In an email exchange with the department chair, she declared that she didn’t “like to be told what words [she] may and may not use, ever.”
For the time being, the university has prevailed.The story reminded me of a student I had a while back who, before the semester started, threatened to
sue professors who had cell phone bans on their syllabi. He had his side business from his cell phone, you see, and it was apparently of vital importance that he stay connected at all times. To forbid him that lifeline was, in his words, "financial discrimination" or some such thing.
After consulting with our administration and being assured that in case of a lawsuit, he would be left to twist in the wind, one colleague removed the no-cell-phones policy from his syllabus.
I left mine in, and marked the student down for using his phone during a closed-book quiz.
This did not affect his final grade, as the deducted points would have moved him from a low C to a high C.
No matter.
The student filed a grievance against me after grades were turned in; my students reported to me that he was telling his classmates and my colleagues how he was confident that he was going to "take me down."
The grievance did not go his way, but the process made my semester rather unpleasant.
What's your pathologically-entitled-student (/colleague/administrator/staff member/trustee) story?
--Frankie Bow
My first plagiarism case was perpetrated by a student who'd had a "philosophical discussion" with one of his other (male) professors about concepts of ownership, originality, etc., and decided those should apply to the paper I'd assigned (with, of course, appropriate requirements about citation, etc.)
ReplyDeleteThe honor council did not look kindly on that one (and this was a school with a very serious honor code, so the warning added to his record during his first semester freshman year meant that he had to watch his step very carefully for 3.5 years, while also completing substantial required junior and senior papers, lest he find himself suspended or even expelled). Still, I suspect if I'd had a certain piece of anatomy (and been older than 25), the whole conversation might well have ended with my requiring a revision instead.
And the topic of the paper was pot legalization. While there are some good arguments for legalization, I've never received paper on the subject that was as good as mediocre.
My students these days are generally less entitled, but when they do try to pull rank, it's somewhat in the way that yours did, Frankie -- claiming they've just got to get into my section, or have an extension that inconveniences group members, or whatever, because of heavy work and/or family responsibilities. I usually reply by saying that I'm sympathetic, but most of my students have such responsibilities (and, in the case of scheduling please, asking when they intend to do the prep work for the many classes they report taking).
Used a phone during a TEST? I think I would've taken the test away from him and told him to leave. Other students could not use the phone -- why is he special? But I guess he'd still get file a grievance, plus a complaint about embarrassing him. It feels like fighting the goddamn phones is such a losing battle...
ReplyDeleteI'm just hoping Frankie is satisfied with the image I used. I could have put something crazzzier on there, but that's the photo that makes me think of Frankie Bow. It also reminds me of Patty Andrews (of the Andrews Sisters), although it's obviously not she (or her).
ReplyDeleteExcellent choice, Zooze!
DeleteJeez Louise, where to start on this one?
ReplyDeleteA memorable recent case was the one who followed me back to my office immediately after an exam, the first and only time this student has ever attended office hours, to spend the hour berating me about how hard it was. The old standby, "This is college" doesn't work anymore.
I once caught a student dead to rights plagiarizing on both the term paper and the written take-home final exam (one question of which covered the topic about which the student wrote the term paper). During the conversation I had with hir, ze finally admitted that ze "maybe" plagiarized "but just on the exam." Ze continued to insist that the paper was all legit, despite the fact that the plagiarized passages on the exam were reproduced in the paper. Fortunately, ze did not appeal the F I gave hir. (No, it's not really a story about entitlement, but I wanted to contribute something, and it's probably the best plagiarism story I have.)
ReplyDeleteIt's a proffie. He's young and hasn't published anything, but thinks he will be great. He's angry about something, but pretends to be happy sometimes. He doesn't say much. He kind of scares me. This is pretty vague, isn't it? Something just seems wrong. I hope he can get his issues resolved. Life is hard enough without feeling terrorized by the walking puzzle.
ReplyDelete