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"That's bad management of your program," "Your school seems to be quite the pushover," "I blame the department"...it's like you have a personal grudge against IU chemists.
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<p>I have no grudge against IU chemists. </p>
<p>The issue is that the IU chemistry program has evidently designed a program with mixed incentives and then are shocked, shocked to discover that somebody would enter the program who does not share the same goals as the administration does. Even that is not a problem in itself - the real problem is that they are somehow holding a long-standing grudge against this woman. That's where I have a problem. If they want to assign blame, then they should assign it where it belongs: to themselves. </p>
<p>Look at it this way. You said it yourself: the incident in question happened (5?) years ago. Frankly, if I was in that department, then, in the grand scheme of things, I would consider this to little more than a minor issue, not only because it happened so long ago, but because surely far more controversial things have happened in the department since then. But the department is still nursing the grudge. Seriously, why? Come on, that was a long time ago. They really need to let it go. How long are they going to keep clinging to this incident? I think it's time for the department to move on, don't you? </p>
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sakky, you have some great ideas, but they keep getting buried in the snappish language you use, which is highly incondusive to clear communication. Instead of letting the constructive advice of your posts alone, you've been decorating them with needless insults: "That's bad management of your program," "Your school seems to be quite the pushover," "I blame the department"...it's like you have a personal grudge against IU chemists.
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Instead of "I believe your department overreacted, but management can easily make some changes in the requirements of their grad students to make sure this doesn't happen again" you say "your department is bad bad bad."
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I'm not sure if this is just your style of forum-posting or if I said something to offend you in my original posts (because the streak of meanness did begin before I said anything to you directly). Or maybe you're an IU graduate and you disliked it so much that you've made it a personal mission to slam it at every opportunity. Whatever your goals, I would appreciate it if you would refrain from the insults in future replies, and focus on the discussion of ethics the OP had hoped to initiate.
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<p>First off, don't tell me how to post. You don't run this discussion board. We all have the right to free speech. If you don't like my posts, then you don't have to read them. </p>
<p>Secondly, from everything you have told me, I have concluded that the IU chemistry department managed this admission case quite poorly, and I am well within my rights to say so. Why does this bother you so much? It has nothing to do with you. I am not insulting you personally. </p>
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In the blowup incident, the woman didn't want to do this--she wanted to get out then and there and demanded that the classes she already took count for the masters. They broke down and gave it to her, because they didn't have official grounds to deny her on, figuring there's not much you can do with a master of arts in chemistry, anyway.
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<p>Then that lowers my opinion of the management of the program even further (if that is even possible), for 2 reasons. First, come on, get a backbone. You can't just have students pushing you around to give them a degree that doesn't even officially exist. If the requirements of a particular degree are not spelled out, and you don't feel that a student has earned a degree, then you don't have to give it to her. I don't know too many other schools where students can simply badger their schools to give them a master's degree.</p>
<p>But secondly, and far more importantly, you said it yourself: the department felt that you can't do much with a MA in chemistry anyway. OK, then if that's really true, then that gets back to what I said above: why do they still care so much about the incident after so many years? Why are they still angry about it? Like you said, she ended up with a degree that (the department believes) is not valuable anyway, so who cares? Hence, at least according to the department, that woman basically ended up wasting her time for a few years earning a far lower pay package that she would have earned if she had entered the workforce directly, only to wind up with a degree that doesn't have much value. Shouldn't that be punishment enough? So why is the department still harping over the incident years later? I think we can agree that it's time for the department to let it go and move on.</p>