndall agreed to resign, he would be given a severance and the conclusion of the investigation would be changed to “no finding,” the physician recalled Carry saying.

Tyndall said he inquired what would happen if he refused the deal.

“I asked, ‘Are you going to report that to the medical board?’ And he said, ‘Probably,'” Tyndall recalled.

Carry called Tyndall’s account of the conversation “false” in a statement through a USC spokeswoman.

“USC would never offer to change OED findings. Those findings stand today and remain in his file,” Carry said.

The university said Tyndall threatened to sue USC for age and gender discrimination and “rather than engage in protracted litigation” they sought a settlement.

Tyndall said he initially refused Carry’s settlement offer and remained committed to appealing. But USC continued to urge him to take the deal, he said. The university’s deputy general counsel, Stacy Rummel Bratcher, met with him and Carry twice that spring. At the second meeting, Tyndall said, they handed him a separation agreement and said he had 21 days to sign or face termination.

Tyndall said he had done nothing wrong, but felt like he had no choice. He signed the document minutes before the deadline, he said. The terms prevented him from disclosing the amount USC paid him. It also barred him from returning to the clinic, he said.

Bratcher declined to comment through a USC spokeswoman.

When I read this, I was like “OH MY GOSH.” This is almost exactly what happened between me and Johns Hopkins back in 2011. So what God actually did was to make me into an American (you talk like an American, you act like an American, then I suppose you are an American) for a few days.

There are a few discrepancies, though:

1. It did not take me all 21 days. Just ten minutes to make sure the number is right and I would not have no intention to break my part of the bargain. I did not bother to discuss a single clause. I mean I was really serious about this. So if it was not Dr. Bin Ren and his friends simply would not stop when politely asked to, I honestly think you would never hear from me again.

2. I had already submitted the form titled “Change of Degree Objective” or something like that. I expressed that the university would face legal consequences or some other consequences which I am still not sure today. Johns Hopkins wanted to talk and pay.

3. It seems to me that a true American would always defend himself/herself to the end. In my “Grievance” form which the university official asked me to fill, I mentioned gender and racial discrimination. As you may know this is all gibberish. The real reason that I wanted to switch to a new advisor was that, well, I found out my advisor watched too much pornography (no child pornography, that I can assure you) when he was alone in his office. I despised him and resent that I just wasted so much of my time. The fact that I did not commit suicide surely zeroed my “friend” count and no one would miss me at all, so I guess in 2018 I have no reason to cover up for a stranger. I really wanted to be a good physicist, and had spent nearly a decade for that. I really did.