Graduate Program Director Congratulating Me on Failing Comprehensive This was a few years ago now. My PhD program had two exams. The first I passed with high marks the second I failed.

I did not really know who to talk with about this. It is common in my program for people taking their exams to fail on the first attempt. However, the nature of the way this news was conveyed by the graduate program director and other passive aggressive tenancies by another closely related senior member, really shook my confidence.

Unfortunately, I did not recover and ended up switching departments and programs, which has cost me time and money. I won't blame my failures on this professor, though I believe he seems to have abused his power in order to act out a personal vendetta.

Here is the email:


  Dear XXXXX,
  
  I just received the results of the XXXX comprehensive exam
  in XXXX.  I will follow up with a more formal
  letter shortly, but I wanted you to  know the basic results as soon as
  possible.
  
  I'm pleased to relay that you received a Fail. 
  
  This is disappointing news.  With my formal memo, I will be sending
  feedback on individual questions to assist you with further study.
  
  Best regards, 


So here is my question:


Is there anything to be done about this? Or is it better to keep my head down and not complain?
No one writes these letters "by hand," but rather cuts-and-pastes names to avoid writing the same thing dozens of times. It seems extremely likely to me that this person copied a standard "I'm pleased to relay ...", used to tell students they passed, into the letter telling you you failed, and then didn't notice this. There isn't anything else in the letter that seems at all disagreeable. Seeking legal recourse, etc., without even finding out whether this is a typo seems like a severe over-reaction.