"take the risk of trusting the student" and the whole "flavor" of your message describe someone that is just bumping along, doing "their job". We can't afford that type of administrator in our schools any more. Did this Vice know the student in question? Did he know of his reputation? Was he aware of his grades? Had he talked to his teachers about him? Here he was, in a situation that called for a quick decision, and he had failed to do his homework!
The question facing this vice went well beyond his "trust" of the student. A vice at a technical school should be conversant with science and technology. They could have had an interesting discussion of the device, the principles behind it's operation, any testing that the lad had done, etc. The vice could have easily obtained sufficient information to make an informed decision about hitting the panic button. That is, unless, again, he had failed to do his homework.

We have far too many adults in our schools today who have no drive to fill the calling, rather than performing the tasks. There are many who are not interested in "intellectual curiosity", but want a checklist for learning. Since there is no competition, there is safety and tenure. I'm sure that these kinds of folks laugh over their cuppa, checking their watch to find that they have two minutes left before they have to go back and deal with the monsters.

Don't take me wrong. There are many who care, but my point is that there are many who don't. This vice might be OK. I can't stereotype based on the limited info in the article. I just know that based on what I see (on one end), and the dwindling supply of parts at the local Radio Shack, it does not bode well for the technological future for lads like this who have not yet experienced the snuffing of the spark.

My hope and prayer is that this lad will rise above the insult and embarrassment. And that somebody will evaluate this vice to see if he's a help or a hindrance where he's chosen to reside.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CW0hGhINjc

While it might not be difficult to do the task, when's the last time you thought about squeezing a spleen like an orange and thought "I wonder what would happen if I squirted this juice thru my $150000 cell counter....?"

I did not really dig too deep into it, but I remember that the process of quantifying populations of cells using laser light scatter is the integral process of Flow Cytometry. You can get fancy with antibodies and tagging, but that technology is sometimes imbedded in some of the simpler cell counters like the CellDyn. (I know, I'm dating myself.)

The process that you are speaking of is called Flow Cytometry.
It's used often on peripheral blood.

I think that the monsters are the ones from Monsters Inc, Public Scrutiny is represented by the children being scared, and guess who the spider is? I can't believe that y'all were thinking that you were getting rid of the bad guy!!!!!!

As a common utility, they have an implied obligation to deal openly and fairly. After all, we are talking about computer security here.
Transparency is a requirement here. If you won't buy that, at the least it is a customer expectation.
I myself gave up on Symantec a long time ago, but this just confirms my awesome foresight. ;-)

That they are there but that they're avoiding us

Speaking as a blood banker involved with the Military Frozen Blood Program 10 years ago, Units are now 30 years old and still viable. I believe that there are official requests into the FDA to approve longer storage based on work with units that are that old. Theoretically, there is no reason why they would not last indefinitely.
Of course, this is speaking of the Red Blood Cells (RBCs). Because RBCs are simpler than stem cells, there might be a difference in viability in long term storage. Your mileage may vary.