Held Prisoner in Hampton Roads

Old wrongs righted . . .

. . . or perseverance personified.

When I was in college (back just after dirt was invented,) we were required to attend convocations. You failed to attend on pain of a 1/10 grade point deduction.

I faithfully resignedly, and with only moderate malice, attended all of them my freshman year, but they lost my attendance card for one of them. I lost that tenth of a grade point. I went to the registrar with witnesses, but they blew me off. Just a kid trying to make excuses.

Many years later, when the university sent me their annual begging-for-a-donation letter, I sent it to the new registrar, telling her why I was not donating, and that I would appreciate a correction to my records. She curtly responded that "Of course, we cannot correct a record that old!"

Early this year, I was rummaging through some records and found my transcripts - with that 1/10th still staring me in the face. This time, I sent a letter to the new president of the university, explaining that it was a small thing - and long ago, but even small wrongs need to be righted.

Yesterday, I received a very nice letter from the provost stating that the registrar is correcting my transcript, and that a new one will be sent as soon as it is recomputed. After 47 years, my permanent record is clean.

Picky, I guess, but I truly believe that not even the smallest wrongs should be allowed to stand.