Coping with Seven Disruptive Personality Types in the Classroom

pThe Litigious StudentCharacteristicsThe litigious student, as the name implies, is prepared to file a lawsuit at the drop of a hat.There are, it seems, students—and parents—on practically every campus who like to invokethe threat of a lawsuit in response to the slightest provocation, whether real or imagined.Certainly, threats of lawsuits by students are discouraging and disheartening. Nonetheless,this is the age we live in, and faculty members are wise to take steps to protect themselvesfrom legal challenges, even when they are completely unfounded. No instructor oradministrator has a foolproof method for preventing lawsuits, but there are ways todiscourage and curtail them.How to Respond• Follow due process procedures• Issue warnings, verbally and in writing• Cite Code of Student Conduct and possible consequences• Allow them to contest allegations in a hearingYou will need to be extremely careful in all your proceedings when dealing with studentswho exhibit this personality style. This effort may be time consuming and inconvenient, butit is nonetheless necessary in protecting yourself and your institution against legal threats.First, you will need to learn to follow your college or university’s due process procedures indealing with disruptive students by issuing warnings verbally and in writing, citing forstudents the Code of Student Conduct and the possible disciplinary consequences formisconduct that violates that code, and allowing litigious students opportunities to contestyour allegations in a meeting or a disciplinary hearing, if necessary.This means that if you are not currently up to speed on the due process procedures at yourinstitution, you will need to take the steps necessary to inform yourself. A good startingplace would be to speak to your dean or immediate supervisor about your concerns and yourneed for information, and then follow their recommendations.Bear in mind that most universities also have legal departments that can providerecommendations in particularly difficult situations. So, there are existing campus resourcesavailable to help you in dealing with this situation. Use them.29