Workshop aids faculty with difficult students

At a workshop on coping with difficult students, faculty members shared tales from the trenches and learned how to tap into campus resources for help.

Bart Merkle, vice provost and dean of students, said in order for students to learn, faculty have to feel comfortable teaching.

“Sometimes faculty get nervous about what they can and cannot do, but it is their classroom and if a student’s behavior is too disruptive, they need to stop that student from doing whatever it is they were doing,” he said, adding that can sometimes be taking a break, asking a student to leave class or dismissing the entire class.

“Dealing with Threatening Students” was sponsored by the Pew Faculty Teaching and Learning Center and held at the Allendale Campus on October 5. Along with Dean of Students administrators, other facilitators were from Public Safety and the Counseling and Career Development Center.

Barbara Bergers, director of Public Safety, encouraged faculty members to spell out disciplinary actions in their syllabi. “Put it in writing that you can’t have earbuds in, cell phones in class and other things that can’t do in class,” she said.

Like the Dean of Students Office, the Counseling Center can host meetings to improve faculty-student relationships. Barbara Palombi, director of the Counseling Center, underscored the importance of continuing to try to reach students.

“As faculty members, when you talk with students who may be suicidal, you’re helping them realize they are not alone and making that student feel more as ease,” she said. “It could also help with campus violence as those students tend to be people who act out when they don’t have a connection.”

Sandy Portko, professor of psychology, animates a point during an FTLC workshop on coping with difficult students. At left is Noor Ghiasvand, assistant professor of biology / Photo by Dianne Carroll-Burdick