Now and then, TU/e is also a past master in purple crocodiles. And if making purple crocodiles is what you do, then the corona crisis offers you fabulous opportunities.

A wonderful example is the form 'Unable to attend on-campus exams'. This is the form that as a student you need to fill in if you have an on-campus exam but are unable to attend due to symptoms of coronavirus, if you are waiting for test results, or if you have been tested positive, but not if you are too ill to do the exam, nor if you are a member of an at-risk group and therefore wish not to attend. If either of the last two cases applies, we have no purple crocodile to offer and you must call the academic advisor.

As a student, you must download and complete this offline form (in capital letters, including on the reverse) before sending it to the lecturer and education support staff at the department concerned. As the person responsible for three on-campus exams of late, I have received a handful of these forms, neatly completed in (typed) capital letters. I haven't the slightest idea what I was supposed to do with them, but I have saved them all.

There are students who are against online exams on principle. For them, there is another purple crocodile, which from December 7th can be found here. In contrast to the above-mentioned form, this form is available only digitally. So you cannot print it out. So if you object to digital exams on principle, you have to register your objection digitally. These forms, too, are probably archived neatly somewhere.

Two years ago the same insurance company made a follow-up to the original commercial. Seven years on, the purple crocodile is lying there still, now deflated, in the corner. Likewise these forms. In seven years' time they will be still be lying in the corner of a mailbox somewhere, gathering dust. In digital format, you understand. Come that day, we'll all look back on this crisis and laugh.