Professor Polls Class on What to do About Pregnant Student
- Posted on January 15, 2011 at 9:46pm by
Scott Baker
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DAVIS, CA – A UC-Davis veterinary professor is under investigation in connection with an email about grading students.
Dr. Edward Feldman, who chairs the Medicine and Epidemiology Department at the School of Veterinary Medicine, is accused of telling student leaders to email members of the third-year class about a female student who was pregnant.
A student claimed the correspondence said, “One of our classmates recently gave birth and will be out of class for an unknown period of time. This means she will undoubtedly miss one, or more, or all quizzes in VMD 444. Dr. Feldman is not sure how to handle this and has requested the class give input and vote. He has provided us with six options on which to vote and is open to any other ideas you may have.”
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Comments (60)
ofallon
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 9:44amUC-Davis will also need time and help on this one. They must be sure that their decision is absolutely, without a doubt politically correct. It will be a kumbaya moment.
Report Post »blanco
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 9:39amI don’t feel like ever attending classes…..how are you going to go about grading me? I want you to be sensitive to MY situation, so I think you should go ahead and give me an A.
Report Post »Here2do
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 9:35amEasy! This is California and the student is a woman, pregnant also. Let her miss as many days, quizzes as she, and of course the federal government (oops, I mean her doctor) believe is necessary. She should automatically receive an A+ and guaranteed placement with a company of her choice, and convenience. Please don’t forget to make a childcare program accessible at this place of employment, at no cost to the employee of course, to stave off any perceptions of unfairness. I‘m not sure of her race but if she’s married and her husband is black or Latino let’s also make sure that her future employer understands that preferential treatment (oops, first choice considerations) ,on a contractual basis, be given to her husband’s company.
Report Post »blanco
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 9:40amYou understand the california way!!!!
Report Post »psst
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 9:22amSheeeet!1 Who needs to poll on this for the answer.
Report Post »The solution is sooooo very simple.
What da hey!!. 80 young wimmens/students are preggers in that Memphis ha-sKrool that was on the news a few days ago.
Tell their parents the over-taxed tax-payers won‘t be paying to support their chirrens’ chilluns.
NO extra welfare, NO WItCh stamps, no extra tax credits.
Ummm!!! wait a minute thar pardner. Kain’t have that.. these are female ameriKan ha-sKrool chirrens.
If we kin do this for millions of illegals wimmens and illegal “ute” females. Surely, we kin do same for millions of female ameriKan “utes” (a lil’ My cousin Vinnie lingo)
Aww!! Hell, Fergit to remember I mentioned it. All you young female “utes”Keep crotches spread wide open. Keep the breedings going on. Can’t close down the democrat assembly line machinery.
CSA descendant
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 9:04amseems easy to me, you miss classes,you miss exams, you fail. Then repeat the class later. Every class I have ever taken was like that whats the problem?
Report Post »blanco
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 9:42amSilly, CSA, it’s california….you know better than that!!!!
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 8:55amOk, remind me to never have a sick dog that needs vets from that school working on it, if the students are so ignorant they didn’t notice on their own a 9 month pregnant woman that had been missing class.
Seems all her expatiation of privacy was gone, when the baby was born or not before, maybe she was 300 lbs and it didn’t show.
This shows the evilness of HIPPA, rose medical costs by close to 1/3 in this nation to protect AIDS patients and peoples getting abortions and STD’s. It really should show people the evilness of the left, they used the false argument that we have to have our medical records private to buy votes from gays that cause our health care costs to skyrocket. 15 years later, they use the skyrocketing health care costs as an excuse to destroy healthcare as we know it.
Report Post »cnerd
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 8:40amI would not want her treating my dog.
Report Post »patrioticcitizen
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 7:07amOn the surface, this seems odd and against the woman’s privacy. However, think back to the the factory scene in Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” where all money and benefits are voted upon by the group. To each according to their need, from each according to their abilities. This is but one small example of how we can creep away from a nation of laws (constitutional republic) to a nation of men (democracy).
This is one example on why we stay vigilant so we don’t end up hating those around us because they have needs. The most chilling thing about the factory scene is people hating the pregnant women as they have a new need as opposed to people exited about a new baby and a new life (when people are individually responsible for their needs).
We must continue to think past our noses to how these (seemingly) minor situations play out when the overall philosophy catches on………..
