Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.

Students and faculty share embarrassing moments at U of M

Students should always remember: doors are made for crashing into, experiments rarely work the way they should and you should never eat something that makes your stomach sour just before class.

Susan Cramm, sophomore theater major, learned that lesson the hard way.

Cramm said after donating blood last year she decided to take a walk around campus. She said she noticed it was warm outside but continued

anyway.

"Last semester I donated blood. I thought I was fine (so) I went to the UC to check on a history book," Cramm said. "It was very hot."

Cramm said after leaving the UC and heading toward the Baptist Student Union center she started feeling sick. Cramm said she ignored her feelings because she had donated blood before.

"It was the fourth time I had donated blood," Cramm said. "I went to the BSU -- I started to go towards the door to go inside and I passed out."

Cramm said she fell face forward into the handle of the door.

"I hit my head on the metal part of the door and they dragged me inside." Cramm said. "All of the people outside saw me pass out."

When it comes to embarassing moments, students are not alone. Professors can be just as clumsy or absentminded.

Dr. Robert Marchini, physics professor, has been at The University of Memphis for 33 years. While attending the Southeastern Section of The American Physical Society in 1984, Marchini said he almost lost his head.

"I'd built a ramp 35 feet in length and the (bowling) ball (was supposed to) roll down into a 5-foot loop and then roll into a box," Marchini said. "I sat in the middle of the (experiment). "The ball slid instead of rolling, and all I saw was black," Marchini said.

Marchini said he is glad the experiment missed him by an inch -- it was a humbling experience.

"I could have been decapitated," Marchini said. "There is nothing physicists like better than watching a colleague's experiment go bad."

Marchini said he may never forget the experience. "I wake up at night hearing them all laugh."

As in Marchini's case, what goes up must come down -- but for Lula Benson, sophomore criminology major, it should be: "What goes in must come out."

Benson said she drank some milk before class that made her sick to her stomach -- and her classmates sick to theirs.

"I had some milk, and milk normally makes me gassy," Benson said.

Benson said she could not hold it in any longer.

"It was Friday in Anthropology class and I just broke wind. I couldn't cover it up," Benson said. "It was a silent, funky poot. Those are the worst ones."


Similar Posts