One might think the question laughable, absurd, out-to-lunch, perhaps calling for the "Duh" of youth vernacular in response. But if one expected consensus on the matter, that was another misconception Cambridge would correct.
I was by no means alone in my preference for student involvement. Opinion was divided, however. It is possible that Director Sarah Ormrod's beloved opinion stew tilted, on the whole, in favor of mortuaries. We've already met one of the stew's more pungent ingredients:
The lovely and fair Ms. Reinhardt sent me that email on August 14, two weeks into our 3-week summer program. As mentioned, that was the first sign I encountered that I'd brought anyone displeasure. But Ms. Reinhardt was not the only one harboring resentful thoughts. Others too, wrapped in the shadows, were gazing balefully towards me -- as I walked, oblivious, in the sun.
After my return to Toronto, I discovered an internet discussion about myself that had begun less than a week after the summer program began:
grianne, August 6, 2005:
I have been lucky enough not to meet this freak, but my friends in the English Literature program here are currently suffering everyday in class being in the presence of a man who asks questions like "Doth means does, right?", argues stupid points with the professors ("But you can't look up concepts in a dictionary ... you can only look up words,") and has the gall to begin sentences with phrases like "I don't mean to persist but ...". Basically he's sucking up all of their class time.
And his name is Uriel.
Thom, August 6, 2005:
I would call him Urinal.
where'smyhalo?, August 6, 2005:
i had this idiot in my religion and culture class, which was the coolest class i ever took, except for the fact that he was in it. he was a preacher's kid, and apparently not over it, so he would argue relentlessly with the teacher about the stupidest shit. he took up all the air in the room with his nonsense. i HATED him. so did the teacher. it got to the point where she would just not call on him.
i would call that dude urinal, too. how could you not?
samara, August 6, 2005:
Whee. I had one of those through the my whole 2 year career as an English major. He'd begin every damn sentence with "Well, actually..." then proceed to try to argue useless points with the prof and took up an inordinate amount of classtime just blathering on about nothing.
There's always one (or two)!
tully, August 6, 2005:
OMG, I had a "Well, actually ..." kid two years ago. HATED HIM.
raspberry_swirl, August 6, 2005:
I had a guy like that in my class. He would get into discussions with the teachers all the time, saying they didn't know what they were talking about.
In 4th grade.
grianne, August 11, 2005:
!!!!!!!!!
www.urielw.com
That's him! Wow ... just ... wow.
grianne, August 11, 2005:
Apparently he taught in China for awhile.
There were confrontations with recalcitrant students or wrongheaded administrators. I followed the unusual route of taking a principled stand rather than submitting to banal "cultural misunderstanding" rationalizations. Readers thus witness confrontation scenarios that rarely get played out in real life. The reasoning as expressed was: "Someone has to yield. Why should it be the guy who's right?"
*bes dead*
where'smyhalo?, August 11, 2005:
WOW.
he thinks he's pretty fucking important, huh?
grianne, August 31, 2005:
Oh wow.
http://www.urielw.com/cambridge/index.htm
I am awed. That is truly vomit-worthy.
(By the way, I have a sneaking suspicion that the anonymous letter sent to him in response to his "Downside" essay was written by my good friend Jane. It sounds EXACTLY like her style of writing and what she said about him in conversation. I sent her an email about it. I WANNA KNOW!)
grianne, September 1, 2005:
Arghghgh. He updated again, with more self-important bullshit. He also mentioned that the go-between for the anonymous letter was a student named Chris, who lived with me at Clare. So therefore I think the letter was probably written by his girlfriend, who was also living at Clare. Go her!
I'd simply been trying to convey to them that I hadn't expected, before arriving at Cambridge, that some students would be obtaining academic credit from the program. (Possibly this had been discernible from the program materials and I hadn't read them carefully enough to see it.) In fact, a substantial portion of the students (half?) were undergraduates from other universities, mainly American, that awarded them credit for the Cambridge summer program.
From my point of view, this diminished our program. I'd thought the program was adult "continuing education," where the sole motive for attending was an interest in literature. What I found instead.... Well, I don't want to shock anyone, but it's not always an unadulterated craving for knowledge that drives undergraduates to subject themselves to the rigors of university education (though sometimes it is).
What a tard. Maybe he was completely disinterested in his studies when he attended university, but that isn't the case for most of us. Furthermore, just because we were studying for credit doesn't mean our tuition magically became free or something. We all had to pay for it just as he did -- or take out loans, which we all know we will be paying for in the future. In short, a disinterested university student does not fork over about USD$4000 to get 6 credits in a study abroad program. They could have chosen something much cheaper to fuck off in. Most students who attended this program did so because they are personally deeply invested in their studies and are very attracted to the UK. Sure, there were a few "more money than brains" university students included among us, but there were also more than a few of that sort among the mature continuing education students.
rinkydink, September 1, 2005:
I can't get through more than a paragraph of his prose without my eyes glazing over.
2StepDiamondJim, September 3, 2005:
http://www.urielw.com/brick.htm
what..... a twat...
grianne, September 3, 2005:
You guys haven't seen anything until you've read his recounts of teaching in China. The Cambridge stuff is bad ... but dear god. It truly can be worse with him!
(Also, his story about attending an Ian McEwan booksigning is fucking HILARIOUS! He gets into a fight with another fan over whether a character had Huntington's or Alzheimer's disease. "I actually felt sorry for the fathead." Kill me!)
[Edited excerpt of discussion at http://www.atforumz.com/showthread.php?t=273719&page=1&pp=15. The discussion quickly peters out shortly afterwards, when one participant begins arguing that he likes my writing.]