Strike one for academics vs. bureaucracy!

As an occasional staff member and general lackey at my university I am on the staff mailing list for the school - which specialises in communication.

It was thus a little perplexing when all staff recieved this email this morning:
______________________________________

"Good Morning all,

To assist Property Services in the management and use of both Reverse
Osmosis or Deionised Water, could you please give me an indication of
your current and future use of these products.

We will rely on your responses to assist us with the future management
of these services and I would appreciate it if you could supply me with
this information by COB Friday 1 April 2005.

Thanks for your assistance in this matter."

_________________________________________

I had to do my damndest to bite my tongue and not fire off a smart ass reply to everyone - but thankfully someone much higher up did it for me:
__________________________________________

"Reverse osmosis is a preferred pedagogical method of mine. I learn from
my students, and I would be against any university attempt to minimise
its use in classes.

The increase in reverse osmosis has also been one of underlying reasons
for the increased colocation of cognate disciplines - I don't know how
the university can contradict its own strategic directions.

As for deionisation: It can only lead to teaching staff wearing more
crinkled shirts, and in such a competitive environment as tertiary
education, we need every bit of competitive advantage we have - any
potential increase in crinkled shirts is a pressing matter. Ionise,
ionise, ionise, I say."

____________________________________________

Sometimes I love academics :-)