Course Policies and Procedures
In fairness to your classmates, the JMU Honor Code must be observed at all times.
All written work submitted for this course is to be original work conducted for
this course. For
an online discussion of the Honor Code and of the honor system more generally, click here to go to the Honor Council web site.
If you have any questions regarding work in this course, do not hesitate to discuss them with me.
University policy regarding late adds is as follows: Students are responsible
for registering for classes and for verifying their class schedules on eCAMPUS.
Late course additions will not be permitted. The deadline for adding a fall semester class without instructor and academic unit head approval is Tuesday
9/2/08. Between 9/3/08 and 9/11/08, instructor and academic unit head
signatures will be required to add a class for spring semester 2007. No student
will be allowed to register for a spring semester class after Thursday 9/11/08.
Political science department policy will not allow students to drop courses
in INTA, POSC, & PPA after the official university course adjustment deadline
of Thursday 10/23/08. In other words, there will be no late withdrawals.
Below you will find discussions of course policies in three basic areas:
 | Attendance & Participation Policy
 | This course will be conducted as a seminar. Students will be
responsible for leading several of the meetings, for posting discussion
board entries online, and for discussing the readings in a thoughtful manner
in class. If this seminar is to flourish, students must attend class
regularly and must complete all reading assignments thoroughly and promptly. |
| Students are limited to 3 unexcused absences. Each subsequent
absence will produce a reduction of one-third of a letter in the final grade
for the course. |
| If some students are not meeting their reading responsibilities, the
professor reserves the right to change the evaluation standards by adding an
exam component. |
| Some absences can be excused. Participation in university-sponsored activities, serious
health problems, and family emergencies tend to merit an excused absence; other situations
can, as well. Do not assume that an absence will be excused; please direct any such
requests to me. |
|
| Late Penalties for Work with Deadlines
| The standard penalty for late work is a 5-point grade reduction for every 24 hours that
the assignment is late. Weekend days count the same as weekdays in calculating late
penalties. |
| There is a 5-minute grace period for all assignments. After those 5 minutes, the
assignment will be considered late regarding the relevant deadline. For instance, if an
assignment that was initially due on a Friday at 11am were handed in the following Monday
at 11:07am, it would be 4 days late; a 20-point penalty would be assessed. |
| Certain extreme situations can merit an extension of a deadline, but not very many. In
the working world, the bottom line for tasks with deadlines is meeting the deadline. In
fairness to the vast majority of JMU students who hand work in promptly, I try to hold all
students to that reasonable, real-life standard. Never assume that your situation merits
an extension; please direct any such requests to me. |
|
| Make-Up Exams
| Certain schedule conflicts (particularly those involving university-sponsored events)
and serious illness can be grounds for setting up an alternative time for
the exam (if we have one in this seminar).
Again, don't assume that you will be granted a make-up exam; direct any such request to me
as soon as you become aware of the conflict. |
| Make-up final exams can be given to students whose exam week schedule calls for them to
take 3 exams on the same day. Please direct such a request to me prior to the last week
of classes; you will not be permitted to take a make-up exam on these grounds if you
do not request it in advance. Please include the other 2 courses (& the
instructors'
names) in your request. |
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