SPRING... and a dark cloud on the horizon (Part 42e)

When I returned to classes after Spring break I found that one of my Psychology professors had had a stroke and was hospitalized. My initial reaction was one of disappointment as I felt he was the best instructor I had. The class was canceled for two days and on the third (a Friday) I walked in to see this tall, old man with white hair and beard standing in front of the class. He introduced himself as professor W, the retired head of the Psych department. It was easy to see that he was a no nonsense type. He started off by telling the class that everything was about to change.

At the beginning of the semester we’d all been told that there were three components to our grade for the year; 1/3 was the mid semester exam... 1/3 the final exam... and 1/3 our term project. We’d also been told that our text book was to be a reference only and that because Psychology was an inexact science, class discussion rather than lectures would be the focus. Our term project could be on just about anything as long as we could persuade the professor that it was related to Psychology. I’d had a hard time getting approval for mine but as I progressed with it the professor bought into the concept. As a whole the class had not done all that well on the mid semester exam so we were graded on a curve. I got an actual 56 but it was “curved” up to a 65, a passing grade.

Having said all that, professor W wasn’t kidding when he said things were to change. The first thing was that the text was now to be our “Bible” and we were going to have a quiz to start each class that would cover our homework. Next, he didn’t believe in marking on a curve so all our grades were going to be changed back to what we had actually gotten. There would now be four components for our grade in the course; the two exams making up half our grade, the term project 1/4 and the accumulated quiz grades the final 1/4. The whole class was in shock!

It only took a few classes to realize that the man had a problem. The term “absent minded professor” fit him to a “T”. He couldn’t remember anybody’s name and would out the same assignment two classes in a row. But, for me, those problems were minor. When I had my one on one meeting with him to go over my project I hadn’t gotten into it for more that a few minutes before he stood up and called the whole thing “Garbage“ and he walked out of the room. I thought that he’d come back but he didn’t. I waited for probably a half hour. Not knowing what to do I went looking for my faculty advisor.

He was also a Psychology professor and was very familiar with professor W. Long story short... Professor W. had been asked to retire about 5 years earlier and there was a bit of resentment. My advisor told me that, within the department, there was some concern and that what I was telling him wasn’t unexpected. I was told by my advisor that he would speak to professor W on my behalf and that I should continue to work on my project. I thanked him and left. When I walked into the next class with professor W I was expecting that he would ask me to stop by and see him after class. When he didn’t I took the initiative. MISTAKE!!!

He didn’t even know who I was. When I reminded him of our meeting he went ”off“ again, telling me that I was wasting both his and my time. So, it was back to my advisor. He apologized and said that he hadn’t been able to ”pin him down“ to talk with him. Before the next class I stopped by to see my advisor first. I didn’t want a repeat of the last time. But there was no news. He hadn’t talked with him. My concern was growing. I had over seven weeks of effort into the project (I actually was making a REAL effort, something I wasn’t doing with the rest of my work.) and there was less than six weeks to the end of the semester. If I was to change the subject I’d have to do approximately fourteen weeks of work in just five.(1)

At the same time I found life at the fraternity to be just about dead. The social probation was being monitored closely and two of the brothers who were caught with alcohol in their rooms were kicked out of the fraternity. The mid semester GPA for the fraternity was up but just barely (I certainly didn't help in that category) and the officers were really cracking down and were enforcing "quiet time". I got called before them about the lack of time I physically spent in the house. I survived that little inquisition by reminding them that my assistant house manager's position only required that I sleep in the house. I hadn't missed a night since I'd been given the job. All in all, it was not the fun place it had been when I joined.

To be continued...