What is your opinion of this situation?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi there. I have a big problem I would like input on. I am graduating in May 2006 from a community college program. It took me four long years to do all the pre-req's and make it through to graduation when many of my classmates have failed along the way. Early in this last semester, the SNO officers and a few others decided that they were speaking for the entire class when they decided the HESI exam should not be a requirement to graduate, and they started a petition and called meetings with the nursing teachers to get it changed. (The requirment for passing HESI with a minimum score was not something we just heard about, we were all aware that students from previous semesters has failed soley based on HESI performance and had to re-take the entire semester.) At the time, I did not agree with the way the SNO handeled it, and they had secret meetings and decided what to do without our entire class voting on it. Meetings occurred without the SNO advisor present, and it was all hush-hush, and any student who voiced a differing opinion was not told about any more meetings.

Well, that all went down, the SNO members went above the Dean of Nursing and complained to college administrators, again, not sure what actually happened because although I go to all announced official meetings, all the info I have about what actually transpired is second-hand and gossip coming from students, so I can't entirely trust it all. But the end result was suddenly the dean of the college overulled the dean of nursing and allowed those who did not pass the HESI to graduate, but the nursing dean maintains that they will have to take the HESI every several weeks until they pass or she will not vertify them to sit for the NCLEX.

That all happened, has been over with, and now the SNO officers and a few others have decided that they are not inviting the Nursing Dean to our pinning and will not ask her to make a speech as she has traditionally done, and in fact for our "speaker" they have decided that a certain classmate of our(one who spear-headed the whole HESI fiasco) will speak as a "voice for us."

I am extremely upset, and no longer want to attend my own pinning. The Dean of nursing is upset with us and feels insulted, and I don't blame her. Apparently, from what the SNO officers say, there has been a lot of personal confrontations going on behind closed doors with them and the dean--well, I don't know, and who knows what really happened. I would be angry too, if I was the dean, and they went above my head like they did about the HESI thing. But now the class is saying they don't even want the dean at the ceremony?

I feel like they way the SNO has operated is higly unprofessional, disrespectful, and embarassing. If I was an employer and knew what they had done, there is no way I would want to hire any of these people. Furthermore, the SNO has made decisions claiming they represent our class, yet our class did not vote on these things officially or only a small number of people were present at non-school sanctioned meetings that they did have real votes at. I am not willing to sit there and look like an idiot in front of my family while my classmate stands up and rants and raves about our "horrible" school and claims she speaks for all of us, while they exclude the dean. I think it looks petty and juvenile. And furthermore, what on earth do they think they will accomplish by behaving like this? The Dean could very well take her sweet time certifying us all for the boards, and there is nothing we could do about it. No matter what has happened, or if they think the dean acted unprofessionally, I think we should stand up and act like professionals and adults, not like juveniles who refuse to invite the dean to play with us. And it makes me so angry they keep saying they speak for our class, when our class itself has never approved or voted on much of the decisions made.

Can I get your opinions on this from an objective view? I think I am way too emotional right now to rationally react. As nurses, what do you think of this behavior from students? Would you join in on something like this if it happened with your union, for example? And how do you think it makes us look as new nurses entering the workforce?

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

I am so sorry for your situation. It sounds as if you are a conscientious, professional person, and I can understand your upset at the unauthorized behavoir of your SNO officials.

But you worked hard for the honor of receiving your nursing pin, and I would hate for you to miss that. I would certainly hope that the SNO official who speaks at the ceremony will not make an a** out of him/herself, but you can not control that. If the speech takes a turn for the worse, perhaps you could get up and leave until the speaker finishes. Also, a heartfelt note to your nursing director would be greatly appreciated. Or ask the director to pin you privately in her office with your family present.

Hold your head high and don't let the idiots ruin your day. They may be shooting themselves in the foo tby acting in such a childish manner. One can only hope.

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If you know for sure that there are others in the class who feel as you do, I agree with the suggestion to ask the director to have a private pinning in her office or other small room, with all of students who believe as you do. I also think you should send a note or or meet with the director to let her know that not all of you were in on the fiasco.

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If you know for sure that there are others in the class who feel as you do, I agree with the suggestion to ask the director to have a private pinning in her office or other small room, with all of students who believe as you do. I also think you should send a note or or meet with the director to let her know that not all of you were in on the fiasco.

I love this idea as well. I think I would also write a letter to the Dean of the colege and let him know how the matter was handled and that you don't appove of the method used. It will at least make him take a really good look at the policy again as well as look deeper next time before he makes a discision like this about the Dean of Nursing.

It is really poor form when a group that is supposed to be representing you pushes past the wishes of those they represent. Ok, so that happens way too often in life, but still.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

Continue to stay out of the situation and don't take sides. The Dean of the Nursing school knows who the trouble makers are or should know. You don't want to be on that list. If she continues to be the dean she and the other instructors may have a lot to say (or not say) in the job references for the political activists. There may be something going on between the Dean of the college and the Dean of nursing. The Dean of the college is similar to the boss of a company where the Dean of nursing is a department head. Sounds like its possible that the Dean of Nursing may not be around very long--she may have done something to tick off the dean of the school.

