2007-06-06 10:52:40
German rules force man to urinate in bottle in exam
Wed Feb 28 2007, 3:08 PM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - Exam supervisors at a German university stuck to rules so
rigidly that a man with a bladder dysfunction had to urinate in a bottle in
front of 120 fellow students because they would not let him go to the toilet.
Overseers at the University of Freiburg in southwestern Germany told the
27-year-old, whose bladder control was impaired in an accident that left him on
crutches, that he would be failed if he left the room during the exam.
None of the three supervisors would accompany the man to the toilet despite
other students' protests.
Eventually one female student emptied her water bottle so the man could go to a
corner of the room and relieve himself.
In a letter written on Wednesday and seen by Reuters, university deputy head
Karl-Reinhard Volz apologised to the student, saying the supervisors' behaviour
was completely unjustified and "lacking in any normal human sensitivity."