The Professor and the Student

Collected by James McClain (James.McClain@Vanderbilt.edu)

Summary: The daughter of H. Ross Perot had a poetic affair with an English professor at Vanderbilt.

Text:  Approximately ten years ago, one of H. Ross Perot's daughters attended
Vanderbilt University. For her freshman seminar at Vanderbilt, she was
given a certain English professor. After class and on certain sunny
afternoons this teacher would invite the young girl over to his house
for some poetry reading and general conversation about nothing in
particular. This continued for at least a semester and possibly a
year. Things came to a halt when H. Ross Perot found out about his
daughter's activities. Mr. Perot proceeded to buy the house across the
street from this professor, and place some of his "goons" there to keep
a watchful eye on his daughter. Once H. Ross Perot found out about his
daughter's relationship in slightly greater detail, he had the "goons"
"lean on" the professor to bring things to a halt. Things were brought
to a halt.

Notes: The informant is very interested in the political arena. The
informant also claimed to have seen actual documentation of the incident
in Newsweek magazine. I should also note that I attempted to relay this
story with the same vocabulary and attitude of my informant, because I
think that was essential to the tale.

CONTEXT
A. Brief summary of tale: The daughter of H. Ross Perot had a
poetic affair with an English professor at Vanderbilt.
B. Tale type and motifs:
C. Comments on tale: This tale seems improbable, but possible
considering other legends about H. Ross Perot.
D. Approximate date informant first heard the tale: fall 1992
E. Relationship of your informant with the individual from whom
the
informant heard the tale: Friend
F. Circumstances when tale was first heard: casual conversation
while walking
G. Give the following information on your informant:
Age: 25
Sex: male
Place of birth: Birmingham, Alabama
Ethnic group: Caucasian
Languages spoken: English/Spanish
Religion: unknown
Year in school (or education level if not a
student):currently third year law student
Extracurricular jobs? unknown
Date Collected: fall 1994