Pigeons Halt Third Year Exams

A number of exams have had to be cancelled this morning due to pigeons in PJ Hall.

The exams, Seren has learnt, were being taken by Modern Languages students as well as Law students and possibly a few more.

“There were two pigeons that somehow got in the room and they were on top of the organs in the back of the room and would not just shut up. I guess a few people complained and then they ended the exam” said Kyle Gauvin, an Exchange Student from the University of Maine, who was there for the 3110 International Law of Human Rights exam. 

The pigeons were already in the hall as the students took their seats at around 5 to 9 this morning however no decision was made to postpone until around 25 to 10.

“My honest opinion is that the situation could have been handled better, the invigilators saw and knew they were there but did nothing other than say ‘If there is a problem with the pigeons then let us know and we will see what we can do'” said Charlotte Fairclough, a first year languages student. 

Following the cancellation a  students took to social media to complain, with some stating that they were unsure of what was going to happen now.

I can’t frigging believe that half an hour into my exam it gets abandoned because of a frigging pigeon! All that revision!!!
— Stacey (@Zoanna007) May 13, 2014

A number of students were told that they can resit the exam at a later date however some were worried that they would be subjected to harsher marking as they’ve already seen the paper.

For Law student, Thomas Brady, who managed to complete his exam due to being in the sickbay, this is a real concern.

“I just want to know if we’ll have to resit and want to make sure that us who did it in there (sick bay) don’t get our marks reduced because we weren’t in the same circumstance” he told us. 

The University has confirmed that is not the case. 

Being able to resit at a later time, whether that be the same paper or not, is a real issue for Kyle who is due to fly home tomorrow.

“When it was announced that the exam was cancelled until further notice there were no other words to describe it other then frustration” he explained.

“Knowing that I am leaving tomorrow morning and am not sure or even if I will be able to sit the exam makes it worse. It would make sense to try and stay for the exam, but not at the cost of making completely new arrangements for flights and trains for tomorrow. Hopefully there will be some way that I can take it when I get back state side, but as long as there is no extra cost to me”

Seren has contacted the university for comment though we can imagine in such an extraordinary situation the schools involved are very busy trying to find the best solution. At this point students have been asked to keep checking for emails from their schools with any update.

Update – 13.30pm

The University was able to quickly provide a solution for the first year students taking their German exam.

“It was a bit frustrating having to leave the exam, especially because the pigeons weren’t particularly bothering me. But we had an email within the hour and got to start again in MALT” said Melissa Greenwell, a first year Languages student. 

“I think our exam was easier to reschedule than law because there were only 13 of us. Nothing was said to us about being marked harshly though!” she continued. 

There’s still no word on what will happen to the third year students.

Update – 14.15pm

A likely cause of the pigeons being in PJ Hall appears to be some missing windows at the top of PJ Hall. Second year Criminology student, Joe Heaford, told Seren how he had mentioned the missing windows to the University over social networking site Instagram 6 days ago whilst his friends had tweeted the university.

It is unclear whether the university has seen these messages or whether the problem has been dealt with.

UPDATE

The University and Students’ Union have worked together to rearrange the exam, however they urge those unable to make the new date (30th May) to contact their school as soon as possible.

Read the new arrangements here.

Were you in the exam? Want to have your say? Get in touch with us: editor@seren.bangor.ac.uk