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stoutfellowThe events I'm about to describe took place on Tuesday and Wednesday. The story itself is not particularly interesting, but there is one item in it which, on reflection, strikes me as rather odd. I'm not going to identify the oddity; I'm curious as to whether it will strike anyone else.
This semester, I'm teaching a late class Tuesday/Thursday, starting at 7:30. About 6:30 this past Tuesday, one of the janitors came by with a rather upset student. (She'd been looking for someone with authority; since the secretaries and most of the professors had long since gone home, she'd latched on to him, and he managed to find me.) She told me that she had registered for a certain math class, scheduled for - call it Room A. She'd gone to that room, only to find an economics class in possession. She'd been directed (I'm not sure by whom) to another room in another building - call it Room B. Room B had turned out to be unoccupied. Desperate, she'd come over to the departmental offices, trying to find out what was going on. I began digging around, and was only able to confirm her story: two classes had been scheduled for the same room, at the same time. All I could think of to do was to suggest that she return to Room B and see if the professor and/or the class had shown up.
The next day, curious, I sought out the professor in question. He explained that his class had, indeed, been moved to Room B, starting the next week; they had been temporarily displaced to Room C, which was next door to Room A. I asked if any student had come in late, saying that she'd have gotten there fifteen or twenty minutes late. He said that yes, a black woman had arrived at Room C about that time. "Was she black?" I paused and thought for a moment before saying, "Yes. Yes, she was black." We agreed that the likeliest explanation was that she had, indeed, caught up with him.
Okay. Do you see anything odd there? Comments, guesses, explanations?
This semester, I'm teaching a late class Tuesday/Thursday, starting at 7:30. About 6:30 this past Tuesday, one of the janitors came by with a rather upset student. (She'd been looking for someone with authority; since the secretaries and most of the professors had long since gone home, she'd latched on to him, and he managed to find me.) She told me that she had registered for a certain math class, scheduled for - call it Room A. She'd gone to that room, only to find an economics class in possession. She'd been directed (I'm not sure by whom) to another room in another building - call it Room B. Room B had turned out to be unoccupied. Desperate, she'd come over to the departmental offices, trying to find out what was going on. I began digging around, and was only able to confirm her story: two classes had been scheduled for the same room, at the same time. All I could think of to do was to suggest that she return to Room B and see if the professor and/or the class had shown up.
The next day, curious, I sought out the professor in question. He explained that his class had, indeed, been moved to Room B, starting the next week; they had been temporarily displaced to Room C, which was next door to Room A. I asked if any student had come in late, saying that she'd have gotten there fifteen or twenty minutes late. He said that yes, a black woman had arrived at Room C about that time. "Was she black?" I paused and thought for a moment before saying, "Yes. Yes, she was black." We agreed that the likeliest explanation was that she had, indeed, caught up with him.
Okay. Do you see anything odd there? Comments, guesses, explanations?
