By Andrew Simon & Chet Clem
Forum Editor, Staff Writer


PORTLAND — Dressed in a prison-issued orange jumpsuit, with her hands cuffed behind her back, former Bates professor Linda Williams was sentenced to five years in prison last Monday in U.S. Federal court for her involvement in an “international conspiracy” to distribute crack cocaine.

A nationally-renowned ethnomusicologist, Williams was arrested last spring after police and DEA agents learned of her intention to sell $1,000 worth of crack cocaine from her Bardwell St. home. Prosecutors claim that Williams also allowed crack dealers to use her house and car to conduct sales of the drug.

Williams’ sentence was reduced from the federal mandatory minimums of 87-108 months in exchange for her testimony against others involved in the drug ring. The prosecutors request for a 60-month jail term was accepted by U.S. District Court Judge George Singal. The five-year term was a disappointment to friends, family and colleagues who, in an attempt to reduce her punishment, testified on Williams’ behalf at the sentencing hearing.

The sentencing ends a ten-month ordeal in which Williams and Bates received national media attention for her role in the drug ring. Following her arrest in April, Williams pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine as part of a plea bargain. In return, two counts of distributing cocaine were dropped.

Her arrest stemmed from an investigation that began in June 2002, when it is believed Williams first became involved with the conspiracy. Allegedly, Williams’ mother’s caregiver introduced her to drug dealers who began supplying Williams with cocaine.

According to prosecutors, the dealers began using Williams’ home and car to conduct drug transactions soon after meeting her. In return for her cooperation, Williams was paid in crack cocaine. On at least two occasions Williams sold the drug herself, both times to government informants.

In the months leading up to the sentencing, Williams admitted to being addicted to the drug. It was this addiction, friends and family testified, that blinded Williams to the severity of the situation around her.

“Her worst fault is her inability to make good judgements about people,” testified Kathy Littleton, a childhood friend of Williams. “She fell asleep at the wheel with people she thought were friends.”

Flanked on both sides by her attorneys, Williams listened intently as her friends, family and former colleagues testified on her behalf. They characterized her as a naïve and gullible person, someone so unaware of the world around her that she was oblivious to the drug trafficking going on in her presence.

“Her generosity took her to the point of not being able to judge the people around her,” her brother, Tecumseh Williams, said.

Williams’ attorney, Roger Wareham of Brooklyn, NY, depicted Williams as “a deer caught in headlights.”

“Despite having a doctorate, despite all of her travels, there is a naiveté and gullibility to her,” Wareham said. “She is here because of her inability to say no and her denial of being a drug addict.”

The courtroom scene was a stark contrast to Williams’ years as a Professor of Ethnomusicology and director of the Steel Pan Orchestra. Her classes were among the most popular at Bates, colleagues said, and she had more thesis advisees than any other Music professor in the semester prior to her arrest. After receiving tenure in her sixth year at Bates in 2002, Williams was preparing to leave for South Africa on a prestigious Fulbright scholarship when she was arrested last April.

Colleagues in the Music Department relayed stories demonstrating Williams’ disorganization and distorted view of the world around her. Professor Parakilis told a story where Williams was unable to tell a professor from Oberlin College that the department was too busy to host their music group.

In a statement given to the Court, former Chair Anne Scott explained that “despite [Williams’] abilities as a scholar and a musician, her disorganization made her a nightmare for the chair of the department.”

“I see how Linda sought out drugs,” said Dr. Eveleigh Williams-Goodall, Williams’ youngest sister. “You find yourself in a place you’ve never been, and you have to deal with it.” It was the stress caused by her heavy work load, caring for her ailing mother, and enduring the tenure process that led Williams to drug abuse.

Williams was described as a loving and caring person, someone who, at her own expense, put a Zimbabwe woman through her studies at an American university. Someone who would call friends, not to ask for something, but “just to talk, to ask how you were doing,” said Portia Maultby, Professor of Ethnomusicology at Indiana University and Williams’ Ph.D. advisor.

“Society has been bettered because of Linda,” said Littleton, who flew from Michigan to speak at the hearing. “She has already lost everything.”

Williams formally resigned from her position at Bates on Oct. 14, 2003. Her mother passed away in the same month. The Court would not allow Williams to attend the funeral or see her prior to her passing.

Many members of Williams’ family, including two 80-year-old aunts, have not been told of her incarceration. The truth, according to Williams’ sister, would be too much for them to bear. In fact, many in her hometown in South Carolina are unaware of her situation and are under the assumption that she is teaching in Africa on the Fulbright scholarship.

Williams herself is said to be ashamed of her drug use and involvement in the conspiracy. Littleton visited Williams in prison the day before the sentencing and told Williams about a mutual friend who had recently passed away. According to Littleton, Williams responded, “I wish that were me….at least she died with her honor.”

Williams also took the opportunity to address the Court in her defense. In her statement, she apologized to her family and friends and for allowing illicit activities to take place in her home and car.

“I will regret for the rest of my life what I have done,” Williams said.

“Her punishment is that I have to sit here and look at her and she has to sit there and look at me,” said Littleton. “Putting her away? What is that going to do? It is not going to do anything.”

The emotional testimonies of Littleton and others could not dissuade Singal from sentencing Williams to the prosecution’s request for five years in jail followed by five years of probation.

Explaining his decision, Singal remarked, “I have yet to see a defendant receive such an outpouring of support and love and care as has been provided to you.... There are a lot of tragedies in this case that remove your talents from students you were supposed to help.”

He criticized Williams for not taking full accountability for her involvement and explained that Williams was “an individual with her own free will” and must pay the consequences for her actions.

At the conclusion of the sentence hearing, Williams’ attorney requested that she be incarcerated in Northern Illinois, presumably to be closer to her youngest sister.




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