remarkable grad student tirade

Gratton’s blog is where I saw this, but HE APPARENTLY FOUND IT HERE.

The student lost his case. He wanted to include a “Disacknowledgments” page at the front of his M.A. thesis. It begins with the following, fully representative passage:

“Disacknowledgements

I would like to offer special Disacknowledgements to the following degenerates for being an ever-present hindrance during my graduate career…

To the Dean and staff of the Graduate Division,

You fascists are the largest argument against higher education there has ever been. Any claims you make as an ally and resource for students is an utter sham. All dealings with you have ended in sheer frustration. I’d rather take a hot stick in the eye then deal with your bureaucratic nonsense. An especial disacknowledgement to David Fishman whose officious, blind devotion to absurd rules provides disservice to both education and the university.”

At Penn State I was looking through the Philosophy Ph.D. theses one day, and came across a vandalized frontispiece on one of them.

Where it said “We, the undersigned, do hereby accept the doctoral thesis of Mr. X” (someone we all knew), the vandal had written “tyrant’s baggage and lickspittle that he is.”

And next to the name of one of the signees, it said “Gone because of Professor Y’s petty jealousy.”

My reaction to this was both evil and good. The evil side of me laughed out loud (though frankly, both victims fully deserved the sarcasm), but the good side of me took the thesis immediately to the front desk for whiteout treatment.