University students have enough to deal with, without having their parents treat them like babies or interfering in their lives. The following email was intended to go to the scholarship committee of an organization I belonged to at the time. For one thing, I would never start "To Whom it May Concern" and that tipped me off right away, as absentminded as I am. It is a fraudulent letter of recommendation written by the student's mother using my name and email address, so of course the email message came to me rather than the scholarship committee. Silly mother.
To Whom it May Concern:
I would gladly recommend _________ for the ______ scholarship. _______ has been a student of mine and has shown his ability to commit to the tasks assigned and work hard as a member of group projects as well.
With the challenges of college courses, as well as both personal and school activities, it is refreshing to see students that are willing to work hard and stay focused. _________ has shown that he has interest in both learning and doing well at school.
I am sure that _________ will excel at whatever he does, and that he will take pride in his work as well as his achievements.
Sincerely,
_______________
As I was puzzling over the fact that I never wrote this email and how it came to be, I received another email message from the student's mother.
Prof _________ - I have just done something totally unacceptable and __________ is not even aware. I have to apologize and hope that you will not hold this against _______. This is ________________, ___________'s mom, and I have written the below message in the attempt to meet a deadline for a scholarship.
_______________ is not aware of this being done and I will call and explain it to him, as soon as I complete this e-mail message.
There is NO ACCEPTABLE EXCUSE for me doing this.
________ is writing the essay, to complete the scholarship requirement. He has one scholarship letter of recommendation, but I was reading the guidelines and it will require 2 from the University.
I will discuss with ___________ and we will not proceed with the application for scholarship!!
This is the worse offense, I admit, and I cannot say how sorry I am. This is not something I would do, nor ever want ___________ to do. I have raised _________ to be a very honest and hard working person. This is definitely something I am ashamed of, but will discuss with ___________ so he will understand the consequences of doing something dishonest.
I suppose it was a positive thing that I hit the send button and you received the e-mail; because it has prevented me from actually using something that you did not create.
I would like to explain some of the circumstances, that caused my lapse in honesty & integrity; however, I do not accept it as being a reason for doing something this bad. My father is terminally ill and I have been spending as much time as possible traveling between my family in __________ and my parents in __________. The deadline has crept upon us too fast, and I wanted ________ to be able to qualify for the scholarship.
Again, this is no excuse and I will not proceed with the scholarship application. Please understand this is not something ___________ had any hand in doing. Both he and I share the e-mail address and I am just sick that I was attempting to do something so bad.
I know ________ will be mortified. He will be upset that I have now humiliated him, in front of you; and be upset that I would do something so stupid. Facing _________ is another punishment that I deserve.
Please let me know if you would like me to call and talk to you. I would be more than willing to meet with you and if there is anything else you need me to do; I will do whatever necessary. I cannot believe that I would attempt to do something so horrible.
______________
My response to the mother:
I had a talk with __________ to determine his part. Hopefully both you and he realize the seriousness of writing something with the intent to mislead (also known as fraud), especially since the topic of our class last week was about ethics in writing. Because I can understand the desires of a mother to help her son, I have decided not to pursue any kind of action against you or ________, although I will alert the University Writing Program director that this happened. I do wish you and your son well.
--
_____________________
Her response back to me:
Thank you for responding to my e-mail. I have been very upset over this matter, and I do not think that anything has upset me more. I am upset at myself for doing such a thing and upset that I would put my son in such an uncomfortable position. _______ did mention that he spoke with you. __________ also mentioned that you had covered the topic of ethics in class. I know better than to do such a thing and please believe that I have never done such a thing and will never do it again.
Again I apologize and thank you for not taking further action against ____________. I would hate to see him penalized for an action that I committed.
Thanks
____________
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