Author:
In my last article “The Sunny Side of Sophomore Housing,” I made a serious mathematical error. Due to faulty calculator use in conjunction with my own lack of critical thought on the matter, I suggested that 40 x $5,220 was $20,880 rather than the actual product, $208,880. I then proceeded to make several overconfident and incorrect statements about the meager nature of the profit Oxy would have made if all of the sophomores living off campus this year had been forced into on-campus housing.
Ever since I discovered this gaffe, I have been cursing the insufficient strength of my index finger, which I can only assume failed to press the zero of the 40 hard enough on my TI-30Xa. It would be immodest for anyone to refer to almost a quarter of a million dollars as “peas and carrots”-and I strive never for immodesty. Therefore, I would like to retract this statement and the false confidence with which I wrote it and apologize for the carelessness of my blunder.
However, make no mistake about my retraction. Even at the increased level of profit, I continue to support the new sophomore housing policy. I am all for the economic betterment of my alma mater, and I remain firm in my claim that I wouldn’t wish cleaning up second-hand vomit on anyone, except perhaps the manufacturer of my calculator.
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