Arrange a meeting with the actor, director, stage manager, picky actor/ professor and yourself. Let picky actor bring up concerns and have a discussion. Remember, it's unwise and unprofessional to challenge a director in the room repeatedly especially when you're trying to teach students how professional plays work. This picky actor probably wants to talk to their colleague about this but may not know how to broach the subject.
If you present this to the Sm and director as a conversation you'd like input on, the final decision will still rest where it always belongs: the director, but now the picky actor may have a better understanding as to why it is the way it is.
Something to mull over in your head: actors who react poorly about props are occasionally uncomfortable somewhere else in the production. They will elect to try to control something (ie props) to regain a modicum of control.