Contemplative Studies Covenant

Expectations for Student Conduct - The following are expectations related to student conduct that must be met to receive full credit in Contemplative Studies:

- Perfect Attendance (excused absences accepted) and full participation in all class sessions of all components for which you contract yourself. If you need to be absent for any reason please call your faculty and leave a message or send email. If you miss a session due to an excused absence, you need to complete the work (seminar papers, quest artists, research, etc.,) within a week. More than two unexcused absences within any one component of the program will result in loss of credit. Please be on time for all sessions.

- Meet All Deadlines: Timely completion of written, creative and collaborative work is essential – you must meet the deadlines. We will not accept late work. Failing to complete work on time will result in loss of credit.

- Time Management Skills – Each student is responsible for creating a schedule around the academic class schedule to accommodate all individual and collaborative work required for the program. Please keep in mind that 16 credit hours is a rigorous academic load. The Faculty Handbook reminds us that each credit hour represents three hours of work per week over a ten-week quarter. In other words, 16 credit hours x 3 hours = 48 hours of academic work per week. This includes all your class time, reading, writing, thinking, reflection, creative work, collaborative work and so on.

- Field Trips – Students are expected to stay with the group and be responsible to one another and respectful of the institutions and environments we visit. No alcohol or drug consumption is allowed on Field Trips or at any program sponsored events, on or off campus. Students are responsible for admittance fees to museums, etc. You will be notified in advance of any such fees.

- Stay informed about the program and its schedule, including active monitoring of the class listserv. To subscribe, log on to your preferred email account and send a blank email to following address:

- Think carefully about TESC’s five learning foci and the six expectations of an Evergreen graduate:

    The Five Foci of Learning

    * Interdisciplinary Study. Students learn to pull together ideas and concepts from many subject areas, which enables them to tackle real-world issues in all their complexity.

    * Collaborative Learning. Students develop knowledge and skills through shared learning, rather than learning in isolation and in competition with others.

    * Learning Across Significant Differences. Students learn to recognize, respect and bridge differences - critical skills in an increasingly diverse world.

    * Personal Engagement. Students develop their capacities to judge, speak and act on the basis of their own reasoned beliefs.

    * Linking Theory with Practical Applications. Students understand abstract theories by applying them to projects and activities and by putting them into practice in real-world situations.

    Expectations of a Greener Grad

* Articulate and assume responsibility for your own work.

    * Participate collaboratively and responsibly in our diverse society.

    * Communicate creatively and effectively.

    * Demonstrate integrative, independent, critical thinking.

    * Apply qualitative, quantitative and creative modes of inquiry appropriately to practical and theoretical problems across disciplines.

    * As a culmination of your education, demonstrate depth, breadth and synthesis of learning and the ability to reflect on the personal and social significance of that learning.

- Respect staff, facilities and equipment. Theft or deliberate damage of equipment is grounds for dismissal.

- Maintain clean individual and collective workspaces. This includes, specifically, bodies.

- Be individually responsible for any work submitted as one’s own. This means, in part, not plagiarizing work.

- Resolve disputes directly and without rancor. All members of the program should abide by the principle of honest and face-to-face resolution of conflicts. In the event you do not feel successful in resolving a conflict yourself, bring your concerns to the attention, first, of your seminar leader. If the individual faculty member cannot resolve the problem, he or she will bring it to the attention of the faculty team and they will take steps to resolve the problem. Any conflicts that cannot be resolved by your own efforts or the efforts of your faculty will be referred to our program’s Academic Dean. You may not skip steps in this process.

- Respect each other’s lives outside of the program.

- Take responsibility for contacting Access Services (867-6348, Lib 1407D) regarding any health condition or disability that may require accommodations to participate effectively in this class.

- Student Conduct – You are expected to follow the Evergreen Social Contract and Student Conduct Code – please take the time to review it at: http://www.evergreen.edu/aboutevergreen/social.htm. To summarize, we expect students and faculty to treat one another with respect and civility. Our goal is to create a learning community that allows students to respectfully explore a diversity of ideas, forms of creative expression, and points of view. Andrea Seabert Olsen, Campus Grievance Officer, urged faculty to be especially aware of the following:

    * SMOKING – “Evergreen is a non-smoking campus except in designated areas.”

    * ACADEMIC DISHONESTY – Please report cases of academic dishonesty, plagiarism, or cheating. It is important that we track these students so that in the next program we can follow up if a further incidence occurs.

* DISRUPTION TO COLLEGE FUNCTION – We have had a few situations in the past couple of years where a student has significantly impacted a program through their behavior. Some examples include students drinking or using drugs on a field trip or coming to class drunk, students wearing fragranced products even after being asked not to, and students presenting threatening language or behavior towards others.