Anika Hamilton

How horrible it is that I have to resurrect the label: School.

I got home this past Sunday night, and retrieved my mail. I hadn't been home all weekend so I wasn't surprise to have a few pieces in the box. Interspersed with my usual junk mail was a letter from FAU.

I didn't think anything of it. Actually, I assumed it was another of those fundraising letters I have been inundated with since they realized I was about to leave and no longer provide them with any more tuition.

So, I left it on the table for about another hour, not wanting to deal with the begging at that moment. Eventually, I got around to opening the damn thing and the following is the letter that greeted me. It was sent by the University Registrar on official FAU letterhead.

"Dear Ms. Hamilton:

We regret to inform you that your name has been deleted from the official graduation certification list for the Spring 2008 semester. Should you have any question concerning your graduation status, please contact the college/department of you major. If we are in error, please have your college/department contact our office.

Since your application has been deleted for the Spring 2008 semester, it will be necessary for you to submit another application for degree for the semester in which you will fulfill all degree requirements."

Now, I just finished having a meltdown because of my stupid computer. I was tired and drained, and now I have to deal with this stupid letter. I was on the verge of tears. There was no way in hell I was going to give FAU anything other than a piece of my mind. No more applications and no more money.

So I contacted the college via email with:

"My name is Anika Hamilton. I graduated in May 2008.

The problem is that I received a letter in the mail from [University Registrar] stating that my name is being deleted from the official graduation certification list. Since I have completed all the requirements to graduate, paid all my fees, and otherwise have no holds I am very confused with this letter.

The letter goes on to say that someone from my college/department needs to contact the Registrars office to clear up the mistake. Please help me. Thank you."

Fine. That done, I emailed myself the contact information for the college, deciding that a quick phone call might also be necessary. On Monday, I checked my email to see if I got a response from the college but instead found this email from the University Registrar's office.

"You received a Graduation Deletion Letter from our office last week.

This was in error and you were certified by your College as completing the degree. Diplomas for the College of Biomedical Sciences, College of Nursing, College of Engineering, College of Science and Honors College were mailed last week. We anticipate mailing all other Colleges this week. If you need further assistance or have any questions, please feel free to contact us at 561-297-2731 or send an email to mmosley@fau.edu or pbloch1@fau.edu. We regret this programming error and apologize for any worry or inconvenience this caused.

Office of the Registrar"

Now to be honest, I was relieved after seeing this email.

Two of my former classmates contacted me having received the same letter Friday night. They had gone through the entire weekend stressed and worried.

But I was also annoyed and pissed because FAU had no trouble promptly mailing that blasted letter to tell me that they were going to keep their hooks in me. But a retraction was slow in coming.

The impression that I got was that our whole college received this missive. And if so the incompetent so and so who sent out the letter didn't think it odd to be sending out so many, "sorry you shouldn't have graduated" letters.

Also, the "we regret to inform you" letter was in an official correspondence, with a wasted stamp and obvious staff time and signed by the University Registrar. But the retraction is a flimsy unsigned email that has no identifying marks and a generic department salutation.

Give me a break.