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Students must abide by policies in the University Student Handbook. See Basic Student Responsibilities for full details. It also is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the CSU Student Code of Conduct. Violators will be reported and prosecuted.
A few additional ground rules will help us engage with our course topics productively:
1) Speak respectfully to and about everyone in the class. Racist, sexist, heterosexist, ableist, anti-Semitic, and other prejudiced remarks are absolutely inappropriate for our classroom discussions. This does not mean that we must be “politically correct” or refuse to comment, but remarks that stereotype people are not necessary to make your point as we analyze films in our classroom.
2) Keeping this policy of respect in mind, I encourage you to express your disagreement with anything said in the readings or in class, including anything I say. (Don't worry about your grade; you will be graded based on your knowledge of and willingness to engage with the course material, not on whether you agree with me. You can disagree with me and still earn an excellent grade in this course.) Feel free to criticize points of view, opinions, statements, behaviors, and institutions—just avoid criticizing people.
3) Your own experiences are welcome in our discussions, but please be sure that they are relevant to the topic being discussed. We all love movies, and please do volunteer examples of films that you think will contribute to our class discussion—but do stay on topic. This is a classroom, not a coffeehouse or dorm room, so please do not share film experiences or examples that are not related to the specific topics we are discussing.
4) Everyone in the class has the right to make mistakes, including the professor. In fact, making mistakes is one of the most effective learning strategies. We are all engaged in a learning process here, so be kind to others—and to yourself—when mistakes are made.
· Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated; violators will be reported and prosecuted. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the CSU guidelines at: http://adminservices.clayton.edu/studentlife/Student%20Handbook/handbkcode.htm Students who violate these policies may be formally charged with academic misconduct. The minimum penalty in such cases will be a zero on the assignment and an F in the course. As university regulations stipulate, students guilty of academic misconduct may also be suspended or expelled.
· Unless otherwise noted, papers should be word-processed, double-spaced, in a standard 12 point font, and with a one-inch margin. Staple pages together in the upper left corner.
· Please save paper. I cannot stress this enough. Do not append cover pages, folders/binders, etc. to your papers, and please try to use recycled paper. I will award extra credit to those who print multiple-page assignments double-sided.
· Proof-read and edit all assignments, and be sure to provide proper bibliographical citations for any sources referenced. Please use MLA style. (Refer to The MLA Handbook in the library for correct formatting.)
· Don’t waste space rephrasing questions or formulating lengthy introduction and/or conclusion sections in your assignments; you will often have a limited page allowance, so use your space wisely. · For clarity, please use correct grammar and spelling, and write in active voice (rather than passive voice). Be sure to italicize or underline all titles, and watch your use of gendered language (e.g., do not refer to “he/him” or “man/Man” when you mean “she or he,” “they,” or “human”). I encourage you to use the Center for Academic Success in the Library; they are quite helpful.
· Turn off all laptop computers, cell phones, pagers, and any other distractions BEFORE class.