Note: Faculty code (Policy 4002) was originally written with a focus on courses. As graduate education has become a larger focus at USU, non-course learning experiences have become more central to student-faculty interactions. During the 2022-23 academic year, the Committee on Academic Standards, formally ruled that these policies apply not only to traditional courses, but to “graduate committee decisions, practicum or internship placements or evaluations, and other discipline-specific activities that impact the students’ academic record or progress.” To enhance clarity here, we have augmented or replaced references to classes in the original 4002 text with additional language in italics.
- Faculty members engage in reasonable and substantial preparation for the teaching of their courses, mentorship/advisement, and supervision of assistantships/internships/practica, appropriate to the educational objectives to be achieved and consistent with the standards of the discipline.
- Faculty members meet scheduled classes and meetings related to mentorship/advisement, and supervision of assistantships/internships/practica. Schedules are altered or classes canceled only for valid reasons and only after adequate notice is given to students and the faculty member’s direct academic supervisor.
- Failure to meet a class without prior notice to students is excusable only for reasons beyond the control of the faculty member.
- Faculty members will select course, assistantship, and other academic requirements based on the legitimate pedagogical goals of the course, assistantship, curricular activity, etc. and discipline and inform students of the general content and evaluation criteria in the syllabus, mentorship agreement, or comparable documentation at the beginning of any course/activity they teach/supervise.
- Faculty members evaluate student course or supervised work promptly, conscientiously, without prejudice or favoritism, and consistently with the criteria stated at the beginning of the course/activity in the course or mentorship agreement documentation and related to the legitimate pedagogical goals of the course/activity.
- The documentation for the course/activity should identify, to the extent possible, the writings, lectures, films, presentations, performances, or other course/activity requirements in sufficient detail to allow the student to identify requirements that may conflict with the student's sincerely held core beliefs.
- Faculty will not always be able to predict in advance requirements that may conflict with the sincerely held core beliefs of a given student or group of students.
- If conflicts arise, Policy 4002.2.4: Procedures for Alternative Course Requirements Due to Conflicts with Sincerely Held Core Beliefs, provides guidance to students and faculty for the resolution of conflicts.
- Faculty members with teaching/supervision/mentoring responsibilities maintain regular office hours for consultation with students, or they otherwise assure accessibility to students.
- Faculty members do not plagiarize the work of students.
- When faculty members and students work together, appropriate credit is given to the students.
- Faculty members do not limit or curtail the right of any student to publish or otherwise communicate the result of the student's own independent scholarly activities.
- Faculty members do not use their positions and authority to obtain uncompensated labor or to solicit gifts or favors from students.
- Faculty members do not ask students to perform services unrelated to legitimate requirements of a course unless the student is adequately compensated for such services.
- Faculty members do not reveal matters told to them in confidence by students except as required by law, Interim USU Policy 3012: Required Reporting of Sexual Misconduct, or issues related to safety and then only to persons entitled to such information by law or institutional regulation.
- Faculty members may, however, report their assessment of a student's performance and ability to persons logically and legitimately entitled to receive such reports.
- Faculty members create and maintain environments in which students are provided the opportunity to do original thinking, research, creative work, and writing.
- Faculty members avoid the misuse of the classroom by preempting substantial portions of class time for the presentation of views on topics unrelated to the subject matter of the course.
- Faculty members do not reward agreement or penalize disagreement with their views on controversial topics.
- Faculty members do not engage in the sexual harassment of students, or any other forms of harassment prohibited by USU Policies (2100 Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity, Interim USU Policy 2101: Discrimination based on Protected Characteristics, Interim Policy 2102: Title IX Sexual Misconduct in an Employment or Education Program or Activity and its sub-policies, and USU Interim Policy 2103: Non-Title IX Sexual Misconduct).
- Faculty members do not engage in discrimination against students (Policy 2100: Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity, and Interim USU Policy 2101: Discrimination based on Protected Characteristics).
- Faculty members do not intimidate, humiliate or abuse students (for definitions, see Policy 3002: Respectful Workplace).
- Faculty members exercise Reasonable Care in meeting their commitments to the institution and to funding agencies where appropriate in research, publication, or other professional endeavors.
- Note: Because faculty enact their professional obligations in mentoring students, supervising graduate assistants, and serving on committees that determine students’ academic progress (e.g., dissertation committees), the School of Graduate Studies considers obligations to serve in these capacities as both obligations undertaken to students and obligations to the institution. Accordingly, the commitments cannot be reneged upon for a punitive or retributive reason.
Definition of Reasonable Care
This term, which is familiar to the law, means that the level of performance required of a faculty member is that which is recognized in the profession as reasonable in the light of the obligations which the faculty member has assumed, competing demands upon their energy and time, nature and quality of their work, and all other circumstances which the academic community would properly take into account in determining whether the faculty member was discharging their responsibilities at an acceptable level.