Report Post »popeyebedford
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 6:01amThis schmuck is a professor? Teaching children? OOPS! Where do they dig these immature nimrods up from? Those who can co, those who can’t TEACH…
Report Post »Alan
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 5:32amDoes he send out snooty emails if someone misses because they’re sick? And is that program to help pregnant students known as an abortion clinic? It‘s a good thing she’s not a soldier as well, or she’d be hung in effigy . . . or is that thought conflated as a death threat? There are so many conflicting rules anymore, that I’m confused.
Report Post »Hollow
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 5:06amWho care if she’s pregnant just have her make up the work later and have her be graded the same as everyone else.
Report Post »Living In NYC
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 4:37amAren’t there HIPPA privacy laws about this? Speaking about privacy laws and vets, my dog was having seizures and my old vet would not send my DOG’s medical records to the new vet with out me signing and faxing a HIPPA release document. All the while we were trying to treat the poor dog that was having seizures! …….. Thanks Uncle Sam for protecting my Black Labrador’s privacy rights!
Some vet school, the foolish educator doesn’t even know the federal laws as it relates to canines which is the same for humans! What do you expect when the “head educator” and the smartest man in the world “President Dude” doesn’t know there is no such thing as a “shovel ready job”!
Report Post »Chilloften
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 3:12amI don’t agree with this at all. And I know for sure that this is how workplaces treat as well-NO PRIVACY.
Report Post »V-Forge
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 1:52amThe school should have a rule ready for this type of event. if they do not then they offer their paying customer…. the student an alternative. Let her take the test or provide her and her lawyer a method of staving off child birth so you can make the test on time so the professor can make his golf game at three. This is really common sense stuff. The woman had a baby and needs time to recover. Every other place in life this is dealt with easily. but the supposed smartest among us are still agonizing over what to do?
Report Post »Nixit
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 1:49amSending an email addressing another student breaks the confidentiality law. He should be disciplined or removed for this action. On the other side, this was a wonderful occasion for the arrival of new baby into our world. The mother should be allowed to retake the course at no charge. Issuing a grade for an incomplete course is not fair to those students who completed the course as required by the syllabus. No penalization for her missing her work, just retake the course for free.
Report Post »treshall
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 9:20amI‘m just curious as to why the repeat of the course should be ’free’- by way of compensation for her situation being made public? Once a lawyer gets ahold of her, she‘ll most likely sue the bricks off of this school’s buildings.
Report Post »sandyn
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 1:40amThere must be a protocol for this. They should have had a meeting as soon as she became aware she was pregnant and knew that she would be missing part of class. Then he needed to check with admin about dealing with her situation, As to “wasn’t it her choice”, sometimes couples “choose” to conceive and find that they aren’t having any luck and after awhile switch to plan B like finishing school, only to discover that plan A has finally kicked in,. I feel his taking this situation that is between one student and their teacher and sharing it with the rest of the class, never mind asking for their input highly unprofessional.
Report Post »treshall
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 8:41amYou’re right, Sandy, this should have been handled privately. I will add, however, that as a university prof. myself, it is not unusual for us to discuss grading procedures and protocols, usually on the first day of a new semester. We do, for the most part, ask our students for their input so that they can feel that there is a bit of value placed on their feedback. A situation such as this one should NEVER have been addressed in any kind of public forum, much less on the internet, where it has now become permanent. I feel for this gentleman, who is probably older and the product of a
Report Post »much different time.
oriondma05
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 1:22amI don’t see why this is an issue. Wasn’t it her choice to get pregnant and have a child?
I she can still make the classes and pass the quizzes/tests, then fine. If she can’t than that was her decision..
I mean, if I decided to get drunk and misses the classes and tests, would this even be up for discussion?
Report Post »givemelibertyorgivemedeath
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 8:14amSo you’re comparing getting drunk and missing classes to having a baby and missing classes? … uhhh, seriously?
Report Post »j_man
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 9:47am@Givemeliberty: Yes lust and drunkenness are the same. While one produces a life that CAN, I repete CAN, be properly molded into a healthy individual while getting drunk produces an idiot individual; they are in essence the same. Lust is an addiction just as much as alcohol, and they each have their own consequences. It was a personal decision to have a child at this time. Made your bed lay in it, chickens coming home to roost, can’t have your cake and eat it too, can’t serve two masters. Take your pick they are all about personal choice and living with the consequences.
