The Importance of a Good Courier Service
Off the topic a little bit, but still of note:
FedEx failed to pick up 30 applications from the University of California at Berkeley for the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Program in time for the award deadline last fall. Even though FedEx took responsibility for the mishap, the U.S. Department of Education refused to budge on the decision not to consider the applications because they were one day past the postmark deadline.
The J. William Fulbright Scholarship Board decided this week that the students were really the ones losing out, so they’ve come up with a plan for the U.S. Department of State (not the Department of Education like usual) to review the applications. Berkeley will fund the awards.
Although the board says these awards will carry the same distinction as the awards selected by the Department of Education, the DOE disagrees. A spokeswoman claims the board has no authority to counter the department’s decision and that the department will not consider the awards to be Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation awards. The DOE believes that Berkeley was negligent and should be held responsible for the situation.
I only thought this kind of stuff happened in commercials.
(This isn’t new news. I just haven’t had much time to blog this week, so I’m catching up.)
From the subscriber-restricted Chronicle of Higher Education.
