Please Shoot Me

Remember that online class I was teaching? The one I was trying to "figure out" a few weeks ago?

It has, in the space of 2 days, gone from a slightly boring but perfectly adequate short course in art appreciation to completely nuclear, red-zone flaming chat room. In the words of the immortal Han Solo:
"It's not my fault... It's not my fault!"

One dude basically took offense to what another student had said (which to me seemed completely inoffensive, I keep trying to understand and failing) and it was like someone pulled the pin on his personal grenade and dropped him into my foxhole. I have spent the better part of 2 days trying to diffuse the situation, with no effect. Now he is accusing me of not grading his work impartially (despite the fact that I've not actually graded any of his work yet) and I think I may have to email the dean of my school tomorrow just in case this gets any worse. Better to get the paper trail going. There's only 2 weeks of class left, dammit! All I want is for everyone to calm down and get along... but somehow I think that fleeting dream is already lost. Gah.