At my college they are trying to raise retention rates by giving first-year students a couple of intro, hand-holding courses. I am teaching one such course, someone else is teaching another. The students mentioned to me that they do not like or understand the other class. I briefly emailed the instructor of the class to say as much, being careful to point out that the same has happened to me, it can happen to anyone. I offered a suggestion that I made clear the instructor was free to follow or not, but in any case I wanted the instructor to be aware that the students were unhappy. The other instructor is an adjunct, and I thought it could be especially helpful to know this early on so that steps could be taken to turn the class around. The adjunct responded with two attachments on how to teach plus a long-winded message about how they have taught other places with great success, etc. My response was again short, just saying thanks for the articles and again, I've had problem classes, the students are still young, etc. Yesterday I found out from my students that the other instructor has been bad-mouthing me to them, even though we have never met. I have proposed a short, friendly meeting with the program coordinator present to clear the air, and so far have not heard back. !@#$%^&*