We made a big mistake

[Ruralguy]

I think Hegemony is just having a "Doh!"  Moment, because at least on the face of it, a slightly unjust outcome resulted from a mistake due to a confusion of names of applicant. Yeah, operationally it might not matter, but nobody wants to make a mistake that might lead to something bad for someone else.

[fizzycist]

I think Hegemony is just having a "Doh!"  Moment, because at least on the face of it, a slightly unjust outcome resulted from a mistake due to a confusion of names of applicant. Yeah, operationally it might not matter, but nobody wants to make a mistake that might lead to something bad for someone else.

Yeah my reaction was over the top. Guess I'm bored tonight. OP obv a respected poster who was prob just blowing off steam after something annoying happened at work.

[AeroProf]

Are you in a field where there are other departments that might be able to provide a TA position for this student? My department is in the opposite problem, where we have more TA spots than we have students who need them (due to the unusually high number of external fellowships earned by our current students). We do not want to admit more students this year, as our program would then become out of balance between younger students and older students. Fortunately, a cognate field has a larger-than-usual incoming class, so we will almost certainly draw from their graduate students to fill our TA positions.

I second Arcturus's idea. I would even look beyond other departments to other divisions/schools/institutes, or even neighboring colleges. If it's a humanities department, does the Law School need writing instructors for its clinic? If it's something STEM, could they do low-level tasks for medical research, e.g. data entry? I also know many schools are short on admin staff right now, and some departments could need grad students for those tasks.

[mahagonny]

I feel sick.

What I might do if I were in your situation: estimate how much money this student has been set back by the administrative error. Then estimate the fraction of that consequence I was responsible for as supervisor of the process and then offer that proportional amount as a gift to the student from my own savings. This wouldn't give them full restitution, but it would be the best I could do, offset their hardship and would ease my conscience years later as I collect my pension. Of course this only works if the offer doesn't have any ominous legal significance, like more culpability, admission of something. And it would be considered an odd response by many, if it became known, which in my case, is manageable, given my peculiar outlook.

Benny Goodman, who was never known as the warm and fuzzy type, would give money to old friends who had fallen on misfortune, provided they didn't tell anyone about it, so the floodgates wouldn't open up. Of course he was by that time, I guess, wealthy, and I don't know that you are.

Maybe unusual problems call for unusual solutions? The thing is, you'll remember this for the rest of your life. At the same time, if you can honestly decide there was no negligence on your part, you think & act accordingly.