My educational career at Augsburg is off to a bad start. There have been several issues with registration, books, computer access, etc. that the program coordinator has neglected to address or very slow at addressing. So, I sent yet another e-mail yesterday seeking information, stating that I was concerned about the communication patterns. I wondered if this was representative of Augsburg as a school and the social work program. I received an e-mail with a detailed explanation for every issue which ended like this:

“In sum, I guess I can only say, we will not always do things perfectly. We are a small shop operation over here, so sometimes we are a bit informal about things. But as I said, this Fall was unusually awkward. We like to think, however, the positive side of our informality is that you can always call or email us with your concerns and we will go out of our way to address them. So I will leave it to you to decide if this is the right environment for you.”

Now, I understand the issues and the reasons behind them, but informality is not a good excuse for lack of communication. My problem was never that things got fucked up but the lack of communication from the school to the students. Informality should not excuse unprofessionalism. I’m a little more nervous about starting classes now. I don’t even know what to expect.