Will at Deadspin has our next tale of professors involving themselves in academics, this time at USC, where backup fullback Mike Brittingham's cancellation of a meeting with Professor Lee Cerling prompts an angry email in response. The gist:
So sorry to hear of your illness. I had 40 fifteen-minute conferences and about 30 half-hour conferences this past week, for each of which it took me as much as an hour to prepare. So, after having cancelled two mandatory 80-minute class sessions to accommodate all of these appointments, when I get notice of a students inability to make a 15-minute conference 10wait, make that 9minutes after his scheduled appointment, due to illness, you can probably make a good estimate as to how much concern and anxiety that creates in me for the students well-being.
You can imagine my joy and relief, however, to find that you were able to recover sufficiently to play football today, and even to haul in a catch! Allow me to congratulate you on your achievement.