On April 22, I received a memo from the [Senior Administrator, Faculty of Engineering], informing me that several of my recent expense reports “do not comply with University procedures applicable to claims for reimbursement”. This administrator, demonstrating exceptional largess (I note, sarcastically, given that I’m the one who brought in the associated research funds to the university), indicated that “we will exceptionally process your reimbursement request on receipt of [my] written assurance that…” and then proceeded to list several stipulations. The letter concluded, in typical pomposity, with “Please ensure that you are familiar with all University financial policies and procedures that are applicable to academic staff and if in doubt, seek assistance from appropriate resource staff.”
Evidently unbeknown to my [Senior Administrator, Faculty of Engineering], I had already concluded a lengthy exchange with various heads of our Accounting and Accounts Payable office last year. This exchange resolved a series of problems associated with the default “regulations” concerning purchases, by granting me permission to put all my research-related expenses on regular expense reports. Of course, our [Senior Administrator, Faculty of Engineering] is a man of action, who treats computer systems staff as his personal police force to intimidate anyone who may dare to stand up to him. Thus, he is unlikely to deign to ask a simple question of a lowly professor before sounding off on his authority.
As those who have been following this site for some time already know, I have little patience for such displays of arrogance, especially after being delayed for over five weeks since initially submitting my expenses for reimbursement. Here’s my reply:
Dear [Senior Administrator, Faculty of Engineering]
What a pleasure it was to receive a formal memorandum from your office that was not associated with threats of disciplinary action. With regard to the content of your note, I’m afraid that despite your best efforts to familiarize yourself with the University’s established polices and procedures, you may have overlooked my communications with our General Accounting and Accounts Payable office on this very matter. The next time you go pilfering through my private correspondence, perhaps you should check my email with [Administrators, General Accounting and Accounts Payable] between February and April of 2008. In brief, notwithstanding the terms of clause P3.5 of the policy on Reimbursement of Expenses, I received explicit permission in early April of last year to continue submitting expense reports for all research-related purchases.
I appreciate that you have been keeping busy with your tireless efforts to send students a clear message that there is zero tolerance for academic integrity offenses (e.g., as documented at http://degradingmcgill.ca/blog.html#mar18). As such, I would be happy to save you the trouble in the future by providing you with copies of my email, so that you don’t need to waste your valuable time ordering others to retrieve my files for you in total secrecy.
In the meantime, I provide you my continued assurance that:
- All items were received in good order and none have been returned.
- I assume responsibility for asserting any claims that may arise under product warranties
- I will ensure that any amounts of refund or credit associated with possible returns are credited to the appropriate fund
I trust that you will cease imposing obstacles to my request for reimbursement of these (reference #00283831, 00285634, 00285962) and future expenses. Kindly confirm that this is the case.
As always, with my very best regards.