CU Medallion [65529]
TigerPulse: 100%
Posts: 33280
Joined: 12/3/03
|
My Clemson nightmare, a Novel. (Very long, but worth it.)
Oct 3, 2019, 12:10 PM
|
| View Original Thread |
|
I may have already shared this awhile back, if so, I'm old, deal with it.
As my profile says, I am a 1976 Clemson Chemical Engineering graduate. But, it was NOT easy.
I had to attend a summer session in 1976 to take one last course, second year Organic Chemistry. I had dropped it before, since I was taking 20 hours that semester, and was floundering in that and several other courses. So, something had to go, and that was it. My professor the first time around was Dr. Nick Marullo, who is now listed as Faculty Emeritus.
Two of my fellow Chem E's were in the same boat, and we split an apartment that last summer session. Imagine our concern when we go to that first class, and who strides in but..Dr. Nick Marullo. And yes, he remembered us.
Long story made even longer, as anyone who has ever taken summer classes knows, everything is accelerated, cramming the same course work into far less time. The final exam counted 60% of the grade. We had had 4 huge graded tests prior to that. I think one of us had passed two of them, another one had passed one, and yours truly had the big zippo, goose egg, nada, kaflooie, KAPUT! Graduation happened like 3 days after the final exam. The other two already had jobs lined up. So, needless to say, a whole lot of pressure.
Being enterprising pre-snowflake era snowflakes, we decided to go to the professors office a few days before the final exam and grovel, throwing ourselves on the mercy of the court, so to speak. I think I was elected to be spokesperson for the group, because unlike chemistry, I be have command of English language, having actually taken English courses which most people avoided like the plague as electives, and acing them. And so, we groveled eloquently, I assure you. We brought up the fact that we were all Seniors, with jobs lined up already, and this was the last course we needed to graduate, so if there was any way he could cut us a break, PLEASE help us.
Dr. Marullo was a chain smoker back then, and smoking was actually still allowed in buildings. He took a drag off his cigarette, looked us dead in the eyes, and said, "Boys, I've flunked boys out of here and sent them to Viet Nam, you ain't gonna get no break from me." That is, a direct quote, to the best of my recollection. And trust me, that is not something I will ever be likely to forget.
So, armed with that reassurance, we hustled back to the apartment, put on the coffee pot, broke out the No-Doz pills, and proceeded to get about 4 hours sleep total in the next three days, cramming. I actually spent my fitful four hour nap with headphones on, with a tape of Organic Chemistry rules and formulas playing as I slept.
I was so wired during the exam, at one point my hand started shaking, and my pencil flew out of it across the room. I was told to remain in my seat, and either he or a PA picked it up and brought it back to me. He may have thought I was going to attempt to look at someone's paper while I was up. Little did he know, with the tunnel vision I had by then from lack of sleep, I could barely see what was on the paper in front of me, much less anybody else's paper.
My older brother was going to be flying in from New Jersey for the graduation, and one of the hardest things I ever had to do was call my Mom and Dad and tell them that he might be coming for nothing, because my graduation was VERY much in doubt at that point in time. I had no feeling for how I had actually done on the exam. Neither did my two room mates.
Grades back then (maybe still are) were posted using Student ID numbers instead of names, and with the exam grade and letter grade for the course out to the side. Dr. Marullo's office was at the far end of a LONG hall in the Chemistry building, with shiny tiled floors, shiny tiled walls, and one of those defractive glass brick walls at the far end, letting in light. I don't know where the breeze came from to make it happen, but as soon as we rounded the corner into that hall, with all that refracted light coming in, we could see this tiny piece of paper fluttering in the breeze, taped on his office door. Picture three guys walking to the guillotine, and you would get the flavor and speed of that walk to that door.
I will go to my grave never knowing if he gave us a break or not, and don't really care. All I know is, all three of us saw our grades at about the same time, all of us passed, and the screaming we let loose releasing four days of fear and tension had other professors opening their doors to see what in the world was going on. Thankfully, Dr. Marullo was not in his office at the time. We literally ran screaming from the building, and the party we had at the apartment that night could have been the stuff of legends, if it had only involved more than just the three of us.
I have not drunk coffee since August 1976. I associate coffee with a slow descent into He!!. My version of the college nightmare, had for many years thereafter, always involved that summer session in some way or the other.
The End.
|
|
50
