Academic Regulations
25.00.00 Conduct of Classes by Faculty
.01 Responsibilities of Classroom Faculty
.02 Advising and Counseling of Students
.05 Textbooks and Class Materials
.01 Responsibilities of Classroom Faculty
A. All faculty members teaching classes at American University, whether they are full-time or part-time faculty, will observe the highest possible academic and professional standards in their own performance and in the performance they demand of their students. Faculty members should be committed to seek and state the truth as their prime responsibility to their disciplines, to practice intellectual honesty, to encourage the free pursuit of learning and the free expression of ideas among their students, to promote high scholarly standards, to respect students as individuals and to treat them appropriately in and out of class, to evaluate students' work fairly, and to adhere to their proper roles as intellectual guides and counselors of students.
B. Each faculty member, under the immediate supervision of the department chair and/or dean, and in accordance with policies and regulations of the university and the college or school in which a course is offered, is charged with full responsibility for the conduct and control of classes to which he or she is assigned.
C. A faculty member will follow the general course description and objectives as provided by the college, school or department where the course is offered; administer a reasonable number of examinations or other appropriate evaluative methods and otherwise provide adequate basis for evaluation of students; and maintain good order and enforce university regulations in classes at all times.
D. Syllabi
1. A faculty member may establish reasonable rules with respect to absences, methods of determining grades, penalties for failure to complete assignments on time, and the like, provided they are not contrary to the policy of the university or the college or school in which the course is offered. Faculty members will provide a syllabus to inform students about the general nature, scope, expectations, requirements, and evaluation criteria in each course by the second class meeting. The syllabus will also include office hours and contact information for the instructor.
2. A syllabus describing the general nature and scope of each course must be prepared and available in the academic unit where the course is offered. Syllabi must be kept available in the teaching unit for three (3) years.
3. The syllabus should be updated whenever the content or approach of the course is substantially changed. Substantive changes may not be made in the syllabus while the course is being taught. Non-substantive changes, such as alternate readings, course assignments and schedule changes should be communicated to the students in a timely manner. Faculty members are encouraged to include a statement about the university's Academic Integrity Code.
4. A syllabus is not intended to inhibit flexibility on the part of the faculty member or place limits on the prerogative of adapting a course in the way it seems most suitable. The university is well aware that each faculty member will place emphasis in a course according to the person's conception of the subject matter covered. However, the syllabus must have a clear summary of what the course is intended to achieve, the content it covers, and some indication of the breadth and depth of coverage and the basic assignments and examinations required of students.
E. A faculty member is expected to enforce the university's code of conduct in his or her classes, and the university will support the faculty member in the enforcement of such regulations. A faculty member is authorized to eject any disorderly student from the classroom and, if necessary, to call upon public safety for assistance.
Senate action and Provost approval, May 2000.
.02 Advising and Counseling of Students
A. An important part of the teaching function is consultation with students both on their problems and progress in particular courses and on their programs, academic goals, and career objectives in general. Faculty members should advise a student in academic difficulties in any of their classes and suggest possible methods by which the student may improve performance. The faculty member may refer the student to the staff of the Counseling Center if the student's difficulty appears to involve personal issues or to the staff of the Academic Support Center if the difficulty appears to involve academic issues.
B. Full-time faculty members are prohibited from entering into privately negotiated remunerative arrangements for special tutoring of students in any American University courses.
Senate action and Provost approval, May 2000.
A. Throughout the academic year, full?time teaching faculty who are teaching in the current session must maintain scheduled office hours during which they are available for consultations with students. The faculty member must maintain at least six (6) office hours a week on a regular basis and be available for appointments at other times. The time and place of scheduled office hours will be mutually convenient.
B. Full-time faculty members teaching in a summer session must maintain a similar schedule.
C. By the first day of classes, a listing of the office hours and office locations of all full-time faculty members will be posted in a convenient and visible place.
D. A faculty member who, because of illness or for some similar reason, cannot be present during a scheduled office hour should advise the dean or department chair and have a notice of the absence posted on the faculty member's office door.
E. Part-time faculty members must be available to students on some limited basis either by regularly scheduled office hours in a space provided by the teaching unit, or by appointment or other communication channels.
A. Faculty members are expected to make such reading and other assignments for their students which are designed to accomplish the objectives of their courses. In a number of multi-section courses in which the basic assignments have been agreed upon, each faculty member is expected to adhere to them in the interests of providing a degree of uniformity in coverage and level of instruction. The faculty member in any particular section may, however, make additional assignments which are believed to be desirable or necessary.
B. The university expects that written reports, when assigned, will be specifically related to the objectives of the course and of such a nature and length that the students may reasonably be expected to profit educationally from their completion. When such assignments are made, it is assumed that they will be read by the faculty member or by approved readers familiar with the faculty member's aims, and that they will be used appropriately in evaluating the students' achievements and capabilities.
C. In the determination of assignments in a specific course, the university relies on the judgment of the faculty member and assumes that in addition to meeting the needs of the students, they will be selected in such a way as to provide stimulation and intellectual challenge.
