I think the big problem is the way he worded his response. If he had set it out professionally and pretty much said the same but in a respectful way, there wouldn't be such an outcry. He may well have lazy students who turn in assignments late all the time and not do a very good job, but all he needed to do in this case - if she really did apply for the extension a day AFTER the assignment was due - is to say he was sorry but extensions need to be applied for in advance of the due date and under no circumstances could he allow an extension. If she still had a problem with that, she could write in and ask for a reconsideration.

I got an extension on my assignment which was due 3 August. The textbooks for the course were not available for a couple of weeks after the papers started and the ones I had out from the library were recalled only a week after I got them, so I was a bit worried about getting the assignment done in time. My tutor actually offered an extension and I took up that offer - but I handed it in on 6 August so I only took advantage of the weekend to finish it, I didn't wait until the end of the week he'd allowed and then moan I still hadn't done it.

Although I still think he went about it the wrong way, I wish people would realise university study isn't a right, it's a privilege. If you aren't good enough and can't keep up with the workload, you don't deserve to be there. That goes for whatever your ethnicity or background.

When I was completing my initial journalism studies there were several people on the course who needed a kick up the arse. All of them were young and on the day one assignment was due one of them asked the tutor if she had to hand it in today. He said yes, but he could give her another day if she wasn't finished - how much had she done? Her answer? Oh, I haven't started it yet. We'd had three weeks to do it and she hadn't even started it by the day it was due! And she got an extension! My current course material states that an extension will only be granted in the case of an emergency and if it is supported by a doctor's certificate or other evidence - and that it must be applied for before the due date. I bet this student would also have been aware of this.