next »

[mikey]

One of my online students send me files in connection with an assignment, but when I opened them I encountered numerous photographs of her, many nude, many close-ups of body parts labeled in colloquial terms, and some of her performing an obscene act on a male.  The assignment was not there.  I assumed that she had accidentally sent me the wrong files, and I continue to believe this was the case.  I called the matter to her attention in a way that was not judgmental and returned the materials.  A week later, I got a letter from her in which she attacked me and accused me of mining deeply within her files, past two folders marked "Do not open," to locate her private pictures.  The tone and content of the letter called my integrity into question and were hostile.  The student has withdrawn from the course on her own but is likely to enroll in a future semester as I am the only one who teaches the course online and she takes all her courses online.  I do not wish to have her in class in the future, however, and I referred the matter to the Vice President for Student Affairs, who has decided to ignore it.  If she enrolls in a future semester, should I discuss this with her?  If so, what would you tell her?






   

[balancing_act]

If she enrolls in another course of yours, I'd completely ignore that it ever happened. Don't discuss anything with her.

[magistra]

You reported it to the VP, and that's what you needed to do (I hope you did that as soon as you received the first e-mail!)  Just be sure to document, document, document, and tell your chair as well as the appropriate admin.  This student will likely not enroll in your course again, but if she does, I'd contact the VP & your chair again IMMEDIATELY.  I wouldn't say anything to her, though -- what would you say?  And do you think she'd do anything but take it the wrong way?  Be professional if she should take your class (and your admin doesn't intervene in any way.)

She's way out of line for so very many reasons.  NEVER meet with her alone, anywhere, under any circumstances.  Document everything.  CYA.  This kid has serious problems.

[neutralname]

I don't understand the part about the returning the materials.  Do you mean you emailed her back the files she had sent you?  Did you keep copies or delete them?

(Isn't it against school policy to send obscene pictures to students?)

[samspade]

Was she good looking?

[starfleet_grad]

Is she hot? Why don't I ever get mail like that?

Seriously, OP, you are in a terrible bind. If you get material like that, there are really only two good choices:

1. Delete the stuff and act as if it never happened. If it truly was a mistake, this will be the end of it.

2. Turn everything over to the appropriate person or committee as a violation of student conduct or campus email policy or whatever.

The way you chose, as you noticed, just led to problems. Once you pointed the matter out to the student (with the best of intentions, I am certain), you backed her into a corner, and she feels that she now needs to adopt a take-no-prisoners approach in her defense.

If I have learned anything in my years teaching at universities is that once students start slinging mud, something always sticks. The reverse does not apply. She has now slung mud, and the disinterest on the part of your VP could mean that something has indeed stuck.

No, of course you don't want her in your class again, ever. You probably want to gouge your eyes out or slam your head into the wall repeatedly to lose those images. On the other hand, if you bring this incident up in the future, all people will remember is the accusations by the student that this was your fault. That's just the way these things go. Your best bet is to STFU, let her enroll in your future class, hope everyone forgets, and never bring the subject up again. Oh, yes, and document everything. Document every interaction with her. Keep and print every email communication with her.

[kedves]

I understand that each of us has our own history with problem students.  Mine tends toward excessive independence.  But I don't agree that you caused the reaction.  You guessed, but didn't know, that the pictures were sent unintentionally.  Your response was professional and considerate.  The expected response from the student would have been an apology.  She's using some alternate version of reality to interpret events.  That doesn't bode well for her, but that's not your problem.  You provoked a reaction, but something else might have done so--or has done so in the past.
 
Sometimes, mudslinging is generated by something in an interaction with a student, but sometimes it comes out of nowhere.

As everyone else says, document, be alert, don't meet with her, don't bring it up again, and let it go.

[prytania3]

Maybe you were supposed to pay for the pictures on her Paypal?

That is truly weird, but how could you accidently send something like that? I think the student has multiple loose screws.

Say nothing to her ever.

[amiens]

I've had friends who received pictures that were basically obscene because students were trying to provide photographic evidence of an illness (I know, I know...) but this sounds like a much more difficult situation. 

