Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Douchey e-mails sent to class listserv

It all started off when Student A sent a request to her psych class:

Hi All, So I know most people have a JP due the Monday before our second paper is due for this class. Anyone up for asking for a class wide extension in class tonight?


That elicited a response from Student B to the class:
I disagree with this request. If you can't write a decent 8 page paper in 3 days, then you should have started writing your JP earlier, so that you would have more time for this. Both papers were known well in advance in February. I think that this paper is also given a fairly solid structure, it's not like you have to create it from thin air and then there is always taking extra time. Everyone was given three days to use, and if this was a legitimate concern of yours, I think you should have saved your time, as I did. (Admittedly, out of habit rather than planning) I'm not trying to be mean, but I don't think that turning in this paper 3 days later is that difficult, given how much assistance we are being given and that we have extra time, and I think that asking Prof XXXX for additional time is inappropriate because of these facts. Sometimes life is hard, I wrote my first Psychology JP draft last night...



Student B pissed off Student C, who responded:

This is the douchiest thing that has ever been sent out to a class list.I In the future, please restrict your use of this listserv to - inappropriate requests, such as paper extensions, class mutiny and chocolate milk in the water fountains - humorous links to videos of state-school kids hurting themselves.

And a short response from Student D:

Yeah, not cool.


But we’re not done yet, after getting some insightful comments from Student E:


MY THOUGHTS ON THE MATTER ARE ATTACHED:

So then Student A sees there’s no progress to be made with this lot and ends the discussion:

Thanks for your replies. Obviously I misinterpreted some things that were said in class, but I'm glad we were able to be so civil in this email discussion. See you in class tonight.

Then came a bombshell from the preceptor during class— it turns out the listserv wasn’t just going to students…but basically to everyone in the department. This follow-up e-mail brings that point home for us:

Hi everyone, For those absent last night or those for whom the instructions were unclear, please submit your paper by including identifying information (name and honor code statement) only on the last page of your document (a separate page after your reference section.) This will allow me to evaluate papers anonymously. Also, in case of any lingering confusion about listserv recipients, use of the class id-underscore-term format in the e-mail address copies everyone on the Blackboard list associated with that class, including instructors, TAs, and a range of administrators. You can select either specific individual recipients or groups of recipients (e.g., all students, students and instructors, etc.) via the Blackboard e-mail function.
Whoops.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Student B sounds like a dbag.

Anonymous said...

I hope the prof takes points off Student B for being a douche.

Nick Johnson said...

I think you missed the point---all the students were dbags.