Saturday, 9:00 pm.  I received a work-related text message that irritated me.  A school official gently but pointedly remarked my department made some administrative decisions that advsersely affected a couple of students.  In the first place, the timing sucked.  The official did not expect me to do something about the situation just then, so why even bother to bring it up then?

Second, it annoyed me that this official took the students' word at face value, without even bothering to check the veracity of their claims.  This official was in the position to find out whether what they were saying was true or not.  From my recollection, we did make that admin decision, but if the students were paying attention, they would have known about it early on, so that they would not have been affected.  I'm not accusing the students of lying; I'm saying the mistake may have been theirs.  This official should have asked a few questions before taking a certain tone with me.  If it was the Dept's fault, hey, I'll be the first one to own up and to jump down people's throats for the mess. The question is: was it indeed our fault?  This official didn't even bother to ask.

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I don't know if I'm just becoming hypersensitive as I age, but I received an email that I found offensive.  It was from an external partner of DISCS.  The email started well.  She thanked DISCS for our involvement in a particular project. It ended badly, though, because she made a remark that implied that we agreed to become their partners because of certain personal connections they had with me.  What made things worse was that she had cc'd the president of her organization.

I wrote her back saying they were welcome and that we were happy to have helped.  I pointed out, though, that we didn't say yes because of the personal connections but because we felt capable to help them and the project was consistent with our values and priorities. Personal ties had nothing to do with anything.  And I cc'd her president.

I think the remark was wholly inappropriate. Even if it was meant as a joke, it was insulting. It erodes the Dept's integrity and our compentence.  It even casts doubt on my decision-making process.  I just hope she got the message.