🚀 go-pugleaf

Partly because CWRU didn't let it go, and partly because I am literally physically 
unable to let it go.  Some key incidents:

1. During my first semester at University of Buffalo School of Medicine, the 
school lost track of some paperwork, including part of my CWRU transcript -- 
specifically, the list of biology courses I'd taken, what was covered in each 
course, and the grades I received.  To obtain some of the missing information, the 
admissions rep for UB called the biology department at CWRU and asked to speak 
with the professor who ran the biology lab course I'd taken.  Said professor, who 
had given me a great deal of trouble when I took his course, flat-out lied: I'd 
received a B, but according to the UB rep, this professor called me "the worst 
student in the class" and claimed that I'd failed -- which would have made me 
ineligible to attend UB in the first place.  It wasn't until I called the CWRU 
registrar and arranged for a faxed copy of my transcript that the situation 
regarding that grade was resolved; luckily, after seeing that I'd told the truth 
about the grade, the UB rep took me at my word regarding the content of the course 
and the matter was dropped.

2. During that same time frame (fall 92-spring 93), there was a fire at Millis 
Science Center.  Before determining that the fire had originated with a frayed 
electrical cord in a biology professor's office, the fire department suspected 
arson, and asked some of the professors who worked in Millis whether they knew of 
anyone who might have had both the motive and the opportunity to start a fire in 
that building.  A certain professor -- not coincidentally, the same one who had 
falsely accused me of cheating two years before -- gave one of the investigators 
my name.  I didn't know this until another chemistry instructor called me; he'd 
overheard the other professor make the false charge, and told the investigator 
that I had neither the motive nor the opportunity.  On the matter of motive, I 
wanted to stay the hell away from CWRU and to have nothing to do with the place; 
as to opportunity, the investigators had already figured out that the fire had 
started sometime between 7:00 and 8:00 AM... when I was in class at UB.  In a 
perverse sort of way I almost wish the case hadn't been dropped so quickly; it 
would have been fun to watch the bastard claim that I definitely had to be at 
CWRU, only to be met by over 100 of my classmates who had seen me sitting in a 
morning lecture in Buffalo. :-)

3. I carry a scar from my CWRU battles: Crohn's disease, with which I was 
diagnosed during winter break in my senior year.  (As I type this I am tethered to 
an IV which will deliver my breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next month due to 
a recent flare-up of the disease.)  A great deal of research suggests that the 
disease can be caused and/or triggered by stress, particularly unnecessary stress 
-- and never has there been a greater source of completely unnecessary stress than 
Case Western Reserve University.  Because of the Crohn's, I had to leave medical 
school and chose to pursue a career in computers instead.  Thankfully I love what 
I do; I'd planned to use computers extensively in medicine anyway.  But the fact 
that I have a successful career now does not excuse what CWRU did to me.

So when you ask "why not just let it go?" the answer is: I'll be happy to do so 
when I can let go of the Crohn's disease that CWRU gave me, and when the school's 
administrators and faculty prove their willingness to let go by apologizing, in 
writing, for all of the trouble they have caused and promising, also in writing, 
that it will never happen again.  Considering that there is currently no cure for 
Crohn's, and given that CWRU's administrators and faculty seem to be as arrogant 
and unrepentant as ever based on reports I receive from time to time, I'm not 
optimistic.

 -- DZ


In article <9cqk6a$7d5$1@eeyore.INS.cwru.edu>, "mikeCWRU" <mikeCWRU@yahoo.com> 
wrote:

> I must have come to cwru.gen a year post this thread.  I have one question for 
> you, please don't respond by just telling the story over again:  it's been 8 
> friggin' years man.   Why not just let it go?
> 
> mike
> 
> 
> > I told Jerry at the time that I had no intention of ever posting to CWRUgen 
> > again, but reserved the right to change my mind at some point in the future, 
> > particularly if my name came up in an interesting context.  I'd kept an eye 
> > on the board all these years, and marveled at how all of the accusations I'd 
> > made against CWRU were proven right one by one -- much to the consternation 
> > of two frequent posters who'd often accused me of lying, yet could never 
> > muster the courage to admit that they'd been wrong about me all along.
> >
> > So why did I come back now?  To provide some political balance, as well as a 
> > dose of honesty and common sense.  With an overwhelmingly left-wing political 
> > orientation, as well as too many people who think CWRU either can't be 
> > improved or doesn't need to be, this board was in desperate need of all 
> > three. :-)
> >
> >  -- DZ
> >