I absolutely agree that you should avoid this student if possible and if not possible, exhaustively document everything.

[expatinuk]

I've been teaching online for a long long time and have never had such a thing happen. If it did... if it does... I'd report the student to the proper authorities at my university ASAP. I would refuse to have any email contact with said student until the situation was cleared up. No way I'd want to lay (no pun) myself open to charges that I encouraged the student to email me porn.

[immigrant]

I hate to say this, but I would be seeking whatever way possible to make it impossible for this person to enroll in one of my classes again.

This isn't something that I think should be shrugged off: First, she has attacked your integrity in the most ludicrous of ways: Perhaps you do, in fact, have the technical ability to hack into her computer, but she has accused you of something, and will therefore be entering your class with a grudge. Best case, she *will* slam you on evals, worst case, she tells everyone in your class you're a perv, and sours the whole group against you.

Just as worryingly, this seems to be a sexual harrasment claim waiting to happen against you - completely unjustified, and totally unsupportable, but still, waiting to explode and cause you grief. I would be seeking protection against her and not being passive. But, perhaps I'm paranoid.

[jackalope]

It would be easier for us to offer you sound advice if you were to put the pictures in an anonymous Photobucket account and link them here.

[zuzu_]

First of all, you COULDN'T have ignored this. You did the right thing to CYA with the VP. You never know--it could have been some sort of set up, and I'm sure the uni has a policy against sending/receiving porno in uni email.

Honestly, it sounds to me like a set-up.  How could she possibly have *accidentally* posted these where you can access them? Can you give us some more details about exactly how the files were sent/posted for you to retrieve them?

Is she doing poorly in the course? Does she have any motivation to blackmail you?

If this happened to me, I would NOT have written the student, and I would have immediately reported in to admin and IT and ask that she be removed from my course for sexual harassment and no doubt violations of additional college policies. Then, if she were to offer some sort of plausible, alternate explanation, I would allow her back in the course.

Also, I'd like to offer one additional possible scenario. Last year, I and several profs at my CC got pics AND vids of a student. (The ONE I saw before I deleted them was a close-up of a "back door" entrance) There was a huge investigation with IT and admin; turns out her estranged husband sent them to all her profs, all her employers, her parents, etc. She, of course, sent out an apology email, and from what I heard got help from a domestic violence shelter and transfered to another college out of state. Poor kid--I don't even know if the pictures were really of her.

[zuzu_]

It would be easier for us to offer you sound advice if you were to put the pictures in an anonymous Photobucket account and link them here.

Jackalope,

Are you related to Spork?

[ideagirl]

She's way out of line for so very many reasons.  NEVER meet with her alone, anywhere, under any circumstances.  Document everything.  CYA.  This kid has serious problems.

You're absolutely right. I really want to underline that advice. This is a girl who would accuse you of somehow hacking into her computer to get her porno photos--is there anything you can be sure she WOULDN'T accuse you of?

So NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER meet with her alone (e.g. in your office). What on earth would you do, OP, if you met with her and then she went to the dean and said you tried to grope her, or worse?!

She has already proven that she has sexual issues (sending porno photos to her prof?!) and is either delusional or seriously dishonest (rather than checking her outbox and seeing that indeed she emailed you those photos, she thinks you somehow accessed her private files?!) and will not hesitate to openly accuse her prof of having done what she delusionally thinks he did (accuses prof of somehow accessing her files). With those qualities, she could be very dangerous. She could accuse you of sexual harassment or even a crime. The only way to insulate yourself against that is to ensure that she never has the opportunity to accuse you of doing anything--so, never ever ever meet with her alone, under any circumstances. Make up any excuse you have to, if it comes to that; just DO NOT DO IT.

In fact, I would suggest never, ever, ever meeting with her at all, even in public; she could claim you said something to her that you never said (e.g. "We were sitting at this cafe discussing my paper and he said, 'suck my **** and I'll give you an A'!"). All your conversations should be recorded, i.e., should be via email/class chatboard/etc. With people capable of doing what she already did, CYA is of paramount importance.