A professor's absence for a day might spell relief and a few extra hours of relaxation for students, but for some communication management graduate students, their instructor's absence has worn out its novelty.

Aram Sinreich, professor of CMGT 599 - Communication, Culture and Commerce in the Videogame Industry [no comment] - has not showed up to his class for more than a month, leaving some students frustrated and lost.

Andrea Hollingshead, chair of the communication management program, said Sinreich originally missed class because he caught the flu.

Sinreich stopped showing up for the Wednesday night class after the second week of the semester [note how quickly the guy disappeared], said Matt Rosenzweig, a master's candidate in communication management.

Rosenzweig said the situation grew worse after Sinreich failed to respond to e-mails.

Sinreich's condition worsened, preventing him from communicating by phone or e-mail, Hollingshead said. [In what direction does the flu worsen so that you can't use a keyboard or a phone? Or, uh, direct someone else to on your behalf?]

Two of Sinreich's colleagues and professional friends [Note that "professional friends." Fellow video game enthusiasts he hangs out with at the internet cafe?] have tried to fill in for his absence, but Rosenzweig said they came to class unprepared.

"They were not informed what they would be covering in the class until a few hours beforehand," he said. "They did not have enough time to digest the material."

Rosenzweig said the lectures given by both substitutes did not meet his expectations for the course and what it was supposed to teach.

"The transition up until this point has not been handled very well," Rosenzweig said.

"This is a $4,000 class. That's a lot of money to spend for not getting anything. [The student admirably grasps the dimensions of the situation.] It's going to compromise the integrity of the communication management program," he said.

The two substitutes who filled in for Sinreich were actually scheduled to speak later during the course as guests, and their rescheduling may have affected the flow of the course, Hollingshead said.

"Obviously moving the topics around to accommodate Aram's illness is not ideal for the continuity of the class," she wrote in an e-mail.

"But the two speakers were actually expected to serve as guest speakers later in the semester anyway," she wrote.

Sinreich's surprise condition put the communication program's management in a unique position they've never faced before [A little redundancy there.], which is why some students might have felt they were left in the dark, Hollingshead said.

"We thought (Sinreich) was going to be back," Hollingshead said in an interview. [This is particularly lame. A professor's never had to drop his class before?]

"He thought he could be in class. He really wanted to be there," she said. [What's this information about him based on? Did his condition only permit him to email fellow faculty members?] "I've never been in a situation where an instructor wasn't able to continue halfway through the semester." [You haven't been around much.]

After a few weeks went by with no professor, Rosenzweig wrote an e-mail to Hollingshead and the rest of the program's administration expressing his concern for the integrity of the course. [Note that the rest of the class wasn't doing anything about an invisible professor. Only one of them seems to have -- after a few weeks! -- emailed someone about it.]

The following night, Larry Gross, the dean of the Annenberg School of Communication, dropped in the class and shed some light on the matter. [How many students do you suppose were there for the dean's little visit? Nice of him to show up and explain things.]

Rosenzweig said Gross explained the situation and apologized.

Gross also announced the course's current substitute, Elaine Chan, would be the instructor for the remainder of the semester.

Despite the e-mail sent by Rosenzweig, Hollingshead said she and other communication management program heads were planning on acting on the situation after they found out Sinreich would not return. [We were gonna do something about it for sure...]

Some students praised the program heads for promising a happy ending for the course.

"Annenberg has done what it could to assess the situation," said Ben Gigli, a master's candidate in communication management. "Elaine's work has been parallel with Aram's. She is extremely well-qualified."

Even Rosenzweig said he's adopted a more positive outlook.

"I remain optimistic," he said. "The course can be salvaged. Something could be done to give some educational merit."

The program's administration is currently working on improving the course to ensure the second half will be a memorable experience, Hollingshead said.

"We're finding excellent guest speakers to come in," she said. "All of us have to come together and try to make a great experience for the rest of the semester."

Hollingshead said she and her colleagues are also working on providing some form of compensation for the students and their time lost during the first few weeks of the course.