Hard to get hold of

On numerous occasions I have attempted to contact in person one Dr Stephen Levine of the Political Science Department during normal working hours. Over the period of about three months I have popped in, to see if he was in the department, at least twice a week on varying days and times, but was only able to get hold of him once. Today (Aug 5) I asked the secretary as usual if he had replied to a note I had left him about two weeks ago and as usual she was only able to reiterate that he was never there and that he hadn't left a reply. She then told me to use her phone and ring him at home. I did manage to contact him at home as one might expect and I told him that I had tried to get hold of him for weeks (to justify my ringing him at home). His reply was: "Cut the excuses — you've got hold of me now. So what do you want!" I don't want to condemn this man, he may have been in a particularly stressful situation at the time. But what I do want to point out is that this sort of rudeness, discourtesy and almost complete disrespect for students is very common among a wide variety of the teaching staff at this university. My advice to those people who are knocked down in the corridors by some broad-shouldered staff-member as he attempts to walk right through you, or to those who are addressed as if they were naughty school-boys, is to demand an apology (and make it hurt!). Concerning the above mentioned Dr Levine again: the secretary of the Pols department tells me that they are continually annoyed over his absence. So my advice to students who are unable to see a staff member after repeatedly trying, is to ring him at home and inform him that he should be at university where he is paid to be located.

Rod Prosser