Link from Syllabi of Prof. Horowitz to Occidental College Required Course Policies of August 13, 2021

 

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, and students give proper credit to the ideas and work of others.

 

Signing the Academic Integrity Commitment at matriculation and 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)

 

●       Title IX statement, and statement of role of faculty member as a mandatory reporter (Link to Title IX)

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

 

If you do not want the Title IX Office notified, instead of disclosing this information to your instructor, either through conversation or a class assignment, you can speak confidentially with the following people on campus:

●       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)

 

The sexual misconduct policy, along with additional resources, can be found at: http://www.oxy.edu/sexual-respect-title-ix/policies-procedures. If you would like to contact the Title IX Office directly, you can email 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. 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/office-religious-spiritual-life

THE BELOW INFORMATION IS OPTIONAL/RECOMMENDED FOR INCLUSION ON SYLLABI

 

  1. Equity & Justice in an Inclusive Learning Environment.
    1. 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. COVID-Specific Policy on Masks. Faculty have the option of stipulating that masks are required for a given course, even if local and College regulations at the time change as to no longer require universal indoor masking. If you wish to plan to require masks for the entire semester, you may wish to adapt the below statement and include it in your syllabus.

Students are expected to wear masks at all times during all indoor classroom activities. Students should not eat or drink in class; please step outside if you need to remove your mask for even a brief period of time.

  1. Week by Week Assignments on syllabus.
  2. Oxy’s 2021-2022 academic calendar information
  3. Links to Student Academic Support Resources (faculty should include the ones that apply to their courses)
    1. The College has a wide range of Student Academic Support Resources.
    2. 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.
    3. The Library’s Teaching, Learning, and Research Support (TLRS) offers library research consultations. We also offer peer-to-peer support for learning technologies from Moodle and Zoom to Adobe, app making, and ProTools.
    4. 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 tutoring for all subject, including languages, can found at: https://www.oxy.edu/academics/student-success/peer-learning
    5. The Writing Center offers opportunities to work on all forms of writing for any class or other writing tasks such as personal statements, proposals, senior comprehensives, etc. We offer peer-to-peer consultations with knowledgeable Writing Advisers and sessions with Faculty Writing Specialists. For Fall 2021, most of our appointments will be synchronous in-person sessions, with some availability for Zoom virtual meetings and asynchronous feedback. 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; x1307) for more information on how the Writing Center can work with you.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
  4. Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation policy: https://www.oxy.edu/student-handbook/general-college-policies/discrimination-harassment-and-retaliation
    1. 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.
  5. Land Acknowledgement.
    1. 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.
  6. Further elaborations on academic integrity beyond the online fall tutorial required by all students.  Please consider Prof. Horowitz a resource and come see me at the first sign of temptation or 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. I encourage students to discuss paper assignments with other students, and then to cite the other student’s interpretation or sharing of a resource in a parenthetical note and in Works Cited: Secondary Sources.
  7. Intercultural Community Center
    1. The Intercultural Community Center (ICC) seeks to uplift and support the experiences of students who identify as BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, low income or first generation college students. The ICC also aims to reduce institutional barriers for minoritized groups through intersectional programming, identity-specific services and structural resources. To learn more, contact icc@oxy.edu, or reach out directly to Chris Arguedas, at carguedas@oxy.edu.
  8. Lived name policy
    1. 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.
  9. 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.

  1. Prof. Horowitz is not recording classes in fall 2021, and encourages students who miss a class to ask to borrow notes from another student in the class. Sharing good notes is valued as “Participation.”
  2. Reminder that things can change.

     a.  It is possible that, during the semester, there may need to be updates to how the course is taught. Prof. Horowitz will keep you apprised of any changes to the syllabus.

 

Prof. Horowitz has her office in Swan 314.  Fall 2021 Hours are 8-9:25 a.m.Tues and Thurs.  One may drop-in or call x2583 at those times.   Email horowitz@oxy.edu for an appointment.