We had a similar situation with one of our instructors in another course of study I was in. What a bunch of us did was after the graduation ceremony, which our instructor was not allowed to attend, we took her out to dinner and had our own private celebration with her where we were able to give her our thank yous, etc. You might consider doing something like that. Your Dean of Nursing might like to know that some of you were kept in the dark and disagreed with what was going on. She may also, at that point be willing to tell you what really went down. Also, you'll probably get certified to take your boards without a hitch.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

A soon-to-be grad myself, I've recently been finding it strange that life as a class could be so peaceful for two long years only to begin imploding at the end. There's something about that last leg of nursing school that brings out the crazy in people I think.

I'm the kind of person who much prefers to walk away from the drama. So I'm walking... and leaving the pinning ceremony far behind. I'll be celebrating with my extended family and friends while on vacation hundreds of miles away.

You can only do what your heart and mind implore of you.

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I can't say anymore than anyone else has, except this, if and when you feel appropriate, perahps you could drop her a nice card and just thank her for doing everything that she has done for you personally/professionally. At least, she'll feel better, and you will too. As far as the $hitheads that started it, ya know......feel bad for the kids, ignorance breeds ignorance. No, it's not right, you know that, I know that, but, sometimes, you gotta just walk away knowing you are right. Good luck on your boards BTW !

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Specializes in Med Surg/Tele/ER.

This is just my opinion...& everyone has one but if this happened in my class I would not let just a few speak for me. I would probally find out how many oppose this idea & ask for a class meeting. I would then ask for a vote on all this stuff. If the majority rules then it rules.....but it is your pinning too & I would not stand by & let a few decide what was going to take place! Good luck to you.

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Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, LTC.
I can't say anymore than anyone else has except this, if and when you feel appropriate, perahps you could drop her a nice card and just thank her for doing everything that she has done for you personally/professionally. At least, she'll feel better, and you will too. As far as the $hitheads that started it, ya know......feel bad for the kids, ignorance breeds ignorance. No, it's not right, you know that, I know that, but, sometimes, you gotta just walk away knowing you are right. Good luck on your boards BTW ![/quote']

I agree about dropping her a nice thank you card. That way she will know not everyone was in agreement.

Towards the end of my LPN program things got all weird like that, too. I think its the stress of being at the end and fear of failure after making it so far. And there is the stress of upcoming boards and job hunting, changing jobs, etc. Everyone is so stressed out they start loosing their manners, and forget what the goal is. Some are afraid of the upcoming changes in their lives so they get freaked out.

Go to your pinning. You earned it. These problems will seem so little 5 years from now. Don't miss out on your pinning. Congrats on upcoming graduation and good luck on boards!

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We had a situation when I was in nursing school where a professor was bad-mouthed by a group of students claiming to be speaking for tyhe class...when in reality they were onl,y speaking for their small group of friends. I went to the dean and told her that this was not an opinion held by the class.

Many poeple may not like that end of the road test to get out of nursing school, but what do they think the nclex is?? It is a final test before you can get your license. The school based tests help to prepare you for the real thing and may let you know before paying 200 bucks that you need to do some additional studying/preparation. On top of that, it helps to keep your schools pass rate up so it doesnt go on probation...

You need to make sure that your dean and those in admin know that this was not a class decision. You dont want to be grouped in with those students who did this.

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Specializes in ICU, Research, Corrections.
A soon-to-be grad myself, I've recently been finding it strange that life as a class could be so peaceful for two long years only to begin imploding at the end. There's something about that last leg of nursing school that brings out the crazy in people I think.

I'm the kind of person who much prefers to walk away from the drama. So I'm walking... and leaving the pinning ceremony far behind. I'll be celebrating with my extended family and friends while on vacation hundreds of miles away.

You can only do what your heart and mind implore of you.

I graduated last December and did the same thing you did. I had no desire whatsoever to go to the pinning ceremony for a variety of reasons. A pin means nothing to me, the phrase RN after my name is my pin!

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Thank you all so much for your input and support. It really helps to know that someone else, especially other nurses, understand my feelings on this. Unfortunately, the same group of individuals who started all this nonsense also take to writing passive-aggressive emails to the whole class basically saying if we don't support them we are not "team players" and we aren't be "advocates." Even today one of them posted some crap on the school course web site that was very insulting to those of us who do not agree, saying about how we should all be supporting each other and not taking sides. If the person who wrote it had not spearheaded this whole mess, it might have been a nice message, but coming from the person who wrote it it was very insulting since her and the SNO officers are the ones who just up and decided they were not inviting our Dean to the pinning! So I guess her real message was "shut up and just go along with what we want, or you're taking sides and causing a conflict!" :confused: I wrote a retort several times, but never did hit "reply", because I feel that they are all behaving like children on our class message board and I just don't want to stoop to that level.

Anyway, I am happy to say I spoke to my faculty contact and I was glad to hear that they do realise it is a few people, and that this is not the consensus of the entire class. I am drafting a letter to my instructors and to the dean to thank them for all they have done for me, which I will give them no matter what. I guess really at this point I will sit tight and see what happens in the next few days. I count more than 80 people in our class, and there were only maybe 1/3 of those at the meeting to vote on excluding the dean, and as those not present/told about it hear about what happened, they are starting to protest.

It just all really stinks. I just want to celebrate my accomplishment and have my family see me pinned by my instructors, with our Dean there to congratulate us. But I just can't be a part of purposefully embarassing/excluding our dean. It just all stinks. I am hoping in the next few days others who feel like I do will come out of the woodwork. It's getting kinda lonely up here on my high-horse.:scrying:

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