Excuses, excuses

Whenever someone says something happened or didn't happen "due to unforeseen circumstances," it is almost invariably a lie. The circumstances surrounding the error or omission were almost always foreseeable, usually long before the deadline. The "unforeseen circumstances" is just a cover, a verbal shield to obscure the fact that someone (often the speaker) screwed up.

Case in point: the grades for my last semester of law school are past due, but we still haven't received them. By my memory, this is the third time grades have been late in the last two years. I got an email today from the registrar telling everyone that grades would be late. We all knew this, of course, because they were due to be released two days ago. The registrar cited "unforeseen circumstances" for the delay. This is, of course, utter nonsense. Not only were the circumstances foreseeable, they were almost probable. Certain professors are notorious in their failure to comply with a deadline. In fact, if you asked the students, they would probably give you a list of the professors who were most likely to deliver grades late, and that list would probably be fairly accurate.

Additionally, the registrar's office has never been known for its superb organization or punctuality. There was a spat a year ago when the then-registrar failed to end a exam on time. This can be a big deal, since most law school essay exams are structured so that you have less time than you want to write. An extra ten minutes can make a significant difference. The registrar's office also has a long history of schedule conflicts, registration errors, and various other administrative goofs. Given the serial tardiness of some professors and the track record of the registrar, it was almost inevitable that the grades would be released late. That whole "unforeseen circumstances" bit is bollocks.

What I'd really like to see is an up-front admission of responsibility, followed by specific identification of the offending parties. Something like, "We didn't really get around to telling you this until after the deadline because we're disorganized, but we though you should know that Professors Doe,Wossname, and Fulano turned in grades late. For your convenience, their email addresses, office numbers, and home addresses have been attached below."