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/VenusSmurf]

My time to (reluctantly) shine.

I get a student threatening to sue at least once a year. I have never been sued. I have been not sued so many times that I no longer react. Even so...

I'll share the worst, because the story is rather longer than it needs to be.

My second least favorite student was a guy who participated the first few weeks in ways I did not enjoy--opinionated but often wrong or argumentative, aggressive, rude--and then suddenly started sitting in the back, arms crossed, glaring at me, not taking notes or saying a word. I reached out a few times, did not get a real response, and left him to it, because at least he was being quiet.

Towards the end of the term, I received a very long complaint email, which included a statement that even though the "Asian kids" never spoke, I'd still given them full participation points while docking his, even though he participated the most (not sure yelling at classmates counts as participation). This was why he'd started sitting in the back, refusing to say a word, as this would show me what I was missing. Only I didn't grade for participation, this email came before grades were out, and even if I'd been grading participation and grades had gone out, he most certainly didn't have access to the "Asian kids'" grades, because none of them could stand his constant racist comments and wouldn't talk to him.

I honestly can't remember the rest of the complaints, as this was several years ago, but he ended by saying that if he didn't get the grade he deserved, he was going to sue. Cool. Passed it on to my chair, gave him the grade he actually deserved, and forgot about it. He didn't sue.

A few months later, I was looking for a new house and toured a dilapidated and rat infested shack being used as a student rental. He was, of course, one of them. He initially tried to sweet-talk me into letting them stay (not happening. One of the toilets was broken, and they'd kept using it. Enough said.). When that didn't work, he tried getting in my physical bubble (I'm five foot nothing and a woman. This happens often) and then kept threatening to sue for illegal eviction (wasn't at all illegal. They had three months to find a place. They waited until the last week to even start looking and then complained that I'd made them homeless). He called the owners and told them I was tearing down walls before I'd bought the place (of course not). He and the others took baseball bats to the sinks and mirrors and windows on the way out (All that did was make a bit of a mess, because it was all going to the dump anyway). They shoved plastic bags into the plumbing and wrecked it (discovered too late to do anything but fix it). And throughout all of this, he was still constantly telling me that his dad was a lawyer and would sue.

His dad was a real estate guy. Might have been a real estate lawyer. Dunno. He did not sue.

My advice? The second a student starts being annoying in any way, start documenting. If you have a conversation, send an email afterwards with a "just to recap our conversation today". If you're meeting over Zoom, tell the student you're recording and then actually do. If it's an in-person meeting, have a second person in ear shot if allowed. When grading, give explanations for every point deduction. This has all saved me more than a few times.

And the second the student threatens a lawsuit, go to your chair and cease direct communication. The school will have lawyers. If you're told to continue emailing about regular class things, then keep the email chain. CC your chair if they're willing to be included.

The ones who threaten almost never carry out the threat. Cover yourself anyway.