(Aldrich 712) Struggling student and former accountant Janet Moore, a border-line three in every class except FRC, has taken it upon herself to buy gifts on behalf of her section for every professor this semester, except Joe Cochrane, her FRC professor.
“Everyone, I just want to let you know that I’ll buy all our appreciation gifts for our professors this semester,” Moore announced before Skydecks last Friday. “Just one thing – if someone could take care of the gift for Professor Cochrane – that would be great. I only have time for four out of five professors and I picked Cochrane’s name randomly out of a hat.”
“After I buy them, I will personally present them to the professors after the final class for each subject.”
Students were surprised that Moore is taking the initiative on this.
“Janet has been nowhere in the section this semester,” said sectionmate Ignacio Eglesias. “She never comes to any section events and she didn’t even go see Tony in the Harvard-Yale debate. I would like to think that she’s trying get more involved in the section. But I really think she has ulterior motives, like trying to get a better grade.”
Professor Jones, Moore’s marketing professor, laughed at the Eglesias implication. “No student ever avoids a three because she or he kisses up to a professor,” Jones said. “Grades at HBS are purely based on objective measures, like the quality of classroom participation.”
Despite student skepticism and Professor Jones’s assurance of the sanctity of grades, Moore is spending a lot of time trying to find the right gifts.
“I’ve contacted family members for each professor, except for Professor Cochrane, and am going to get them really personalized gifts that will blow them away,” stated Moore. “Take Professor Sheth. I am gonna try to get him some original artwork from his hometown of Srinagar, India. It is taking a lot of time and effort, but I hope it will pay off, I mean, I hope he knows how much we appreciated all his work this semester.”
In an unrelated story, the Institute for Harvard Business School Grading released a study showing that not one single Ed Rep has ever received a three during the RC term since the position was created twenty-one years ago.
