Bureaucracy

I fucking hate the university bureaucracy. And I'll tell you why:

1) I was left off of the Spring Graduation List. Not really a big deal, and partially my fault: I sort of disappear for weeks and months on end, and then I suddenly return expecting that people have done what they're supposed to do in my absence. Silly me. But this is really the least of my worries. It only means that I won't have a diploma until the end of the year and that it will be dated with either the August or December commencement date. Whatever.

2) Five weeks ago, I went to the Office of the Graduate School to submit a Change of Committee form since one of the persons whom I had asked to serve on my examination committee has since taken another job at another university. This is where it gets good: I actually had a five minute conversation with an academic advisor in an attempt to expedite the processing of said form. When it came up that I was going to be examined through a non-thesis option, the woman sorta snorted in an attempt at laughter and handed the form back to me, saying "the Graduate School only cares about thesis committees. If you're not doing a thesis, your examination and committee are totally up to your department." Taking her at her word, I disposed of said form with the signatures of myself, my portfolio supervisor and the Director of Graduate Studies for my department. Two days ago, I got this message from the same troll who told me in person five weeks ago that I didn't need to do a change of committee form: "Report of Master’s Examining Committee (M3) form has not been approved due to the following: The list of committee members on the Request for Thesis Committee (M2) form does not match the list of committee members on the M3." I've emailed the troll at the Graduate School expressing my confusion and asking her politely to explain the discrepancy between what she told me five weeks ago and what she's telling me now, but she's giving me the silent treatment, and rather than fighting a war I can't win, I've decided to just submit the damned form. But now I'm scrambling to catch my supervisor and the DGS before they disappear for the summer so they can re-sign a form they already signed five weeks ago.

I fucking hate the university bureaucracy.

But, on the upside, somebody saw the Portfolio (subtitled "Queer Essays On Religion, Sexuality and Cultural Assimilation") at the printer, became intrigued and actually contacted me for a copy.