Modified from The New School's Safe Zone declaration: We in this classroom are dedicated to creating a welcoming environment for all members of the university community inclusive of race, ethnicity, national origin, culture, language, gender and gender expression, sexuality, religious and political beliefs, age, and ability. We'll aim to celebrate our diversity and to respectfully negotiate differences in experience, understanding, and expression. We will stand against all forms of discrimination and oppression, whether directed against individuals or groups. We will also make an effort to respect one another's individuality in our forms of address, which includes learning one another's preferred names and pronouns.
If you experience anything in the classroom that undermines these values – or if there is anything we can do to better cultivate inclusivity and respect – please feel free to let Zed and Shannon know. Likewise, if you are facing personal challenges inside or outside the classroom that are impacting your class performance, we are happy to speak with you about strategies of accommodation, and to help you find the appropriate support resources at the university.
Assignment deadlines are clearly noted on the syllabus. In all cases, you are made aware of these deadlines weeks in advance, and in some cases you even choose your own assignment deadlines. We are also more than happy to work with you, in advance of assignments deadlines, to develop your projects. Thus, there is little reason for you to miss deadlines. Work that is late for any reason will be penalized one-half letter grade for each 24-hour period and will not be accepted after a week. Extensions will be granted only rarely, and only after consulting with us at least two days in advance of the assignment deadline.
We take your work seriously, read it closely, and provide substantial, thorough, constructive feedback. We set aside big blocks of time for assignment review immediately after each deadline. Missing deadlines means you miss your "window of opportunity" for review, which is an essential part of your learning in this course (and any course, for that matter). Late work = no comments.
A student who has not submitted all assigned work by the end of the semester does not receive an "Incomplete" by default. "Incompletes" are assigned only in extreme circumstances, and require that the student consult with us well before the end of the semester and sign a contract obligating him or her to complete all outstanding work by a date that we agree upon. Again, late work will not receive feedback.
We make every effort to map out the entire semester before the semester begins, so we all know what we're in for. Yet we may need to make a few small alterations to our schedule: we might host a guest who's passing through town, we might decide to cut a couple of our readings or substitute new material that's published over the course of the semester, etc. Any changes will be noted, with plenty of advance notice, on our class website, which will always be the most the most accurate, up-to-date "control center" for our class. This printed syllabus is really just an administrative document.
All students are expected to familiarize themselves with the University's academic honesty policy. Plagiarism or cheating of any form will result in immediate failure of the course. If you have any questions regarding proper citation of sources or other academic integrity matters, consult the University Learning Center.
We'll probably propose some line edits and add some margin comments to your doc. We don't expect you to respond to our recommendations and queries, but we do hope you'll at least consider them!