Integrity/Etiquettte Statements on my syllabi

[Jmartinek]

Dear colleagues: I now include the following statements on all of my syllabi. As chair of a student ethics and excellence task force at my college, I am now attempting to create a campus dialogue about matters such as these and how we can address them head on. I have been influenced by Gerald Graff's recent book "Clueless in Academe," in which he argues that a good deal of student misbehavior and general "cluelessness" is due to the fact that they have not been properly socialized into the unique culture of academia. He urges us to spell out the rules and to explain them in terms of goals and purposes. Here is my attempt to address several important issues. I welcome your feedback:

PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: You are always expected to demonstrate academic integrity, which includes attending class, meeting deadlines, participating fully, respecting instructors and peers, and doing your own work with thoughtful effort. But integrity is not just about following someone else's rules and doing whatever it takes to get along. There is also the much more important PERSONAL INTEGRITY. Personal integrity means doing the right thing even when it's difficult, even when shortcuts would be quicker, even when no one is watching. It means doing the right thing because you know it's good for YOU and your future. Such integrity is central to the success of the individual student and the college as a whole. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “We are caught in an inescapable web of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” Thus the integrity of every individual student has a direct bearing on the quality of education and community life experienced by every other student. Students are strongly encouraged to step up and become positive, peer leaders and role models for other students, to lead by example, to help and encourage peers to embody personal and academic integrity as well. Sometimes this means having the courage to say “that's not cool,” when others are harming our community or disrespecting others or themselves. Remember: the value of your degree is affected by the performance of your peers. Be a positive force in our efforts to build and maintain a community of pride, integrity, excellence and success.

PENALTY SYSTEM: [our] students are expected to behave at all times as responsible adults. Students who violate class policy through rude, disruptive, and/or disrespectful behavior will be issued a summons from the instructor either on the spot or shortly after the offense has been committed (either in person or via the student’s iwc e-mail address). Students who receive a summons must respond immediately by contacting the instructor, who will arrange a meeting to discuss the offense and issue a penalty. The student must complete the penalty (typically the hand-copying of an essay selected by the instructor) before he or she will be officially re-admitted to the class. No further work will be accepted and no further credit for attendance will be given until the student has completed the penalty to the instructor’s satisfaction. A student always has the right to appeal the summons and/or penalty by asking for a meeting with the Dean of Students, but the student is expected to attempt to work out the issue first with the instructor.

PLAGIARISM AND OTHER FORMS OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: Any time you have questions about incorporating material, please ask me. I will provide writing samples and guidelines about quotation, paraphrase, and summary. The requirement is that you do your own work and credit appropriately the work of others that you use. It is plagiarism to use the ideas and/or the language of another without crediting that work. You will fail any assignment that is plagiarized, and additional penalties may also apply. You must also avoid other forms of punishable academic dishonesty, such as doing another students work, turning in work you have previously done for another class, or turning in the same work for two different classes without explicit permission of both instructors. See me with any questions you have about academic honesty.

COMMUNICATIONS ETIQUETTE: Your instructor will inform you on the first day of class how she or he wishes to be addressed. All instructors will appreciate being called “professor,” and it's always the safe choice, though some may allow you to address them more informally. Most instructors holding Ph. Ds prefer to be addressed in person and on the phone as “Doctor” --- not Mister, Miss, Missus, or “Hey!”. They also expect you to speak of other professors respectfully when you are in their presence.

Remember that when you communicate by e-mail you should demonstrate your professionalism by including a salutation like “Dear Dr. Jones” or “Professor Burns.” You should also always identify yourself by your full name and the class you are taking with the professor. Provide a helpful subject line like “Jim Smith – Problem with Eng380 Website.” Get to your point quickly and use a professional tone. Close with a cordial ending such as “Sincerely, Rhonda Smalls” or “Thanks, Jim Blake.”

Remember that your professors are busy, highly-educated professionals whose time is quite valuable. Do not treat them like “customer service”; do not, for instance breezily demand to be told what you missed in class on Tuesday---ask a classmate; do not tell them to “get back to [you] ASAP,” or write as if you expect them to automatically accommodate your needs and your schedule. They are always happy to help and guide you, but they expect you to take responsibility for your own actions and to respect the professional status they've worked so hard to earn. They appreciate your using good judgment about when, why, how, and how often you contact them.

[Jmartinek]

Please excuse the typo in the subject line. I guess I cannot edit it now.

[Teddifish]

You've given us a lot to think about. The first thing that came to mind as I read this it makes a great deal of sense to use the professional world as a model--this is something that resonates with students, who often differentiate between school and "the real world." I would imagine it has never occurred to many of them that their professors *are* professionals.

I am curious, though, with the professional world emphasis, why you chose the hand-copying of an essay as a punishment?

[Jmartinek]

Thanks for the feedback. The first thing that should be noted is that I have never actually carried out the hand-copying punishment. It exists most effectively as a threat. I have gotten close to it, but was always able to work out an alternative solution to the problem. What mattered was that there was a clear structure in place for dealing with these issues and that the mechanism for handling it was clear for all students from the start of the class. My institution has some pretty severe problems when it comes to student behavior and before I created this, I spent far too much time on what I considered "high school" discipline stuff. Students did not take the rules seriously. They spend their time figuring out how much they could get away with and pushing the limits, etc. Having a clear mechanism in place has helped a lot. When a student goes "too far" I am no longer the one in a quandary. I simply invoke the disciplinary mechanism and it gets the student's attention. They know I am serious and it usually has the desired effect: which is to get the student into my office and ready for a "teaching moment."

As for the punishment itself---it's one that a teacher I once had in high school used. If we misbehaved in his physics class, we'd have to stay after school and copy a page of the physics book glossary. This punishment had a connection with the topic of the class---it forced us to "learn some physics" and it also served as a teaching opportunity because the teacher would always interrupt us during our labor and try to engage us in informal conversation about why we had ended up in the situation, what we planned to do differently, etc.

Like I said above, I have never gotten to the point of carrying out this particular punishment, but if I did, I would be sure to choose the essay carefully. It would be something that I think the student needed to read and think about carefully. Something that could start a conversation that the student needed to have at that moment.

[Teddifish]

I see. I think I was flashing back to my grade-school years, when the punishment I dreaded most was to write numbers (write from 1 - 100, write from 1 - 500 etc.) It was awful!

I have a question for you: Have you ever tried contract grading, where you and the students work together to come up with the rules? I've done that in informal ways, but I would love to hear from people who have formally made it part of their courses.

[mxbldc]

There is a great article, from the NYTIMEs called : "To Professor@University,edu Subject:Why It's All About Me" by Jonathan D Glater Feb. 21, 2006. I use this to talk about email etiquette and then have them work in groups to write the worst email ever, with limits sort of. Since then, I have only had a few students who do not start the emails properly. I also have a list of emails both my son and I have gotten from students and share that as well. For freshmen, it can help.
I have a great article or whatever it is called on "Hey did i miss anything" but do not know how to post it here ( and right now cannot find it!)