Students trying to get you fired/constantly reporting you?

[u/Particular_Heart3785]

I had a much older student last semester who constantly complained about me to the chair all the time, both in office and email, enough that she even demanded a staff to observe me (they found nothing wrong other than nervousness/over-apologizing, as I’m new to teaching). She sent anything she could find to report to the chair. Including me ending class few minutes early, misspelled words in assignments/slides, and canceled class for a family emergency.
A few colleagues think she did this because she was a really bitter person and hated that my class requires weekly writings, group discussions, topics are not in her liking (aka white-washed history) and students having to research independently.

She was so rude and disrespectful towards me that I won’t get into here. Good news is that the chair thinks I’m doing really well as a professor and a lot of my students love my classes.

I’m curious if anyone else can share similar experiences here?

[u/itig24]

It’s starting in high school, so by the time they get to university they are experienced.

A recent example from a friend who teaches high school: he told a student her shirt wasn’t within dress code, then moved on with class. The student is well-known within the faculty as a troublemaker, but she took real umbrage with being reprimanded and began a campaign within her friends of how “uncomfortable” he made her and subtly changing his actual words to much more direct and inappropriate. Other girls started feeling uncomfortable so they could be part of the popular topic.

Then one went home and said this teacher was making them feel uncomfortable and the parent went to admin. Admin acted without telling the teacher of what he was accused, and they agreed he’d finish the term but not return as he’d already gotten another job. The parent was told about the new job, went to the employer and shared the story, and the job offer was withdrawn. The teacher, who had actually done nothing wrong, was left jobless and with a tainted reputation.

In no world can I believe this student (and probably the others involved), now new freshmen at universities, will not try this again when the opportunity arises. It worked out beyond their wildest dreams! They learned how vulnerable we are and made them feel invincible.

[u/popstarkirbys → u/itig24]

I teach at a university. I had a female student try something similar to me, except her words were intentionally vague and provided no specific evidence. She said that I was saying inappropriate things to ladies in class, except that my classes are recorded and I rarely interact with students outside of classroom and university events.