The Professional Counselor | Volume 10, Issue 4 553 She really had tried to push herself too far, farther than she was ready to go. . . . I just knew the person, in spite of the faculty repeatedly saying don’t push yourself too hard to where you’re not even able to show up at your practicum internship site on a regular basis. They ignored our advice. And when somebody is simply not showing up on a regular basis, that’s behavior that can’t go on. In other examples, participants shared stories of students exercising poor boundaries. In these experiences, students displayed behaviors that were symptomatic of larger issues that would reveal themselves later. Dan shared: This student was chronically late, and when the student arrived, instead of just sliding in quietly, the student would make an entrance. . . . After this became a chronic problem, there seemed to be resistance. The next semester was similar, except by now, I could see that the student was being avoided by many of his classmates. Like Dan, participants discussed a variety of outcomes after their early interventions with students regarding their problematic academic and professional behavior(s). Often counselor educators’ interventions helped students remediate and correct their behaviors. In other cases, students continued to act inappropriately or committed more serious infractions. Elevated Student Misconduct All 11 participants described a more serious student violation after initial warning signs. These violations required a higher level of faculty intervention. In these interactions, participants felt anger, betrayal, and confusion. Sue discussed her emotions and process surrounding discovering her students had cheated: I had one earlier this year that was very emotionally intense, that affected me personally and professionally, that was around academic honesty and integrity. During one of my classes, I discovered that a group of students cheated on an examination—a group of five out of a classroom of 12, so a very significant percentage. It was really shocking at first. I really did go through the stages of grief now looking back. For several other participants, more serious violations occurred during students’ practicum or internship courses. Mike described hearing about one student’s ethical violation from their practicum site supervisor: “She has taken it upon herself to recruit individual clients from her group to see on her own, at home!” These events brought out anxiety, despair, and anger in faculty members and required more direct interventions, including direct meetings with students, discussions of students during faculty meetings, or removal of students from a class or courses. Student Dismissal Participants (n = 9) reported feeling many intense emotions in their experiences when dismissing students. Most expressed extreme sadness and frustration with students. Students were usually dismissed after failing to comply with remediation plans (e.g., retaking an ethics course, attending personal counseling) within the time frame allotted. Some remediated students chose to leave the program on their own account. Some participants questioned if they were acting in the best interests of the profession, program, and university. For example, Rose reflected on her personal feelings and professional responsibilities with emotionally intense gatekeeping:
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