Dealing with Student Disruptive Behavior in the Classroom – A Case Example of the Coordination between Faculty and Assistant Dean for Academics

Disruptive behaviors are common in higher education classrooms. When they occur, faculty members have options for dealing with each situation, which is as unique as the students in-volved. Ultimately, the preferred goals of the educators are to end the distraction and to have the disruptive student(s) continue their civil participation and progress in the class. To achieve both goals it may become necessary for the faculty member to seek help from school administrators to resolve the disruption. This paper discusses the coordination between a professor and an assistant dean in addressing recurring disruptive behavior by a student in the professor’s classroom. Each is employed in a college of business at a large state university in Pennsylvania. The result of their cooperation led to a win/win situation for all participants. The first win was the termination of the disruption and the second win was the student’s improved attitude, performance, and ultimate timely graduation. However, multiple challenges and a high level of collaboration between the faculty and the assis-tant dean were required to reach this outcome. The steps they took to address the student’s com-bative and disrespectful behavior are explored in this paper