On Thursday Oct. 17, the goverment shutdown officially ended but the effects of the shutdown still lingered.  Never more so than in Professor Angesworth “Political Science 401″ class where Bessie Miller held her own little shutdown of the class. 
“I did not find it fair that the professor was going to grade our presentations on a sliding scale,” said Miller about why she held up the scheduled 50-minute class by giving a 2-hour project presentation.
The long presentation was a form of protest.“The fact that some individuals worked harder than others but our grades wouldn’t reflect our true effort is something I’m completely against. It down right will destroy the entire grading system,” said Miller who admitted she was inspired by Sen. Ted Cruz’s 21-hour speech against Obamacare in late September and wanted to follow in his footsteps.
Bessie Miller only went 2 hours. “Well I had a class at 3 and I couldn’t miss it,” said Miller.
Miller was allowed to go on for 2 hours because of a loophole.
“I told students to take as much time as they needed to clearly present their project. I never saw this coming,” said Angesworth. Angesworth gave no allotted time for how long the presentation had to be. Instead, with the no limit on time, students had to stick around and listen to the whole presentation because Angesworth made it mandatory that students be in attendance for other student’s presentations or it could affect their grade.
“Every student had done well and I just wanted to help boost everyone’s grade up a little more,” said the 83-year-old Professor Angesworth on why she was going to grade on a sliding scale. “I thought it would be a benefit to everyone” said the professor who rates a 4.0 on RateMyProfessor.com.
“I just wanted to leave,” said Malcolm Cranston who received the lowest grade in the class for his presentations with a 75.
Some question if Miller’s true intentions were really to protest about the scaling of the grades but instead, Miller was just having a hissy fit because the new grades would put Jen Roberts’ GPA higher then hers.
“[Miller] and Jen Roberts have been rivals since high school and when Miller found out grades would be on a sliding scale, it would boost Roberts’ overall GPA to pass Miller’s,” said Janice Bosh, a friend of Roberts’. Both girls are in “Political Science 401″ and were present for the shutdown.
Roberts didn’t find Bosh’s theory too far fetched: “That goober [Miller] would do something like this just to get her way,” said Roberts
“Na uh. I just was speaking for what every student was feeling in that classroom. In this country. Anyone who loves freedom knows what I’m talking about,” said Miller reacting to the accusation that the protest was more motivated by spite towards Roberts.
Miller’s protest actually may have hurt her grade.
“She started talking about the book Green Eggs and Ham,” said Professor Angesworth who didn’t believe this had anything to do with the subject Miller was to present which was suppose to be how the government shutdown is affecting students.
A lot of students confirmed that Miller strayed from the subject by talking about hippies, her cat Feeney, what she did at the beach this summer; and trying to relate it all to the government shutdown which most students said the attempt usually fell flat. One student recalls the unusual comparisons.
“She tried to say her cat Feeney was like the shutdown in that Feeney likes to sit in front of the window and bask in the sun but what if all cats were now going to be able to bask in the sun for free. I was so confused and it was a waste of time,” said Eddie Sanders.
To make sure something like this never happens again, Angesworth will be putting time limits on presentations. As for Miller and Roberts feuding, they are going to fist fight in the quad this week.