The Adjunct

Note: The following correspondence appears unedited except for the omission of names. Although I have the ability to drop a student who has excessive absences, it is a student’s own responsibility to ensure that they drop any class which they have stopped attending.

Professor STAFF,

Can you please drop me from the class. Can you confirm that you do?

Thanks

Student

Student,

I’m sorry, but I cannot drop students after November 13. In the future, you should not request or rely upon an instructor to drop you from a class, but drop yourself either online or at Admissions & Records.

-Professor STAFF

Professor STAFF,

I have a hold on my record and can not do it online I am going to go to record and submit a drop slip but then the school is close today. Can you please drop me from the class and let me know that I am dropped from the class.

Thank you so much

-Student

Student,

As I said in my prior email, I can no longer drop students, and it is not my responsibility to do so. Talk to Admissions & Records.

-Professor STAFF

Professor STAFF,

I sent you two emails on Nov 12 and 13 asking you to drop me from the class but do not heard a reply from you. Can you let me know why am I not drop from the class?

Thanks

Student

Student,

Again, you will need to check with Admissions & Records regarding this, but I believe that they cannot drop you this late in the quarter. Again, it is a student’s own responsibility to drop classes. I did not receive any emails from you regarding this, but it sounds like you tried contacting me after the drop date anyway.

-Professor STAFF

Professor STAFF,

The dropping deadline is Nov 13 I have problem with my record and can not do it myself so I send you the request on time. I don’t think I can drop now. Why do you not receive my emails?

Student

Student,

You may (emphasis on may) have sent the request on time, but you sent it to the wrong place. Although I have the ability to drop students if they have excessive absences, I am not the person students should contact for class drops. The proper office for dealing with this is, again, Admission & Records, not me.

Emails, like all things, can get lost or accidently sent to the wrong address. I never got your original request, but if I had then I would have told you that you need to go to Admissions & Records and drop the class yourself. As it stands, you attended most of the class. You stopped attending shortly before the drop date, and then tried to email me at the very last minute with a request for a drop. You got no response from me, and any check of your enrollment would have showed that you were not dropped from the class. All of this was about a month ago.

Now you are shocked to find that I did not drop you from the class last month. I am shocked that over the course of the last four weeks that you never checked whether you were still in the class. Either way, I can not and will not drop you at this point.

-Professor STAFF

This next letter was forwarded to me by my department chair. It seems my student did the next logical thing: try and go above my head.

Mr. Department Chair,

My name is Student and I left you a voicemail a couple of hours
earlier, I also stop by the department’s office. I asked that if I can have
a late drop because I just checked at registration and it shows that I still
enrolled in English 1B. I enrolled in 1B but stop going to class about
three weeks before Nov 13. On Nov 12 I try to drop the class online but
couldn’t because my record is on hold. I send Professor STAFF two
emails asking him to drop me from the class. I then send an email 10 days
later asking professor STAFF whether I am dropped but professor STAFF reply
that he did not receive the emails. But I am using the same email address
to correspond with professor STAFF and he received all the other messages
except for the drop one. I can not type the wrong address because his
address is in my address book and I just select it. Can you please let me
know if I can do a late drop? Thanks

Regards,

Student

PS: I include the first email I send. I will follow with the second email.

I love it when students try and go over my head to my department chair or division dean. They always tell them the same thing: they have no authority to make me do anything. The following was a CC from the department chair.

Student–
Unfortunately, I do not have the authority to drop you from your
class–that is between you and your instructor. At this point, I
think your chances of getting a drop processed are slim, since it is
past the due date, but you can ask your instructor to request an
appeal with Admissions & Records for which the Language Arts Dean’s
signature recommendation will be required.

Sincerely,

English Department Chair

I will not request an appeal with Admissions & Records on behalf of this student. My reasons are: (1) it was student’s own responsibility to drop themselves from the class, (2) I am not convinced this student ever sent an email to me in the first place, (3) if an email was sent, then it was at the very last minute and should not have been considered an assured drop for the class, (4) student waited an entire month before checking to see if the class was dropped, (5) student attended a majority of the class, turning in major assignment and participating fully until a week or two before the drop date, therefor I had no evidence of excessive absences until after the final drop date, and thus consider myself absolved of any responsibility.

This type of exchange is very typical; I shall have to post more of these emails as they seem very popular. Students feel they can badger or hammer away at me until I cave. When that fails, and it always fails, they usually go over my head. When my department chair or division dean tells them this is not the same as complaining about a waiter at a restaurant, and they literally can not compel me to take any different action, then the student usually badgers and hammers away at them. What an absolute waste of time! I also find these sort of situations dispiriting over time.