Monday, May 14, 2018 – Your Thesis Defense Is Too Short

I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day. I only received text greetings from the former meth head that cleans my house once a month. It was group text of about 20. So that left 19 people with phone numbers I did not know. I am thinking of a will change.

But there is no such day for Aunts so moving on. Did you see where the student at Cornell defended her Master’s thesis in her underwear? It seems that during her practice presentation her female professor told her that “her shorts were too short.” So in protest at her actual defense she took off her clothes and did her presentation in her underwear AND videoed it and broadcast it live on Facebook.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/student-presents-thesis-underwear-professor-193200885.html

Here’s what I’m thinking. You lost me at shorts of any length. Why were you even wearing shorts for a presentation? Unless, you are a sports, athletic, kinesiology major, you do not wear shorts to professionally present to your professors. (I know I split my infinitive.) Even then shorts would be pretty dicey.

I had to borrow clothes to defend my dissertation, but I still wore professional dress. Thank you, Ann C.

I am also thinking what Frank Clark (RIP) and Jon Denton’s faces would have looked like in 1985 if I took off my borrowed clothes and defended in my bra and panties. I know that these two served as chairs of many of my friend’s committees so you can imagine also. I will laugh the rest of the day thinking about this.

Finally, to the student. Is this really the sword of protest you want to fall on? (Correct syntax: “on which you want to fall”). Cornell University will have to add a paragraph to the graduate catalog that reads “All thesis and dissertation defense presentations must be done in clothes that are not considered underwear. In addition shorts of any length may not be worn during the practice or the real deal.”

This is short enough for today. I am wearing appropriate length shorts, but do not have to defend anything today except a golf swing.

I do not know if the girl passed her thesis defense or not.