For The Last Time, I Am Not In Fucking KCL!

Warning: rant ahead.

I spent two years in an excellent educational institution, and enjoyed it enough to contribute a heartfelt, albeit short and hastily written, article to a commemorative CD-ROM.

And what did they do? They (the alumni who produced the CD-ROM, not the school itself) changed the title of my article from its original Rafflesian Recall (which was admittedly not great either, but was meant as a reference to this annual activity where former Rafflesians come back and do nostalgic stuff) to the incredibly moronic The Hauntings Of A Rafflesian. They got my current university wrong – Raffles Nite Committee and whoever on it that thinks I’m from the Strand polytechnic also known as Kings’ College London, I’M NOT, AND YOU SHOULD HAVE CHECKED.

Let me say now that I know I’m overreacting. But here’s how it goes:

One. I can’t stand incompetence. This is incompetence. If you want to change the title, check with me. All it takes is a phone call. If you want to change it yourself, don’t arbitrarily choose something that bears little resemblance to what I wrote! I am not “haunted” by my Rafflesian memories. I am, however, quite likely to be “haunted” by this bloody cockup.

Two. Given that I sent the article from a UCL email address, it should be reasonably obvious where I go to school, no?

This is the second time someone’s assumed I’m from Kings, and affixed that institution to my name in something that large numbers of people will potentially read. The first time, Aaron, who is otherwise one of the most wonderful people ever and who should one day become Secretary-General of the UN and bring it respect and grace and effectiveness, put me down as being from Kings’ on a speaker bio list at a public debate.

I chose to go to University College London because it was founded on radical beliefs. Because it was the first university in the UK to admit women and black people. Because I wanted a multi-faculty university, so that meant LSE was out. Because Kings’ was founded by the Church of England, which I see as being founded on one man’s petulance rather than anything of real theological significance. Because far fewer Singaporeans go to UCL than Kings’, and I wanted to meet people from the rest of the world. And because as multi-faculty universities in England go, only Oxford and Cambridge are better, but they’re not in London, which stole my heart a couple of years ago in a way Oxford and Cambridge never could.

As I said earlier, I know I’m overreacting. But I just really hate being mistaken for a student of a university which I very deliberately chose not to go to.