Report Post »scout n ambush
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 1:15amHey you have to admit this is normal for a school of fine education on the left coast or the north east sad though one would hope she could make what she missed up instead of pot luck it could be a bad grade if she p-d a lot of people off .she better hope she wasn’t seen with a palin shirt on she will get a F .
Report Post »TrueToTheCoreAmerican
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 12:45amI should think that the professor should have the intelligence to make the decision based on privacy rights and administration regulations.
Report Post »Fly-Over-Country
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 12:26amWhy is this considered news on THEBLAZE? This isn’t worthy of national news. It’s an internal issue that should be handled by the administration of UC-Davis, not tried in the court of public opinion.
Report Post »ex-koolaide
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 10:39amThe answer is called THINK. If you don’t get it, that is a problem. It’s time to take some responsibility for you own learning. The question is Why, now you figure out the answer, that is learning. A lot of education is not done inside the school structure. The Story is giving you the pieces, now figure out how it fits in. Don’t ask someone to tell you the answer, that is cheating!
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 12:08amI hope Grandmaof5 reads this one. She’ll have the right solution to the problem!
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 12:07amWhy couldn’t he ask the dean for some guidance? Seems to me the prof violated the woman’s privacy.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 1:03amIf it isn’t covered in the Student Handbook .. perhaps now would be a good time. This can’t be the first time it ever happened at the school…. or if it is time to figure out a “policy” so as not to discriminate against the new mother.
Report Post »moonpeace
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 1:29pmBased on the information at hand NO privacy was violated. The student’s name or class was not given. Why must so many run to the lawyers at every thought…and it is usually their first thought. Sue, Sue, Sue, get what you can! There should be no special arrangements for this student other than (POSSIBLY, and only at the discretion of the teacher) finding time for her to take the quizzes and tests if she missed them. If she earns an “A” she gets an “A”, is she flunks out she flunks out and takes the class again…period! No special privileges…except perhaps if the mother or baby’s health is seriously at risk…but even then it is at the discretion of the professor.
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on January 17, 2011 at 6:59pmMoonpeace,
Most respectfully, I disagree that the student‘s privacy wasn’t breached. How many women could be pregnant in the DMV classes and give birth before the end of the term?
And I would like to point out that having a “group consensus” for grading? Was this disclosed before the class started?
Many decades ago, when I was in college, one professor came in on the first day of class and announced that the best grade any student in the class could get would be a “C” and most of the class would either get “D”s or “F”s. To get an “A” we would have have at least a Master’s and to get a “B”, we would have to be post graduate. Most of us were there to learn, not be told how we weren’t smart enough, so as soon as class got out, 20 of us were at the registrar’s office dropping the class. The guy eventually got fired because no one wanted to take his classes. We didn’t sign up for that class to be ridiculed, or destroy our GPA, we signed up to learn. I suspect that this woman took the class because she was there to learn, not to have her fellow students vote on how she should be graded.
Report Post »cstcomputers
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 12:01amThere are certain procedures for situations like this in most schools. I don’t understand this at all. All she had to do was setup alternative procedures for this class. Happens all the time in my school. I don’t get this at all…
Report Post »godlovinmom
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 1:35amagree with you and showtime…this is really dumb…and this guy’s a professor?
Report Post »treshall
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 8:27amI agree with you, CST. I’m an instructor at a university and it would not be unusual to discuss grading procedures like this in the abstract- and I stress ‘in the abstract’- so that students feel that there is some kind of value placed on their feedback; we usually do this at the beginning of each semester to establish grading criteria. This prof.’s big mistake was in providing the particulars of the situation. In addition, I would suggest that it was foolish of him to place the ballot in the email system where it is recorded forever.
Report Post »roostercogburn
Posted on January 15, 2011 at 11:56pmBudget cuts are needed here, didn’t this clown read any of the laws that were passed when Clinton was president, if an employer is required by federal law to allow a woman time off from her job because she becomes pregnant why would the school be exempt, this guy needs to be removed from his job.
Report Post »Sondergard
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 1:10amya let her cut your dog open
RdsknsFtbll
Posted on January 18, 2011 at 11:48am@Sondergard…. not sure I understand your statement??? Let her cut on your dog??? Huh? What?
