Sometimes I believe that they hire university bureaucrats at a moron convention. This is slightly different from the idiot convention from where they get politicians. However, it shouldn’t be a surprise that many university bureaucrats and politicians are practically interchangeable (consider that many folks wanted to appoint Bob Rae as the President of UofT).

Recently, I received an e-mail from a UofT Arts & Science student about a problem he was facing with the bureaucracy. He was running late for an exam because of the TTC, and having arrived he placed his pencil case on his desk and began to write his essay exam. The pencil case contained a calculator. One of the invigilators, who had gone around his desk several times finally spotted it and accused him of possessing an unauthorized aid. The calculator was confiscated.

The student had brought the calculator to school in the first place to study for an exam he had the next day which would require the use of a calculator. Now that it was confiscated, it would be difficult for him to study or to write the exam.

The university bureaucracy, when he talked to them about it, told him that he had brought in an unauthorized aid to his essay exam, and that he could reclaim it by a) admitting that he’d brought an unauthorized aid, b) admitting he took it back, c) agreeing to have it appear on his transcript for six months/meeting with the Dean’s designate for disciplinary measures.

What’s absurd is that there is no way possible that the calculator could be used as an aid of any kind on an essay exam, and even the presiding instructor who created the exam said this. To me, it’s no different than taking your digital watch off and putting it on the table — something many of us have done on several occasions.

Nevertheless, the bureaucrats are sticking behind this. This student, and I give him credit for this, refused to admit that he had brought an unauthorized aid, and is going to meet with the Dean’s designate to discuss this issue. I wish him all the best.

It frustrates me tremendously that this kind of unnecessary action is being undertaken. Apparently, these bureaucrats have nothing better to do with their time, and so are taking upon these kinds of trivial issues — that can have an immense impact on the transcript of a student (particularly if he or she wants to use it to apply for research or other positions). If deterrence is truly their intent then this is not the way to do it. It’s stupid and inane.