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Dear [getFirstName] [getLastName],

Earlier today, you received a message that you were in possession of college credits that were older than your enrollment date at the University of Maryland, College Park. After significant outrage “feedback” and minutes of investigation, we have determined that our source of data was incorrect. You do not need to sign up for any additional general education courses at this time.

What happened?

At approximately 1100 hours this morning, an automated system operated by the Division of IT was fed misleading information regarding the transferability of various courses taken at institutions other than UMD. We have discovered that the server running the online Transfer Credit Database was heavily damaged by a lightning strike during the severe thunderstorm that occurred several nights ago. As a result, a portion of the database was corrupted and incorrectly reflected multiple valid courses as having no transfer credit.

Following this, the Testudo system sent the email that you received, warning you that your general education credits from your pre-transfer institution were no longer valid, and that you would have to enroll in and pass UMD’s equivalent courses such as MATH140, ENGL101, BMGT420, and multiple other courses that have been banned by the Geneva Convention as “cruel and unusual punishment”. We have since restored a backup copy of the Transfer Credit Database, and your previously earned credits will be restored once Testudo comes back online at 1730 hours this or potentially some other Sunday afternoon.

We regret any confusion, mass panic, or anarchist/revolutionary thoughts caused by sending you the earlier notification. Please rest assured that your credits will likely not be affected.

Thank you for your steadfast attention. This will probably happen again.

Division of Information Technology

University of Maryland