Photo: Colleen Hayes / NBC.

Late Assignments

Online classes become quite overwhelming when deadlines are missed. In such situations, it is easy for work—and anxiety!—to pile up. This is why I expect that assignments are done on time.

That said, you have lives outside of this course and there may be times when you cannot get things done as expected. If that happens, do not panic! The automatic 36-hour grace period gives you some extra time and free passes can earn you more; lowest grades are automatically dropped and free passes can drop even more. If the situation is truly extraordinary, then contact me about a reasonable accommodation for getting caught up.

Photo: Colleen Hayes / NBC.

Reasonable Accommodations

You are a human being with all the usual challenges associated with human finitude. Illness, family emergencies, job interviews, other professors, and so on will inevitably lead to legitimate conflicts over your time. If you expect that you will be unable to turn in an assignment on time, please notify me as soon as possible and we can agree on a reasonable accommodation.

Please recognize that most reasonable accommodations will require that you use a free pass, receive a reduced grade on an assignment, or do additional work. This is done to keep things fair between you and your classmates—after all you are asking for extra time that they do not get. So when you propose a reasonable accommodation, please reflect on what would preserve that fairness.

Challenging an Assignment’s Grade

I am human also: mistakes may occasionally occur when grading your assignments. Therefore, you have one week after an assignment is graded to challenge that grade. To do so, you must provide a clear written explanation (email is preferred) outlining your reasons for why you believe the grade you earned is mistaken. I take all such requests extremely seriously, with a spirit of humility. I will then meet with you, as necessary, to work on resolving things satisfactorily.

Of course, I always encourage you to talk with me about how you may improve on future assignments!

Sharing Course Materials

All my course materials, available digitally here and on UB Learns, are protected by copyright laws. You may use these materials and make copies for your own personal use, but unauthorized distribution and/or uploading of course materials without my written permission is strictly prohibited.

Photo: D-E today. This photo can no longer be found on the Internets… totally sus.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is embodied by commitments to honesty, trust, fairness, respect, diligence, and rigor in the pursuit of knowledge. As a student in this class, academic integrity means following all directions on assignments, clearly distinguishing your own original work from the work done by others in your assignments, and seeking help whenever you are struggling. This is laid out in the academic honor code for this course. You are also expected to sign an agreement to adhere to that code.

In this class, the typical violation of academic integrity is plagiarism on exams. Examples of this include cutting-and-pasting material without proper citation, paraphrasing ideas from external sources without attribution, and borrowing ideas from a classmate without reference and/or acknowledgment.

To avoid this, you must strive for clarity in your writing in order to distinguish between when you are presenting your own ideas (typically by using first-person pronouns “I”, “me”, “my”, etc.) and when you are presenting someone else’s ideas (by properly citing the source). Keep in mind, this includes the ideas of your classmates and any assistance you receive from the Center for Excellence in Writing (CEW) and from me. Please the see the course Formatting Requirements for more information on how to properly cite the claims and ideas of others in your assignments.

In general, proper citation lets me know what it is I am evaluating about your writing. Am I evaluating your own original ideas? or am I evaluating your presentation of someone else’s ideas? or am I evaluating your expansion on their ideas? All of these tasks are important, so do not be ashamed when you are doing them. I honestly do not expect every single thing you write to be uniquely yours, but I do expect you to be clear and honest about what it is you are doing in your assignments.

To help you facilitate this, every unit exam requires you to include a completed Commitment to Academic Integrity Form.

Please remember that exams without a properly filled out Commitment to Academic Integrity Form will earn an automatic 0.00 (F).

Templates for the unit exams are posted that include this form.

While I treat violations of academic integrity on a case-by-case basis, I carefully follow the University at Buffalo’s process of consultative resolution. According to this process, when I suspect an academic integrity violation, I first meet with the student for an explanation. If, after that meeting, I remain convinced that there is a violation, I will report it to the Chair of the Philosophy Department, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Academic Integrity Office. This protects the student’s right to appeal.

Beyond that, I typically impose a penalty that exceeds the penalty of not having done the assignment at all. For instance, the penalty for plagiarism in an exam is usually a negative score. Again, the student retains the right to appeal any such decision.

In particularly severe cases, or when the student has committed previous academic integrity infractions, there may also be further penalties imposed by the Academic Integrity Office. For more information, please visit their website.

If you ever find yourself tempted to violate these standards of academic integrity, please seek an alternative course of action. Email me for a reasonable accommodation, or turn in partially completed work. I assure you that the impact will be far more generous in these ways.

Photo: Trent O’Donnell / NBC.

Academic Honor Code

Students at the University at Buffalo, because they part of a community of scholars, must share its commitment to learning and discovery. The nature of this commitment generates fundamental obligations to the highest standards of academic integrity, honesty, and ethics. Adhering to these principles ensures that the academic endeavors we undertake garner us the greatest personal satisfaction and intellectual gain.

The University at Buffalo academic community is composed of learners—individuals dedicated to an open exchange of ideas and who share their ideas for the purpose of improving knowledge for all people. In order for this academic enterprise to be successful, we must embrace personal, ethical, and moral principles to guide our interactions.

These principles require personal integrity, a commitment to honesty without compromise, as well as truth without equivocation and knowing when to place the good of the community above the good of the self. Obligations once undertaken must be met, commitments kept.

The discovery, advancement, and communication of knowledge are not possible without these commitments. Creativity cannot exist without acknowledgment of the creativity of others. New knowledge cannot be developed without credit for prior knowledge. Without the ability to trust that these principles will be observed, our academic community cannot exist.

The commitment of its faculty, staff, and students to the highest of personal, ethical, and moral standards also contributes to the respect in which the University at Buffalo degree is held. Students must not destroy or otherwise diminish that respect by their failure to meet these standards.

Student Responsibilities

For this course, it is important that no one gains an unfair advantage through academic misconduct. Academic misconduct is any act that does or potentially could improperly distort student grades or other academic records. Such acts include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Possessing, using, or exchanging improperly acquired written or verbal information in the preparation of any assignment for the course;
• Unauthorized collaboration with others in the commission of coursework;
• False claims of performance or work that has been submitted by the student; and
• Submission of material that is wholly or substantially identical to that created or published by another person, without adequate citations.

In addition, each student enrolled in this class must sign an honor agreement affirming their commitment to uphold this code. This agreement may reappear on assignments to remind everyone of their responsibilities.

Faculty Responsibilities

As the instructor, I am also expected to help create an environment where honesty flourishes. To that end, I will do my utmost to make it known as specifically as possible, on multiple occasions, what constitutes appropriate academic conduct as well as what comprises academic misconduct in this course.

Throughout all this, I will also provide clarification to any student questions concerning any of the above.