Exams

There will be one intra-term test and a final exam as scheduled by the registrar . If you have a conflict with a testing time, please contact me as soon as possible to make an alternative arrangement.

My default assumption is that students will take the final together. Therefore, I would ask you to please be respectful and quiet, even after completing your exam, so that your fellow students have a good test-taking environment. However, if you prefer to take the exam in a separate room, please contact me in advance and I will try to arrange it.

Tests will be closed-book and mostly closed-notes. You may, however, use a single 8 1/2" by 11" sheet of paper with hand-written notes for reference. (Both sides of the sheet are OK.)

Honor

Students are encouraged to discuss the course, including issues raised by the assignments. However, the solutions to assignments should be individual original work unless otherwise specified. If an assignment makes you realize you don’t understand the material, ask a fellow student a question designed to improve your understanding, not one designed to get the assignment done. To do otherwise is to cheat yourself out of understanding as well as to be intolerably dishonorable.

Any substantive contribution to your solution by another person should be properly acknowledged in writing. Failure to do so is plagiarism and will necessitate disciplinary action.

You are expected to be familiar with the college academic honesty honor code policy and to comply with that policy. If you have any questions about it, please ask.

Late lab assignments

All lab assignments are due at the beginning of class on the day indicated. Late assignments will be penalized by one “grade notch” (such as A to A- or A- to B+) for each weekday late or fraction thereof.

If you are too sick to complete an assignment on time, you will not be penalized. Simply write “late due to illness” at the top of the assignment, sign your name and hand it in. Other circumstances will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Grade changes

Please point out any arithmetic or clerical error I make in grading, and I will gladly fix it. You may also request reconsideration if I have been especially unjust.

Grading

The course components will contribute to your grade in the following proportion:

Please see me if you have any question how you stand. Class participation is not graded; however, it allows you to find and repair the gaps in your understanding before doing the assignments and thus can dramatically improve your grade. You are responsible for all course material, whether or not you are present when it was covered or distributed.

Disability Accommodations

Gustavus Adolphus College is committed to ensuring the full participation of all students in its programs. If you have a documented disability (or you think you may have a disability of any nature) and, as a result, need reasonable academic accommodation to participate in class, take tests or benefit from the College’s services, then you should speak with the Disability Services staff, for a confidential discussion of your needs and appropriate plans. Course requirements cannot be waived, but reasonable accommodations may be provided based on disability documentation and course outcomes. Accommodations cannot be made retroactively; therefore, to maximize your academic success at Gustavus, please contact Disability Services as early as possible. Disability Services (https://www.gustavus.edu/advising/disability/) is located in the Academic Support Center. Disability Services Coordinator, Kelly Karstad, ( or x7138), can provide further information.

Academic Honesty

It is ok for students to get together in small groups to go over material from the lectures and text, solve problems from the text, study for exams, and discuss the general ideas and approaches to projects. However, work to be turned in must be done independently. It must not be based on help from others or information obtained from sources other than those approved by the instructors (e.g., the text, the course webpage, and materials provided in the lectures). Effective learning is compromised when this is not the case.

You should never read or copy another student’s code or solutions, exchange computer files (or pieces of papers with solutions written on them), or share your code/solutions with anyone else in the class until after both parties have submitted the assignment. Under no circumstances may you hand in work done by someone else under your own name.

You are expected to be familiar with the college Academic Honesty Policy and to comply with that policy. Full descriptions of it and the Honor Code can be found in the Academic Catalog (online at https://www.gustavus.edu/general_catalog/current/acainfo). If you have any questions about it, please ask. A first violation of the honor code will result in a grade of 0 on the homework or exam in question. A further violation will result in an automatic F for the course and a notification to the Office of the Provost.

Help for Multilingual Students

Support for English learners and multilingual students is available through the Academic Support Center’s Multilingual Learner Tutor (https://gustavus.edu/advising/). The MLL tutor can meet individually with students for tutoring in writing, consulting about academic tasks, and helping students connect with the College’s support systems. When requested, the MLL tutor can consult with faculty regarding effective classroom strategies for English learners and multilingual students. The MLL tutor can provide students with a letter to a professor that explains and supports appropriate academic arrangements (e.g., additional time on tests, additional revisions for papers). Professors make decisions based on those recommendations at their own discretion. In addition, English learners and multilingual students can seek help from peer tutors in the Writing Center (https://gustavus.edu/writingcenter/).

Please let me know if there is any accommodation in the course that would enable you to more fully show your abilities; for example, I would consider allowing extra time on tests, as well as allowing a dictionary in an otherwise closed-book test.

Title IX

Title IX is federal legislation that makes clear that violence and harassment based on sex or gender are civil rights violations. Gustavus Adolphus College takes incidents of sexual misconduct and sexual harassment seriously.

Sexual misconduct includes the following: non-consensual sexual contact, non-consensual sexual intercourse, sexual exploitation (taking non-consensual or abusive sexual advantage of another), intimate partner violence (physical, sexual, or psychological harm by a current or former partner or spouse), and stalking. (Please see the Student Sexual Misconduct Policy in the Gustavus Guide for more details and definitions or online at: https://www.gustavus.edu/deanofstudents/policies/gustieguide/sexualassault.php#misconduct).

Sexual Harassment is any behavior of a sexual nature that is unwelcome, offensive or fails to respect the rights and dignity of another person whether of the same or opposite sex. (Please see the All- College Policy against Harassment and Sexual Harassment for examples and more details: https://www.gustavus.edu/facultybook/allcollegepolicies/#Anchor-Sexua-60443.)

As a student who may choose to share information about an incident of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment with a Gustavus employee, you need to know that if Gustavus employees become aware of an incident of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct, they have to report information about these events to the appropriate college authorities. This requirement is to make sure the College can support and protect students.

So, if a faculty member becomes aware of an incident of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment, they must report what they know about this incident, including student names, to the Dean of Students Office within twenty-four hours.

The college will respect the confidentiality of the victim and alleged offender(s) as much as possible consistent with the College’s legal obligations. Students also always have a choice as to whether to participate in an investigation or not.

The only exception to this reporting responsibility for Gustavus employees is that conversations with SART/CADA, Chaplains, Counseling Center staff, and professional health care staff may be kept strictly confidential. SART/CADA can be reached 24 hours a day at 507-933-6868.

If you have any questions, contact the Title IX Coordinator (Julie Kline, Director of Human Resources, at 507-933-6075) or one of the Deputy Coordinators(https://gustavus.edu/titleix/titleix.php).