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("It's a Lack of Respect", She Replied. -- continued)
Mediocrity is also the heritage left by administrators who move on without addressing the problems effectively.
The Need for Clear Consistent Support from Administrators
Ultimately what happens in the classroom is the responsibility of the administration---the president, the deans, and the department chairs. They need to do several things, clearly and consistently.
Set the Right Tone
First, administrators should set the right tone. The president, the dean, and the department chairs need to convey---in their attitudes, their policies, what they say, and what they do---that academic excellence and respectful behavior, in class and outside of class, are part of the ethos of the school, that these are values that everyone should subscribe to and standards that everyone should follow.
Create and Enforce Clear Standards
Second, the president, the deans, and the chairs need to create and enforce clear written standards for what is expected of students in the classroom and what penalties students will incur for violating those standards. It is not fair to faculty or students to leave this undone.
In the last school where I taught, the Student Code of Conduct contained not one single word about student behavior in the classroom. That meant that there were no consistent standards and that only the force of the instructor’s personality and personal classroom management strategies were available to the instructor to manage the class and teach it at the same time. At some level, students realized this even if they had not read the Code. Allowing such a situation to exist is dereliction of duty!
Enforce Standards Consistently
Third, the standards must be enforced consistently, as written, every time, by everyone in authority. Moreover, the standards must be enforced in the classroom, in extra-curricular activities where there is a faculty advisor, and in the dormitories. A gay student should not have to go all the way to the president and threaten legal action in order to get anti-gay graffiti removed from his dormitory door.
Provide Classroom Management Instruction for Faculty Members
Fourth, in critiquing this analysis, my partner---who has taken community college classes recently ---suggested that classes in classroom management for adjunct faculty memberscould be extremely helpful. I think he is right.

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While some adjuncts have taken such classes as part of a degree or certification program, most probably have not. At a minimum, a refresher training program for present and new adjunct faculty members is needed. It could be very valuable source of ideas even for experienced teachers.
Today’s students are different from yesterday’s in many ways. “Old school” techniques and strategies definitely worked in the past and can still work today. Nonetheless, principles, strategies, and approaches for today’s students would be of immense help to everyone who is responsible for managing a classroom or a club. If the goals of instruction are to be met and the learning experience of all students is not to suffer because of the behavior of some students, effective classroom management is essential.
Department Chair Support for Faculty in
Dealing with Students
Fifth, faculty need to be backed up by both the department chair and the dean’s offices when a student’s behavior is disruptive or violates specific code provisions or disregards classroom management rules.
It’s very simple. The student is called in and informed that the behavior is not acceptable and that the student is to be penalized appropriately. Not backing up faculty members places the teacher in an untenable position. He or she cannot enforce a rule, the student knows it, and more infractions will follow---from that student and other students. Students talk about this.
Handling Student Complaints:
The Role of the Department Chair
Sixth, if a student has a complaint, the chair should re-direct the student to the faculty member to see if it can be resolved there. If not, the chair or another designated faculty member can address the issue with them. If that does not suffice, the matter can be taken to the dean.
Chairs should not go on fishing expeditions. “Three young men came to talk to me…no, I don’t know their names….So, just how is that class going, anyway?” If there is a complaint, let it be lodged. There are simple principles in American justice to protect individuals from anonymous accusations and a presumption of wrongdoing. A chair should not put a faculty member in the position of having to answer an anonymous complaint that is not clearly stated.
A chair should be very careful not to let student complaints or accusations affect the chair’s attitude toward a faculty member unless wrongdoing is shown to be the case.
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