REQUIRED COURSE POLICIES (order of listing of the policies in the syllabus is up to the instructor):

Statement of the Shared Academic Integrity Commitment

Academic Integrity is a shared community value. It is built around trust and respect between members of the Occidental Community, and embodies a commitment to honesty and integrity in every aspect of one’s academic life.

All members of the Occidental community are committed to uphold the highest degree of academic integrity. Unless stipulated otherwise, the academic work done for all assignments is expected to be the student’s own; students are expected to give proper credit to the ideas and work of others.

Signing the Academic Integrity Commitment at the beginning of every semester represents a student’s affirmation to uphold the shared values of honesty and integrity. When signing the Integrity Commitment associated with work in a course, students are affirming that they have not cheated, plagiarized, fabricated, or falsified information; nor assisted others in these actions.

Link to Student Handbook (which includes the framing of the commitment, definitions of Academic Ethics, and Process for alleged violations of the commitment)

· Civil Rights & Title IX statement, and statement of role of faculty member as a mandatory reporter (Link to Civil Rights & Title IX Office)

In the event that you write or speak about having experienced discrimination or harassment on the basis of a protected characteristic or sexual misconduct (including sexual assault, dating/domestic violence, stalking, sexual exploitation or any other form of sexual and/or gender-based harassment), as a designated Responsible Employee, I must inform the Civil Rights & Title IX Office. They will contact you to let you know about resources and support services at Oxy, as well as reporting options both on and off-campus. You have no obligation to respond to the Civil Rights & Title IX Office or to meet with them to discuss support services and reporting options.

If you do not want the Civil Rights & Title IX Office contacted, instead of disclosing this information to your instructor, either through conversation or a class assignment, you can speak confidentially with:

· Oxy's Survivor Advocate, Project SAFE (survivoradvocate@oxy.edu)

· Emmons Counseling (For appointments, call: 323-259-2657)

· Rev. Dr. Susan Young, Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (young@oxy.edu)

· Oxy 24/7 Confidential Hotline (323-341-4141)

The College’s civil rights policies, along with additional resources, can be found at: https://www.oxy.edu/civil-rights-title-ix. If you would like to contact the Civil Rights & Title IX Office directly, you may email Civil Rights & Title IX Coordinator Alexandra Fulcher at afulcher@oxy.edu or call 323-259-1338.

Language on Special Accommodations/Learning Differences (Link to Disability Services)

Students with documented disabilities and learning differences who are registered with Disability Services are required to present their accommodation letter to the instructor at the beginning of each semester, or as soon as possible thereafter. Students are encouraged to contact or meet with the instructor to discuss how accommodations can support them in meeting the course learning objectives. Any student who has, or thinks they may have, a physical, learning, or psychological disability may contact Disability Services at accessibility@oxy.edu to learn about available services and support. More information is available at http://www.oxy.edu/disability-services.

Accommodations for Reasons of Faith and Conscience (Link to the policy in Catalog)

Consistent with Occidental College’s commitment to creating an academic community that is respectful of and welcoming to persons of differing backgrounds, we believe that students should be excused from class for reasons of faith and conscience without academic consequence. While it is not feasible to schedule coursework around all days of conviction for a class as a whole, faculty will honor requests from individual students to reschedule coursework, to be absent from classes that conflict with the identified days. Information about this process is available on the ORSL website:https://www.oxy.edu/student-life/resources-support/orsl/academic-accommodations “

Other aspects of Occidental College Prof. Horowitz wishes students to note:

Equity & Justice in an Inclusive Learning Environment.

This classroom is a place where you will be treated with respect, and I welcome individuals of all ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, gender identities and expressions, national origins, political affiliations, religious affiliations, sexual orientations, abilities, and other visible and nonvisible identities. The wide array of perspectives that each of us contributes to this class is a resource that will strengthen and enhance our intellectual community. All members of this class are expected to co-create and engage in a respectful, welcoming, and inclusive environment for every other member of the class. In this context, we may speak as individuals or we may choose to represent ourselves as a member of a group. You need not represent any group, only yourself, though you may choose to represent a group, if you wish. Additionally, part of equity & justice work is to dismantle barriers to success for all people, particularly those who belong to groups that have been marginalized and minoritized. If there are aspects of the design, instruction, and/or experiences within this course that result in barriers to your success or accurate assessment of achievement, or if there are ways we can improve the effectiveness of this course for you personally or for other students or student groups, please let me know.Your suggestions about how to improve the value of justice, equity, inclusion, and diversity in this course are encouraged and appreciated.

2.Laptop Lending Program

Occasionally students may need a short-term or semester-long loan of a laptop to complete their coursework. Students may request a loaner laptop via this form: https://oxy.freshservice.com/support/catalog/items/108 and check it out via the Library Information Desk at the Academic Commons. The laptops are Dell PCs and set up with access to the virtual computer lab software (e.g., SPSS, STATA, Matlab etc.).

