The Venting Thread

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

There's a situation at my university that could be bordering on illegal (it's unethical to say the least). I spoke to my Chair about it and basically got the, 'Well, I can't do anything about it, you need to talk to someone else.' I'm really upset about this and am vacillating between extreme rage and hopelessness.

[clean]

Is there an Ombuds?
Is there a fraud/ethics hotline? (many state funded places have one!)

[ciao_yall]

There's a situation at my university that could be bordering on illegal (it's unethical to say the least). I spoke to my Chair about it and basically got the, 'Well, I can't do anything about it, you need to talk to someone else.' I'm really upset about this and am vacillating between extreme rage and hopelessness.

Why can't your chair do anything? Do you agree?

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

There's a situation at my university that could be bordering on illegal (it's unethical to say the least). I spoke to my Chair about it and basically got the, 'Well, I can't do anything about it, you need to talk to someone else.' I'm really upset about this and am vacillating between extreme rage and hopelessness.

Why can't your chair do anything? Do you agree?

I'm currently exploring other avenues. There is little transparency and some toxic people in the mix.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Is there an Ombuds?
Is there a fraud/ethics hotline? (many state funded places have one!)

Yes. Considering it after exploring other avenues. Trying to be intentionally vague. Could be newsworthy.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

My body hates me. I think it's stress-related. I've been self-soothing with fatty foods and chocolate and well- it caught up with me. :(

[arcturus]

My body hates me. I think it's stress-related. I've been self-soothing with fatty foods and chocolate and well- it caught up with me. :(

Just relocate to a different planet. It won't affect your mass, but it can do wonders for your weight!

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

My body hates me. I think it's stress-related. I've been self-soothing with fatty foods and chocolate and well- it caught up with me. :(

Just relocate to a different planet. It won't affect your mass, but it can do wonders for your weight!

Ha! I tell my students this all the time. Hmm. might help me stretch better.

[arcturus]

My body hates me. I think it's stress-related. I've been self-soothing with fatty foods and chocolate and well- it caught up with me. :(

Just relocate to a different planet. It won't affect your mass, but it can do wonders for your weight!

Ha! I tell my students this all the time. Hmm. might help me stretch better.

For a good stretch, place yourself in the vicinity of a friendly black hole.

[Parasaurolophus]

The monstrous SIL decided that keeping her mother at the poverty level was too good, and that she can have an adequate quality of life 40% below the poverty level. (She is trustee of a giant pile of money left to her mother--like, high six figures--so that she could live her last years in some comfort, for the first time in her life. Grossly, she inherited more than her mother, so it's not even primarily about greed, but rather having the power to control and punish her mother.)

The situation has been untenable for some years now, but that's the final straw. We are suing for her removal. Sigh. This is really not what anyone wanted. And really not what we (my partner and I) needed added to our plate.

[Juvenal]

The monstrous SIL decided that keeping her mother at the poverty level was too good, and that she can have an adequate quality of life 40% below the poverty level. (She is trustee of a giant pile of money left to her mother--like, high six figures--so that she could live her last years in some comfort, for the first time in her life. Grossly, she inherited more than her mother, so it's not even primarily about greed, but rather having the power to control and punish her mother.)

The situation has been untenable for some years now, but that's the final straw. We are suing for her removal. Sigh. This is really not what anyone wanted. And really not what we (my partner and I) needed added to our plate.

Worthless person.  Too bad "a contract" is too sub rosa, eh?

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

My body hates me. I think it's stress-related. I've been self-soothing with fatty foods and chocolate and well- it caught up with me. :(

Just relocate to a different planet. It won't affect your mass, but it can do wonders for your weight!

Ha! I tell my students this all the time. Hmm. might help me stretch better.

For a good stretch, place yourself in the vicinity of a friendly black hole.

Neil DeG. T. describes spaghettification well. I like spaghetti, but I don't relish the idea of being it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1iJXOUMJpg

[clean]

Exam was last week.  Today student emails to ask if they can make it up?  This is the first time I have heard from them!  The student includes that they tested positive for covid.
The email has reports to be a copy paste of the information.
Sample Collected 2/6 (2 weeks ago!)
Report emailed 1:32 PM CDT 2/20/2023.  Except that they sent the email this morning at 6:56 AM CDT on 2/20/2023.....
So the exam was 2/16, positive result was 2/20, but test was 10 days prior to exam?  "Result" emailed over 5 hours AFTER the email reporting the result was sent this morning??

Lets just say that the Dean of Student's office is involved. They would have to deal with the health problem, and perhaps can explain the time stamp deviation.  OR the other end of the Dean of Student's office can deal with the potential misconduct issue.

Is this how everyone spends their time these days.... giving make up exams  for students that realized that they missed the exam five days after the fact?

[poiuy]

Is this how everyone spends their time these days.... giving make up exams  for students that realized that they missed the exam five days after the fact?

Such reasons are why I have switched to having multiple exams and assessments scattered over the course with a policy of dropping one or two of the lowest. No big 'make or break' midterms and finals.
Of course, students will still mess up and/or fall ill and miss deadlines, but the switch has cut down greatly on the kind of nonsense you experienced. The cases that do go to the Dean of Students require more proof from the students, and it's not my job to evaluate that. I just refer the students on, and they either get accommodations or drop.

[clean]

The answer to my own problem is to use the policy I already use elsewhere.

I dont give make up exams. I use the final exam to serve as the final and the missed exam. 
In this case, however, it is an online class and another student had a computer failure that I wasnt able to adjust for so I had already created all of the work for Examity to proctor it.  This was a simple matter of adding one more student to work already done, so the marginal cost should have been zero!  (it wasnt!)