William's afternoon went by quietly and without too much drama over the things that he and the rest of the English Department had discussed with regard to what would be campus wide policies for security measures and dealing with the fall out from the announced big reveal that was to be planned. He had his fears and worries over the reveal, particularly given the possibility of what might happen if the response was negative from the rest of humanity, and William also knew that his own reaction to Moon Lake's secret and the Mandatory Were Law was such that he couldn't think that many would respond well to it, unless they were like his son Nate and had a great interest in werewolves all their lives. But in William's experience, he'd met few people that had that kind of fandom the way Nate did, and he also knew that neither did Martha.
Yet, at the same time, a part of him was also quite open to the were secret coming out. Partially because ever since his transformation into a werefox was completed, he knew that the monsters in the movies that Nate liked were just movie characters. Real weres were nothing like that, and the were that attacked him had not done so because she was some murderous psychopath or a witch who'd made a deal with Satan, and neither was she mindless. In some ways, Yvette Smith's actions were quite human in their reasoning, and while William had his embarrassment at his entry into were society, particularly with the fact that his marriage was in a rough spot when the Andersons moved in, he loved the end results. The fox in him was happily bonded to Martha and would do anything to make her happy. Martha looked happier and healthier in ways that went beyond just her looks. It made a part of him wonder how he could have missed that she was bisexual and was struggling with those conflicting urges in the past... but now with him as a werefox and her as a werecat, they were happy and William wanted to share that mutual happiness with everyone and show far he had come when it came to weres.
But this reveal had unleashed a lot of turmoil, and having witnessed the riot that had broken out the previous day over the reveal, he could see where this issue was contentious for both sides. That was something that also worried William, for while he'd never had any real interest in politics or the like... he'd also known enough that punching out people wasn't the best way to settle divisive issues. It might settle some things in the short term if one could win, but it would only LEAD to more trouble in the long term. That was what lead to some of the changes and decisions the college had made to try and put a stop to the campus's students fighting each other, for there were normal human students there, and not all of whom were from Moon Lake. In this, from what William knew, they were unaware of Moon Lake's secret and had agreed not to reveal anything that might look or sound weird with the expectation that they wouldn't get an up close and personal look at Moon Lake's weres while on campus. But if the student body had continuous riots over the reveal, those that were against it might end up revealing things in a way that was unintended.
As such, William was supportive of the efforts that the college had made, at least until the student body could prove it could debate the issue with some degree of civility. And for the most part, William also didn't have too many issues with those policies. Unlike on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, he didn't have an 8 AM class and when his first class did start, he found that a lot of the chatter that had gone on the previous day wasn't that much of an issue. That gave William the assurance that these sorts of measures were being put in place in every department, not just the English Department at the college, and that made it easier for him. Most of the students had already gotten their updates on what the college would and would not tolerate and how many warnings they would get in the course of handling the issue. There were a few that grumbled, some because they were weres that wanted the secret kept, some because they were normal humans from outside Moon Lake who thought that this was more of a prank the college was playing, and others were just the sort of people that weren't really going to support any authority without some form of argument.
Of course handling those that grumbled was a bit different. The father in William essentially wanted to make the point to those that wanted to grumble and argue over the issue that the college had essentially given the student body the opportunity to handle the issue like mature adults. Instead of doing so, there was a massive fight that sent at least one person to the hospital and the ringleaders for both sides to either the jail that was in the town's police station or in whatever facilities that the college's security office had and thus the lack of maturity was the consequence of the behavior. But, that wouldn't work as both sides would surely argue it was an issue worth fighting for in one way or another and calling either side childish would lead to further antagonism. As such, William did his best to try and stick to the policies that had been decided on by the administration for the foreseeable future. It wasn't easy, but he managed. Though he did catch some interest at the end of the day... or at least at the end of his class day as things began to move toward five PM.
"You know... a lot of all of this still bums me out," one student, a wereleopard by his scent, commented, "most of us weren't involved in the riot from yesterday..."
"Yeah," a friend of his added. She was a normal, and surprisingly from Idaho from what William knew. Apparently she'd hocked up with another student at the college but hadn't gotten as far as sexual relations, yet, but she obviously did know about weres and believed in them more than what William would have believed before his family moved to Moon Lake. He'd only just dismissed the class as the two came by as he moved to clean up what materials he brought from his office to the classroom. "In fact, me and a group of friends have actually been able to talk things out quite amicably. So... all this tight lipped stuff is odd."
"Not to mention that regardless of the colleges rules and regulations regarding out of town normals like Chloe, here," the wereleopard commented, "that hasn't really kept the were secret... at least not in the way that the guys that started the riot wanted to fight for the secret imagined it. And yet Moon Lake's never been assaulted by the army and the college hasn't been turned into a mad scientist's lab."
William slowly nodded, as that represented some of the complexities that related to the entire issue around the reveal and where it intersected with other parts of Moon Lake, and namely the college. It was something that could be both good for this reveal plan and complicated for it at the same time, and William also knew he couldn't get into it. It was outside policy for the college at present and technically was also outside the overall areas of experience that William could use to give advice on.
"Perhaps," William said slowly as he ushered them toward the hall, "but the fact that this issue carries the potential of escalating to a fight... the college wants to avoid that kind of altercation from repeating. Thus the policy that we've adopted for the immediate future. Now... you'd best be on your way to your next class... if you have one."
"But shouldn't we have the right to be able to discuss this... maturely?" the wereleopard asked as they came out into the hallway.
"Maturely... yes," William said slowly, "but for the moment, tensions are high enough and those that have caused trouble have done so to such an extent that there is fear of things getting out of hand. Thus the policy of not bringing up the subject during classes or letting classes divulge into that subject... along with trying to keep people moving along. Outside of that... perhaps you might be able to show that sort of thing outside of the classroom setting and that might calm things down, but until the policy is what it is. I'm afraid I cannot change that."
The two sighed and then made their way toward the stairs and ultimately the main exit to the building. That left William alone and in the hallway with a heavy sigh of his own. In certain ways he understood their argument, and on certain levels he agreed that the misdeeds of a few shouldn't lead to the punishment of everyone, but the present tension over the reveal was a big thing and that was something that wouldn't be easily solved. William was well aware of that and didn't need to be experienced in politics to get that, and so long as the problem was a tough one, he had to agree that letting things boil over wouldn't help matters for anyone. Thankfully, those two students, despite their disagreement with the policy did seem to accept it or at least that the college wasn't going to back off from it until things calmed down.
"And hopefully they do calm down," William sighed to himself as he prepared to return to his office and ready himself for his own journey home.