[JPhillips]

I wouldn't worry too much about an apology at a school. Without knowing the details, like how many students complained, what was the nature of the class prior to the exam, etc., it's hard to know what was going on. A lot of times admin pressures professors to apologize just to move past issues. There is very little appetite to fight out issues.

At my institution a faculty member had to apologize because one student out of years of students complained that a particular lesson was sexual harassment. The administration just wanted the problem to go away and wasn't about to fight for academic freedom.