Report Post »If I read the article correctly she is a 3rd year student… What does her having a child half way thru her 3rd year have to do with her future abilities to perform a surgery on a pet? I mean she is going to have to pass all of her classes and get all of her credits for her to graduate right? I mean having the baby isnt just going to automatically cause her to graduate and start cutting on animals is it? I mean I know its CA but I didnt think even THEY were that liberal minded… just to graduate her simply because now she has a child?? silliness
cheezwhiz
Posted on January 15, 2011 at 11:54pmSo what exactly is the problem ?
Report Post »These people would be slamming the prof if he had decided the issue on his own.
Now they are slamming him for asking others to decide for him
MR_ANDERSON
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 1:53amIt’s UC Davis…what do you expect?
Report Post »cheezwhiz
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 2:03amIt’s UC Davis…what do you expect?
——–
If the Aggies don’t know what to do,
Report Post »aren’t they supposed to ask UC Bezerkley for directions ?
@_@
LadybugsTX
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 2:28amUh, Cheez? I could eat alphabet soup and poop a better argument than that. If he had handled the issue on his own, he would have been doing his job, end of story. However, he chose to violate her privacy and share it with the class.
I’m not surprised. He is a professor from California. I‘m guessing that he’s butt hurt because this woman dare to have a baby and miss his ever so important class and his superior teaching of said class.
Report Post »bikerr
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 7:32amAnd the father of this child is where?
Report Post »79USMC83
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 8:09amCollective Salvation and now collective grading. He is the man in charge of the class and doesn’t the college have SOP for this type of problem.!! The politically correct thing to do is have a baby shower!!
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 12:30pmUh, what happened to the student’s right to privacy here?
When did the grading system move to a open forum vote?
Would the same type of email been sent out if the student had elected to have a sex change operation or was a cancer patient?
As Fight for America said and apparently others, the question is the completion of the course, which should be handled administratively, not by class vote.
Report Post »youguysready_letsroll
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 12:56pm“Uh, Cheez? I could eat alphabet soup and poop a better argument than that.”
@ladybugstx: that was EPIC
Report Post »moonpeace
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 1:17pmI too see no problem as long as the student is not personally identified. In fact, it is probably the best way to go with the decision. However, I feel the student should not be given any special breaks and should be graded the same as the rest of the students. I am sure special arrangements can be made between student and instructor for the student to get the class notes and arrange time to take the quizzes and tests. Unless she or the baby is undergoing some serious medical problems she should be able to find time to get to class. It might be tough, but such is life, and having babies makes it even tougher.
Report Post »fangbanger
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 1:41pmthere should be no question as to what to do- if the student does not do the work then they do not get the credit. if credit for the class is given when the student did not do the work then their degree showing they are capable of doing the work is meaningless.
Report Post »*************************
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 9:49pmAnd just HOW MUCH does that “UC-Davis veterinary professor” make?
“What did you expect? ‘Welcome, sonny’? ‘Make yourself at home’? ‘Marry my daughter’? You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know… morons.” -town drunk Jim, Blazing Saddles
Report Post »RdsknsFtbll
Posted on January 18, 2011 at 11:42amI dont understand why its even a problem… someone mentioned something “his Butt hurting” haha that may be more profoundly correct than you know and why he has an issue with her being pregnant in the first place. My wife gave birth to my oldest son half way through her first semester in college… she gave birth to our oldest daughter 14 months later. She came home in March. She had gotten all of the work that needed to be turned in completed while out of school for 3 weeks (no she didnt take the full 6 for maturnity). She graduated with a Bachelors inside 4 years. With 2 children at home and a husband in the Marine Corps stationed in SC and deployed all over… I dont see why he has an issue with her having the baby like she has already failed his class. Give the woman a chance before he automatically assumes she will fail.
Report Post »RdsknsFtbll
Posted on January 18, 2011 at 11:52am@Moonpeace… you dont see a problem as long as the girl is not personally identified??? Oh come on like people arent going to be able to tell who the pregnant girl is??? haha I dont know bout you but even being a dude…. I can still tell when there is “Bread in the Basket” “Bun in the Oven” etc… of course I may have a little more experience in that department as my wife and I have 5 kids…
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