3. Links to Student Academic Support Resources (faculty should include the ones that apply to their courses)

a. The College has a wide range of Student Academic Support Resources.

b. If you'd like to take advantage of the College's Academic Coaching resource, which offers one-on-one sessions focused on supporting your time management skills, online learning strategies, and other study skills, you may schedule an academic coaching meeting by sending an email to academiccoaching@oxy.edu. Share what you'd like to work on, and an academic coach will schedule an appointment with you within a few days.

c. The Library’s Teaching, Learning, and Research Support (TLRS) offers library research consultations. We also offer peer-to-peer support for learning technologies in the Critical Making Studio on the ground floor of the library (contact dcoaguila@oxy.edu for more information).

d. Peer Tutors are available to assist students on discipline-specific peer tutoring for coursework, and content review and study skills support in a variety of academic departments. Information about drop-in tutoring for all subjects, including languages, can found at: https://www.oxy.edu/academics/student-success/peer-learning

e. The Writing Center offers opportunities to work on all forms of writing for any class and other writing tasks such as personal statements, proposals, fellowships, senior comprehensives, and more. We offer peer-to-peer consultations with knowledgeable Writing Advisers and sessions with Faculty Writing Specialists. We are located on the ground floor of the Academic Commons. See the Writing Center website for more information about our hours and how to sign up for appointments. Please contact the Writing Center Director, Prof. Prebel (jprebel@oxy.edu) for more information on Writing Center resources.

f. The Academic Mastery Program provides challenging workshops for students enrolled in general chemistry, organic chemistry, introductory physics, cellular biology and molecular biology. These workshops are led by upper-level students and provide an opportunity to test knowledge and skills in the context of new and challenging problems. The workshops provide a time to work intensively and collaboratively with other committed students in an atmosphere that is demanding yet relaxed.

g. The Scientific Scholars Achievement Program (SSAP) is a student-initiated, student-led academic support program that supports the development of a diverse body of individuals who will advance and enhance STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) professional fields in an endeavor to meet the complex and evolving demands of a culturally heterogeneous society. SSAP provides tutoring in introductory and gateway STEM courses and encourages collaboration among classmates. All questions and learning styles from students are welcomed and encouraged. Through educational and social events, SSAP aims to build community between faculty and students studying math and science at Occidental.

6. Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation policy: https://www.oxy.edu/student-handbook/general-college-policies/discrimination-harassment-and-retaliation

a. I strive to foster an inclusive classroom environment. Consistent with College policy on discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, I seek to maintain an environment of mutual respect among all members of our community. Please come to me with any concerns.

7. Land Acknowledgement.

. Occidental College occupies the traditional territory and homelands of the Tongva people. Please click through to read more about the Gabrielino-Tongva tribe and about the practice of land acknowledgement.

8. Further elaborations on academic integrity. All students will have taken an online tutorial prior to the start of the fall. In addition to the required syllabus statement, faculty can choose to add an abbreviated version of the Shared Academic Integrity Commitment statement to any assignment in the class. Some faculty think a direct, conversational approach about why students may be tempted to not act with integrity is the best approach. Here is a sample approach to having these conversations. In my experience, students resort to plagiarizing and cheating because: a) they feel inadequately prepared to meet course expectations on their own despite their effort; or b) they have not cleared enough time to complete the work required by the course or to complete it at a level that will earn them the grade they desire. Let’s work together to eliminate these situations in which cheating becomes more tempting. Please consider me a resource and come see me at the first sign of trouble; I am happy to spend additional time with you in office hours to ensure that you feel confident about the course material. You must also be disciplined and organized in order to have the time and energy necessary to keep up with course materials, to think about course materials, and to write well-crafted essays. In the end, you must take responsibility for and ownership of the work you produce for this course by accepting the grade you earn.

9. Intercultural Community Center

a. The ICC aims to reduce institutional barriers for marginalized communities through intentional and meaningful programming, identity-specific services and accessible resources. At the ICC, we practice collective care as an act of rebellion as those of us on the margins fight against attempts to weaponize our oppression and silence our activism. To learn more, contact icc@oxy.edu, or reach out directly to Robin Maxile, at maxile@oxy.edu..

10. Lived name policy

. Occidental College seeks to provide an inclusive and non-discriminatory environment by making it possible for students to use a lived first name and pronouns on college records when a legal name is not required. Students are encouraged to use Zoom to display their lived name and pronouns. These can be set at https://occidental.zoom.us/profile.

11. Emmons/ Student health

· Your health and well-being has always impacted learning and academic success, and this reality is only heightened as we enter a new season of the pandemic and transition back to campus. Symptoms such as anxiety, depression, loss of motivation, difficulty concentrating, strained relationships, and feelings of not belonging can occur. Emmons Counseling staff are committed to supporting the mental health needs of our students. Due to the nature of our work and the safety for all, Emmons counseling services will continue via teletherapy. Emmons will provide ongoing individual therapy, walk-ins, support groups and consultations through a virtual platform. Emmons staff will also support students with finding local therapy referrals. In case of an emergency or a crisis, there will be counselors onsite to assist the Oxy community. All students continue to have access to the 24/7 confidential hotline at (323) 341-4141. To get connected to any of the free, confidential services at Emmons call (323) 259-2657 or schedule an appointment online at https://myhealth.oxy.edu using your Oxy login credentials.

12. Prof. Horowitz will announce in class any updates on the on-line syllabus. The dates for paper and exams will not change. She does accommodate requests for Incomplete.