Apple chief flunks Q&A session with LI student

Students can get into unpleasant exchanges with a teacher or an adviser.

But how about with Apple chief executive Steve Jobs?

Chelsea Kate Isaacs, 22, who attends the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, had a paper to write and sent questions to Apple's media relations department. When she got no answer, Isaacs decided to go right to the top - to Jobs. She wanted to know about the use of Apple's iPad in the academic world.

Isaacs said she sent an e-mail asking why the media department did not respond to her. "The completion of this article is crucial to my grade in the class," she wrote, according to the email exchange.

"Our goals do not include helping you get a good grade. Sorry," came the e-mail reply. Isaacs then wrote back that it seemed to her that Apple's job was to respond. "Nope," came the reply, according to the e-mails first published on the website Gawker and which Isaacs forwarded to us. "We have over 300 million users and we can't respond to their requests unless they involve a problem of some kind. Sorry."

Isaacs said she is an Apple customer and was "on deadline" for her paper.

The final reply to her: "Please leave us alone."

Isaacs said she was stunned. "I was surprised he responded. It was a last-minute effort to get some quotes I needed," she told Newsday. "When he did respond, I was shocked it was not a courteous response. . . . I said, 'Is this really him?' "

She may never know. Apple spokeswoman Kirstin Huguet said the company would have no comment.

Isaacs got a B+ but thinks she would have gotten an A if she had quotes from Jobs. We sent an e-mail to Jobs, but received no response. (So don't worry, Chelsea, we would not have gotten an A either.)