When is enough enough?

I realize I'm not the perfect professor. Ya, I have kick ass ratemyprofessor.com rating but even those show I'm not the "be all, end all" professor for everybody. One thing I like to think of myself is that I'm fair. You have to earn an A in my classes but you also have to earn an F.

One of the big ways students earn Fs in my classes is by not showing up. I have a strict attendance policy. It's a deal I make with the students: I give them notes and in return they have to show up. If I didn't do things that way my classroom would be empty. I give them a few freebies, no questions asked absences. After that, their final grade goes down. It's in all my syllabi too, and as I have been informed, those are legally binding documents.

Anywho, I had a bunch of students fail last semester because of this. One in particular got a tad bit pissed off at me and sent me a couple of e-mails. Basically, it was along the lines of "I had a C and you said I had a C, so why did I get an F?" Add in a few profanities and how miserable his existence was and you get the gist of it. I answered his e-mail with an explanation of his grade and got a "thanks for nothing" e-mail. When I got these, I was pissed off, but after some time I was like "ok this kid was angry. I'll forgive him."

Today I'm waiting to get into one of my classrooms, and who pops out? Said student. I said "hey how's it going?" in my usually friendly manner. What did I get in return? "Bitch!" followed by a few other explicatives. I don't know what the exact wording was but it was along the lines of "you suck because you lied and like to fail students" but don't quote me on that. Thankfully, the students who were with me thought he was kidding and laughed it off but I knew better. This kid's line of humor isn't that nasty.

So here comes my question: when do you let comments like this slide and when do you do something more about it? Basically, when is enough enough? This kid was not threatening me with bodily harm but he was verbally hostile. My colleagues and Bear told me to talk to the head of my department. Reluctantly, I agreed. I don't think this behavior should be tolerated but at the same time I don't want the kid kicked out of college so I was torn about what to do. However, in the age of the Virginia Techs, I didn't want to take any chances. In the end, I had to notify the Dean of Student Services and Public Safety. I was told that this would probably be taken to a judicial hearing. Ugh. That was more than I wanted but what happens if this kid decides to take it a step further?

Either way, I'm pissed. I'm pissed at the student for calling me a bitch. I'm pissed at the fact I had to report him. I'm pissed that this kid may get kicked out of college for being stupid. I'm just pissed at the whole system.

This is going to be a fun semester. Not.