USU Policy Statements

USU faculty code does not directly address the relationship between graduate students and their faculty advisors, but there are sections in Policy 403, notably section 403.2, that are relevant. Emphasis has been added to these excerpts from Policy 403.2. It is important to note that as of the 2023-2024 academic year, 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,” (see the Academic Grievances section from the 2023-2024 General Catalogue, which details the grievance process if a concern arises). The mentoring relationship between faculty and graduate students does constitute a discipline-specific activity that impacts students’ academic progress. Accordingly, for any of the language below, when the word “course” is used, it can be read as any of the above activities.

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.

403.2.3.1.3

Faculty members will select course requirements based on the legitimate pedagogical goals of the course and discipline and inform students of the general content and evaluation criteria in the syllabus or comparable documentation at the beginning of any course they teach. Faculty members evaluate student course work promptly, conscientiously, without prejudice or favoritism, and consistently with the criteria stated at the beginning of the course in the course documentation and related to the legitimate pedagogical goals of the course. The documentation for the course should identify, to the extent possible, the writings, lectures, films, presentations, performances, or other course 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 403.4, Procedures for Alternative Course Requirements due to Conflicts with Sincerely Held Core Beliefs, provides guidance to students and faculty for the resolution of conflicts.

403.2.3.1.4 

Faculty members with teaching responsibilities maintain regular office hours for consultation with students, or they otherwise assure accessibility to students.

403.2.3.1.5

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.

403.2.3.1.8 

Faculty members create and maintain environments in which students are provided the opportunity to do original thinking, research, creative work, and writing.

403.2.3.2.5 

Faculty members exercise Reasonable Care in meeting their obligations to their associates when they are engaged in joint research or other professional effort.

403.2.3.2.7 

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.

403.2.3.2.9

Faculty members do not engage in the sexual harassment or any other form of harassment prohibited by USU Policies 303, Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity, or Policy 339, Sexual Misconduct in an Employment or Education Program or Activity and its sub-policies, of other faculty members or any employee of the university.

403.2.3.3.1 

Faculty members conduct themselves in an open, fair, civil, and humane manner both in general and when making decisions or recommendations concerning admissions, employment, promotion, retention, tenure, and other professional matters. Faculty members do not harass or discriminate against anyone on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, veteran status, or marital or parental status; the presence of any sensory, physical or mental disability or handicap; or for any other reason impermissible under applicable constitutional or statutory provisions.

403.2.3.5 

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.