A friend enrolls in your class, what now?

I have had experiences with friends from my earlier staff nursing days being in my class or clinical. A few were very awkward, if not downright distressful (especially when the student failed). Most were positive experiences. I tried very hard to treat my acquaintances as everyone else - no favoritism.

I almost had that happen to me this semester. Like you, JBudd, I work full time at a hospital and just teach 1 class per semester. A colleague of mine was going to take my class this semester, but changed her mind at the last minute due to unrelated personal things in her life.

Before she dropped out, I offered her the opportunity to have her work graded by someone else. My plan was to inform the undergraduate program director of the situation and arrange for another faculty member to serve as a back-up grader for me if there was any question about my friend's grade. Because this particular course has only written tests and group projects, the use of the back-up grader might not have been necessary. But if the course had required individual papers to be graded, I would have graded my friend's paper, then have a colleague read it and confirm that my grade was appropriate.

My feeling about those types of things is that an ounce of prevention is worth the investment.

Good luck!

You're welcome. I would definitely recommend talking with your boss about this situation and asking for someone to "back up" your grading. You need to protect both the student and yourself from any doubts about the grade -- and a colleague should be willing to help out. Also, the student should be willing to tolerate a little inconvenience if necessary (e.g. a grade given late) to assure that the grading process was fair.

Good luck!

I had this same problem but in reverse. I had my son's "girlfriend" admitted into the nursing school where I worked as professor. Now my son and his "girlfriend" were both married at the time, just not to each other. We live in a very small town, and this was noticed by one and all, especially since he worked at the college where the school of nursing is located. And my much beloved daughter-in-law, and 18 month old grandson were devestated. Anyway, I was truly panicked on how I would work with this woman. In class would be no problem since the course was graded by exams and quizzes, but I was truly panicked about the subjective grading in clinical. Luckily, the Director of the program, and the other faculty were wonderful, and arranged for me not to have this woman in clinical. And best of all, prior to the "girlfriend" entering the nursing program, she and my son moved to another state. So I really dodged the bullet on that one. But since this is a small town, and everyone knows everyone else, or went to school with them, work with them or their relatives, or are related to them, it's not unusual for a friend or acquaintance to enter our program. The faculty work closely with one another and talk out their problems, and make sure that every student is treated fairly. The faculty is not above calling out another faculty if it seems that one student is being treated differently. And remember, students talk, and they will notice if one student is being treated differently than another. Just treat them the same, what you would do for one, do for all. Good luck

If all of your students can contact you by email, or phone, or before class for extra help, then do the same for her. No more, no less. If she asks for more than this, then tell her you have to be fair to the others and she needs to follow the same rules. Hopefully, your friend would not place you in an awkward position.

If you feel comfortable enough, you might just talk to this person and say "Jane, I just wanted to let you know that while you are in school, I will need to limit my contact with you to the hours of clinical/classroom/etc. I've always enjoyed seeing you in church, but don't want to give any impression of favoritism. "

This way she won't be hurt, and will realize (if she doesn't already) that while you will be friendly, you aren't her friend (til she graduates, at least!).

Been there, done that, and it was a bit awkward at first, but went smoothly from then on.