At the University of Rhode Island, an "Incomplete," or I grade is given when a student can't complete an assignment (for legitimate reasons) by the end of the semester. The student is given a specific amount of time after the semester ends to complete the assignment, after which he or she is assigned a regular letter grade. In the meantime, the "I" shows on the student's transcript.
The vast majority of these grades are given in the case of illness, accident, or family emergency like a funeral during finals week.
About a week before finals, a student came in to see me. He was a pretty good student, maybe a B+. I didn't really know him--he hadn't come in to see me about anything during the semester, but that certainly wasn't unusual in a big class. I did recognize his family name, which was well known in certain Rhode Island circles. His reason for a visit at this time? He had a family emergency that meant he wouldn't be able to take his final examination at the appointed time, and he requested an "I."
As I must do with all students in this circumstance, I had to ask him the general nature of the emergency.
It seems that his father and elder brother had just been (unjustly) indicted on first degree gangland murder charges, and he had to go home to help out with the family's other business; wholesale flowers. He said that he thought he'd be able to take the exam maybe by the third week of the following semester.
"The Godfather" had been released not too long before this incident, and I quickly realized that if anyone deserved an incomplete, it was this fine young man, so practically with the speed of light, I signed his form.
Sure enough, he came back next semester, took his final, and got an absolutely legitimate "A" on it. He went on to graduate with a degree in plant science, took over the family's florist business, and disappeared in comfortable anonymity.
I had been a theoretical believer in not practicing guilt by association, but this incident demonstrated concretely that not everyone ends up like Michael Corleone.
