I have a student this semester who smells like homeless stinky body odor. She looks normal if you stay at least six or seven feet away from her. She speaks well. She is polite to everybody. She's smart. She's curious. She doesn't seem crazy. She gets her work done on time. She's never late for class. She doesn't lie to me about her grandmother's funeral. I like her.But she smells like shit.
I first noticed the smell last week. This morning, the student stayed after class to ask a question, and my nostrils received the full force of the aroma.
I do not know how other students can stand sitting near her for an entire class.
Help me on this.
Q. How have you dealt with this? Any ideas???
A. _______________________
[And please share ideas that definitely did not work. No point in reinventing the square wheel. Be honest, dammit.]
I had this problem and asked a bunch of people the question, and got absolutely no satisfactory answers. In my case, the student was of an ethic minority, and so my Chair suggested that saying anything might be considered racist, and I had better not.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a delicate matter. I don't want to hurt her feelings, but I also want to help her. This stink will make her considerably less successful at networking and socializing.
ReplyDeleteIs there a possibility that the odor is due to some sort of disease and there's nothing she can do about it? I am not a doctor....
ReplyDeleteI'm not a smellologist, but she smells like she doesn't bathe much or doesn't wash her clothes much (or both).
DeleteI dealt with this as a grad student. The offender was a foreign grad student who joined our research group. He didn't realize that daily showering and deodorant were the norm here. I took him aside and told him that. He appreciated the advice.
ReplyDeleteHe occasionally forgot (I hope) to close the web browser after looking at porn on the lab computer. It's funny how you find out that you have things in common with co-workers.
I had a student with this problem, and I spoke to him about it. Said it was difficult to talk about, but needed to be said. I was respectful and compassionate, within limits. He had other problems that contributed to his hygiene (or lack thereof), but things did improve.
ReplyDelete1. It could be a cultural thing
ReplyDelete2. She could have a colostomy bag which is becoming detached, or not cleaned out often enough which would cause a shit odor.
3. It could just be lack if showering.
4. The student could be homeless and not have access to proper shower facilities/clean clothes.
She's from Baton Rouge or somewhere like that. Definitely American.
ReplyDeleteIf it's a shit smell, I'd guess the colostomy bag.
DeleteIt's not actually a smell of feces. That was an idiomatic phrase. On the other hand, I'm not a smellologist.
DeleteAs a renowned smellologist, I believe she may simply be a hippie?
DeleteI once had a labmate who, in her undergrad days, spent 4 years, 4 entire years, in all the same classes with a real hippie dude who lived according to a "self-cleaning" theory; as in, 'if you don't clean yourself for a long time, your body naturally begins to clean itself.' And no one did anything about it.
DeleteWell, some prescription drugs (yes, and colostomy bags) can make you smell like horseshit, and there is nothing you can do about it.
ReplyDeleteSeems like kind of a "none of my business" thing. Put some eucalyptus balm under your nostrils and bear it.
Going with this, I worked for two years with migrant workers who came straight from a day in the 105-degree sun to my classes. I simply chewed mints and gum and breathed through my mouth because I respected that they would spend 15 hours at work and then come to my night classes to learn English.
DeleteI have this problem with a coworker. He's from Europe. Someone tried making small talk with his wife that went like this "So I got my husband some deodorant the other day..." that didn't work. I said we should do Secret Santa and say everybody got him because we screwed up the picking procedure and that someone should get him a belt, someone should get him soap, someone should get him a calendar and some stickers of showering and put the shower stickers every two or three days...
ReplyDeleteSo in short: I have no idea.
I've had this problem from time to time with students from other countries. A few years ago we got a whole group of young men from a certain country. Since we're a residential campus, I contacted the RAs and asked them to intervene. Turned out the guys didn't know how to wash their clothes b/c mommy had always done that. Problem solved.
ReplyDeleteI'd contact HR about how to deal with it. You don't want to be slammed with a harassment claim.
We're dealing right now with a student who is a germophobe, but at the same time has poor personal hygiene and a strong body odor. I'm told that sometimes people can be squeamish about touching or cleaning their own bodies. Maybe someone at your school's counseling center can give you some suggestions on how to deal with the matter, since there may well be a mental illness or disorder behind the b.o.?
ReplyDeleteBubba I lived in Baton Rouge for four years. Everyone there smells like that.
ReplyDeleteUse a swimmer's nose clip. If she asks, just tell her you're just learning to use it and your swim instructor told you to keep it on 24/7.
ReplyDeleteI had a somewhat similar situation last year, with the added puzzle that the (female) student's clothes and hair both looked very clean. Also, the smell was (to me) unusual, not quite the usual b.o. (or excreta of any sort). A colleague suggested the possibility that highly-spiced food might be part of the picture, and I concluded that she was right (the student has recent origins in the subcontinent). I suspect deodorant might still have helped, but ultimately, I didn't say anything. Maybe I'm a coward, but I also know the student was working more closely with faculty in her department, who would probably be better placed to offer career advice (which in her case, I'm pretty sure, was all that was needed; she showed no signs of mental or social problems).
ReplyDeleteI don't know how good you are at judging whether a woman has recently washed her hair, Bubba, but that could be a helpful clue: clean hair suggests regular showers (and hence a source other than poor general hygiene for the smell).
I tend to agree with Surly that this may be a case for the counseling center, student services, or something along those lines (a suggestion that is probably more easily implemented if the student lives on campus, and has an R.A. or similar). If she doesn't live in the dorm, Mags' suggestion of homelessness (or a home situation that is very bad in some way -- abusive, or the utilities turned off) is worth considering, but there, too, it seems that others might be better situated to intervene (though you could certainly alert them).
I also tend to think that if a faculty member is going to have a conversation with her, it would probably be better if that faculty member were of the same gender. Such a conversation is more likely to be effective, and it also protects you from unintended consequences, especially should the student turn out to be disturbed in some way, despite her pleasant and seemingly normal exterior (I can see a well-meant, fatherly reference to "success" at "socializing" getting turned into sexual harassment in the wrong circumstances).
I second the last suggestion here about gender boundaries. A woman can get away with giving some "sisterly advice" about how to dress or manage one's personal effluvia. A man cannot.
DeleteHaving said that, when I was in college I knew a lot of students who were smelly--and very aggressive about it. They lived in the hippie commune on the edge of campus and grew their body/facial hair, and generally relished the opportunity to not have to live by society's cleanliness standards for a few years. Smelling bad was a conscious choice they made--a big F. you to society.
Some people just don't like to bathe. I'd leave this one alone, quite honestly.
Sometimes I misplace my coat next to my rice cooker, which is on daily. So when I ride my bike to class I smell like a wet dog with a hint of brown rice. Deal.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, deodorant is only just catching on in the state (for I cannot speak for the whole country) where I'm from. Over there, body odour is regarded as natural and hardly worth thinking twice about. Coming from a very aroma-centric culture (food, perfume, hair oil, herbs, etc.), it is very odd for some people NOT to smell anything. In fact, a friend of mine was very surprised by the overall lack of smell here. "No one smells of anything," s/he mused. "Nothing at all. It's like everyone is clinically sterile."
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thoughtful feedback on this. I'll probably put this in the same category as students who tattoo their faces or have multiple piercings in their faces or very strange haircuts or extraordinarily revealing clothes or other things that seem like self-sabotage.
ReplyDelete