MEMPHIS, Tenn.
Higher education officials are locked in an unusual
battle of words and wills with several state legislators here – all
over a dispute about failed nursing students.
The controversy at Shelby State Community College has become so
pitched that the even the governor’s staff has weighed in and normally
reserved regents are calling the situation “absurd.”
“I’m appalled,” state Board of Regents Chancellor Charles Smith said
last month. “I am disappointed. I’ve never seen anything like this
since I’ve been in higher education.”
The dispute first flared in December when Shelby State
administrators dropped nineteen students from the college’s nursing
program because the students flunked two courses. The students, with at
least one Memphis legislator firmly in their corner, contend they
couldn’t possibly have failed because they knew the material inside and
out.
College officials say the students failed, plain and simple. But in
an odd twist, they no longer have rock solid proof to back up that
stance because the students’ test booklets were shredded. The
instructor says she destroyed the test booklets to thwart what nursing
school instructors have characterized as a problem with rampant
cheating.
Legislators Become Involved