The Story of the Woman Who Took on Bryce Milligan

In today's episode of Just This, Rick and I discuss a storythat has rocked the San Antonio literary scene. Hailey Laine Johnson, now 31 years old, on May 9 posted on Facebooka description of a situation that she says happened to her when she was a 14-year-old creative writing student at the North East School of the Arts. In that posting, Johnson alleges that Bryce Milligan, who over decades became one of San Antonio's leading literary figures, engaged in inappropriate conduct with her when she was his student, beginning in the fall of 2001. She and her mother took her complaints in March of 2002 to school administrators, who, after an investigation, recommended that Milligan be terminated. He resigned before school officials fired him, claiming to do so to "protect" the creative writing program there. Milligan has denied Johnson's allegations. Johnson's disclosures have brought her overwhelming support, both from people who were her classmates at the time, and from women who claim to have had similar experiences. But they also have prompted a number of the city's literary organizationsto decry the alleged behavior and to distance themselves swiftly from Milligan. We discuss the ramifications of Johnson's story, both personally to her, and in its larger impact in the context of the national #MeToo movement. And we examine what is, unfortunately, an old story regarding men in power and the predatory behavior in which they sometimes engage.