.05 Textbooks and Class Materials
A. Textbooks and other books or materials (such as special types of accounting and other paper, art materials, and the like) which are required for a class, and which students will be expected to purchase, must be ordered through the campus bookstore at least two months before the opening date of the session during which they will be used. At the same time, lists of paperback books or of other supplies which will be recommended (but not required) should be reported to the store so that a reasonable supply may be stocked for students who wish to purchase them. Orders must be made on a textbook requisition form which is to be completed by the instructor, approved by the department chair or dean, and forwarded to the campus bookstore. University policy does not permit the sale of instructional materials in any class by any member of the faculty or any student in the class.
B. Desk copies of texts for faculty members may be secured directly from the publishers, using request forms obtainable from the campus bookstore. Usually the desk copies will be mailed directly to the faculty member's home. If the desk copy is not received before the opening of classes, the campus bookstore will, if the request is authorized by the department chair or dean concerned, issue a copy to the faculty member from the bookstore's stock and will charge the cost to the budget of the college, school, or department, or to the instructor. The book may be returned for full credit, at the discretion of the bookstore, if it is unmarked, is in salable condition, and is returned within a reasonable period after it was issued. Desk copies received from publishers cannot be returned for credit if they contain any publishers' markings.
C. The campus bookstore should also be advised by the faculty member or teaching unit head as to whether books not sold for a given course should be returned to the publisher or retained in stock for sale when the course is offered again.
Manual of Information, Regulations and Procedures, Section III, Academic Regulations, third edition, pp. 5c-5d.
A. The university expects that the proper evaluation of students will be a major concern of faculty members but it makes no stated requirements as to the numbers or types of examinations administered. Each faculty member decides the frequency of examinations in his or her courses.
B. Each faculty member is responsible for the preparation and grading of his or her own examinations, for keeping them in a secure place until they have been administered, and for maintaining close supervision over students while they are working on the examinations. It is assumed that a faculty member will be present during each examination unless circumstances beyond the control of the faculty member make it impossible. In such a case, the faculty member concerned must arrange for a person approved in advance by the dean or department chair to proctor the examination.
C. Instructions for take home examinations, including level of collaboration or consultation of references should be clearly stated in writing before the examination is given. Faculty members may require that students taking examinations outside a proctored classroom sign a statement of compliance with the stated examination policies and/or the Academic Integrity Code.
D. During the final examination period, all classes will meet to either conduct a final examination, or if no final examination is planned, to conduct the normal classroom activities. No class meetings will be cancelled during the final week except in unusual circumstances in which case the prior approval of the dean or department chair is required.
A. Occasionally visitors to the university wish to attend classes as observers. Such visitors are usually friends, prospective students, and scholars interested in educational developments and methodology. Those visits must be approved by the instructor and pre-arranged with the dean of the school or college in which the course is offered and should not extend over a period of more than three weeks.
B. Other than under these circumstances (25.00.08.A) faculty members are expected to deny a place in the class to any person who has not been formally registered, unless that student is attending a portion of a course for valid academic reasons with the permission of the instructor and the dean or teaching unit head.
C. Visitors with special requests should be referred to the Office of the Provost.
A. Except as provided in regulation 25.00.08.B, each faculty member, in accepting an appointment to teach for the university assumes an obligation to be present for the full length of all meetings of each class to which he or she is assigned.
B. A faculty member who is unable to meet a class because of illness or other compelling reasons should advise the dean or department chair of the impending absence and the reasons for it. Whenever possible, the faculty member should arrange to secure a qualified substitute to conduct the class or arrange a comparable learning activity. If no substitute is available, the department chair or dean concerned will cancel the class meeting and arrange to have notices concerning the cancellation posted conspicuously in the room where the class meets.
C. Substitutes must be carefully selected and given enough information about the course content and student assignments to enable them to carry out their work satisfactorily and in accordance with the faculty member's syllabus.
D. Faulty members are expected to conduct classes as scheduled and on time. Students cannot be expected to wait for a tardy instructor more than ten minutes and no faculty member may penalize a class which exercises its prerogative of disbanding when the instructor is late.
A. The university expects students to attend all classes and to arrive on time. In establishing attendance policies, faculty members may not penalize student for absences resulting from circumstances beyond the student's control, such as illness, accident, religious observance, or representing the university at athletic or other off-campus activities. Faculty members may require reasonable documentation in support of a student's request to be excused from class and may set reasonable dates by which missed work must be submitted. If a student's absences are so frequent, such as during a prolonged illness, as to make satisfactory progress in a class unlikely, a faculty member may recommend that a student drop the course under the regulations covering changes in registration (see 75.00.06.A2.a-b).
The university expects faculty members to provide mid?term warning reports for any student registered in an undergraduate-level course whose progress in the course is unsatisfactory due either to academic performance or non-attendance in a class. Early warnings conveyed by the course instructor to the Registrar will be reported to students and their teaching units.
Senate action and Provost approval, December 1994 (formerly 25.00.06.A).
The university prohibits smoking in all buildings. Faculty members and students may not smoke during class meetings.
Senate action, March 2001. Provost approval, July 2001.
