As you interact with students, there may be situations or conversations that cause you concern. Often times you will be the first person to realize when a student needs assistance. We encourage you to utilize your relationships with students to help them find the answers or next steps they may need.

1. Contact students directly if you have concerns.
   • Speak to students privately and in person whenever possible.
   • You can also contact students by e-mail and phone and schedule a time to meet with them to express your concerns.
   • Ask other faculty members and/or the student's academic adviser if the student is attending their classes. Attempt to make contact with the student through your colleagues.
2. Listen to students about their experiences.
   • Ask students to share their perspectives; listen and assess how you can best be of assistance.
   • Depending on their situation, refer students to the appropriate resources on campus.
   • Student Support & Conduct can help! If you are ever unsure of the best way to help students, staff can consult in person, by phone or through e-mail. You can also submit a referral through a Care Report.

When a student's needs are more than you feel prepared to assist with, a referral to Student Support & Conduct is a great way to help. Together, we can work collaboratively to identify next steps and to create a plan to assist the student.

If you have helped a student resolve an issue, but suspect more assistance is required, trust your instincts and share your concerns with the Student Support & Conduct staff. If the student contacts us directly, or other faculty and staff make a similar referral, it helps us to know the student’s history.

You can contact us at 450-744-5470, e-mailing student.support@okstate.edu, or submitting a Care Report.

There are also times when we may reach out to faculty and staff to gather additional information. When we contact others, our goal is to collaborate to determine the best course of action for each student or situation. We appreciate receiving details you might have that will help us reach our goal of effectively serving students.

Student Support & Conduct staff are available to present present information to faculty and staff groups. This information helps employees learn more about the role of the Student Support & Conduct office and how we partner with faculty and staff to collectively serve students. We are able to customize our outreach efforts to meet the various needs of  our university partners. Feel free to contact us at 405-744-5470 to discuss presentation options for your group or meeting.

 

Additionally, the office offers educational presentations on relevant topics to classes and organizations. Topics include but are not limited to, university expectations, bystander intervention, decision making, student organization event hosting, and much more.

Disruptive Student Behavior in the Classroom

OSU supports freedom of expression and inquiry between faculty and students. However, inappropriate disruptive behavior in the classroom need not be tolerated. The following information is provided for faculty to inform you of OSU's position about disruptive student behavior. The Student Code of Conduct (Section II, (8)) prohibits classroom disruption, which is defined as:

Behavior that a reasonable person would view as substantial or repeated interference with the instructor's ability to teach the class or the ability of other students to benefit from the instruction.

Faculty members have the responsibility and the authority to maintain a productive educational environment in the classroom. Faculty need not tolerate constant idle chit-chat, use of profanity or threatening language, routinely coming to class late or leaving early, inappropriate interruptions, personal insults, etc. A proactive approach to the problem is to include an expectation statement of student behavior in the course syllabus and to discuss these expectations with students early in the semester.

Procedures for Responding to Disruptive Student Behavior

If a student’s behavior is negatively affecting the learning environment in the classroom, consider the listed options and follow the procedures:

1.  Confront the disrespectful behavior. Depending on the severity of the behavior:

• Consider a general word of caution to the whole class rather than warning a particular student (e.g. “we have too many conversations going on, let’s stick to today’s topic”).
• Ask the student to meet with you after class or during office hours.
• Tell the student to stop the behavior or ask him/her to leave the class immediately.

2.  When meeting with the student, clearly state the behavior causing the disruption and give the student an opportunity to respond. Hopefully some agreement can be reached which should be documented in writing, including what action will follow should the disruptive behavior continue. Some consequences to consider are:

• Filing a written complaint with Student Support & Conduct;
• Not allowing the student to return to class until he/she has met with the staff;
• Recommending that the student be placed on conduct probation; and
• Recommending that the student be dismissed from the class (in very extreme cases).

3.  If you have talked with the student on more than one occasion, document the incident(s) in a memo or letter to the student. The letter can be one of warning or a summary of your meeting with the student. The letter should include a description of the problem behavior(s), your expectations for the future and what will happen if problems continue.

4.  If the student behavior is of a threatening nature to you or other students, call the OSU Police at 405-744-6523. Also consider reporting the situation immediately to the office of Student Support & Conduct.

5.  Make a dated written anecdotal note for yourself of any discussion, incidents or action taken in case the disruptive behavior persists. It is important that you effectively document the situation and interactions with the student. Effective documentation in this kind of situation has the following components:

• Context (reconstruct your actions, conversations with the student).
• Chronology (dates and times).
• Reflects due process (you have given the student an opportunity to tell his/her side of the story, respond to your observations).
• Reflects student awareness (follow-up e-mail to the student that documents he/she has received information on the incident[s], warning letter to the student that the student signs).
• Cross references any previously-related documentation (previous letters).

Note: Grades are earned by students for work assigned and cannot be used as a penalty for inappropriate classroom behavior.

When a student is referred to Student Support & Conduct because of classroom behavior problems, staff will discuss classroom behavior expectations with the student and ask him/her to agree to the expectations. The meeting is confirmed with follow-up documentation. The letter reinforces the desired change in behavior and clearly states that further disruptive classroom behavior could lead to more severe action, including probation, suspension or expulsion from the university.

The Student Conduct Committee — which is comprised of students, faculty and staff — hears cases where suspension from OSU is a possibility, situations in which an informal resolution is not possible, and cases in which a student had filed a discrimination grievance. The Student Conduct Committee receives training each year related to student conduct issues. Faculty are appointed to this committee by the president. If you have an interest in being appointed to serve on this committee, please contact Student Support & Conduct.