4 ms·

If this college class operates like the ones I had then I think the professor is in the wrong. On the first day I would be given a syllabus that clearly outline

by ejcx 12y ago

If this college class operates like the ones I had then I think the professor is in the wrong. On the first day I would be given a syllabus that clearly outlined the grading scale and how the grade was calculated. I look at that like a contract. Professor presented students with a grading scale, students accept by staying in the class or withdraw from the class. Granted I know nothing about this particular incident, but it could be an interesting case to read about if it were to go to court.

learnstats2 12y ago
What you describe is exactly how it should be and is considered best practice in education. Not a contract, but the terms and expectations of the class set out as clearly as possible in advance. In this case, this has failed. The professor has then tried to punish all the students on his own whim, presumably because of the actions of a minority. What about the other students: those who didn't cheat, those who didn't spread rumours, those who didn't contribute to an unsafe atmosphere, and those who met the educational goals of the class? There's no possible way the whole class deserves a blanket fail. Thankfully the faculty realise this.
- bachmeier 12y ago
  > What about the other students: those who didn't cheat, those who didn't spread rumours, those who didn't contribute to an unsafe atmosphere, and those who met the educational goals of the class? There's no possible way the whole class deserves a blanket fail. As a faculty member, I can understand someone wanting to fail an entire class - some classes are just bad, and some students are bad people - but you just can't do it. If someone is disrupting the learning environment, they have to be removed. You're performing when you enter the classroom, and you have to deal with the hecklers and the critics.
rayiner 12y ago
If the syllabus is a contract, cheating is a breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. I'm all for failing classes pervasive cheating. There isn't enough social pressure in schools to name and shame cheaters.
- venomsnake 12y ago
  Yeah. People that are stupid enough to be caught don't deserve to graduate.
- iak8god 12y ago
  > I'm all for failing classes pervasive cheating. There isn't enough social pressure in schools to name and shame cheaters. I'm all for failing individuals who cheat, including every single student in a class if that's the case. It's hard to tell if that's what's happened here. It kind of looks like the prof is (rightly) fed up with a bunch of things and (questionably) throwing a tantrum. As for pressure to name and shame cheaters, note that it is usually a huge hassle to formally charge students with cheating. I know people who deal with this by giving exams that are hard to cheat on and really hard to pass without having done the assignments. The alternative involves a lot of interactions with the university bureaucracy for each case -- as it probably should.
hn_ 12y ago
A syllabus is not a contract. It can be changed unilaterally at any time and is no way legally enforceable. "The court finds no legal support for treating a course syllabus as a contract. The few courts that have considered the issue have concluded that a syllabus does not constitute a contract....Indeed, a valid contract requires several elements, including mutual agreement and valuable consideration....A course syllabus — which commonly outlines reading requirements, test dates and the like — does not have any such attributes." Gabriel v. Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences – Vermont Campus "[A syllabus] does not contractually obligate the college but instead, is a variable metric devised by the individual course instructor." - Miller v. MacMurray College "There is no contract between a professor or instructor and a student created by the syllabus or university guidelines. A professor or instructor’s failure to abide by the syllabus or university guidelines will be actionable only under the same circumstances that any other academic evaluation decision is justiciable: that is when the conduct is alleged to be arbitrary or capricious or to constitute bad faith" - Collins v. Grier
- ejcx 12y ago
  That's crazy interesting and now I have some reading to do. I still view the grading scale as a something that should not change, however. I'm not surprised a syllabus is not a contract but I do think that most universities, when presented with a situation like this, have it in their interest to honor the syllabus.
  - hn_ 12y ago
    Grading scales can and do change depending on circumstances of how the class goes. If a majority of the students do poorly on a quiz worth 20% of your grade, the professor may choose to bump that down to 10% and give a second quiz worth 10%. Perhaps because some students complained the quiz was a poor reflection of what was actually learned. Professors require flexibility to deal with things that happen as the class progresses. A Syllabus is just a basic outline. Seriously - if a test was scheduled on a day where there was a fire in the building and class was cancelled what is the professor supposed to do if he/she can't venture outside of the syllabus? Universities do not create syllabi, individual professors do for individual classes. Some universities don't even require a professor to give one to their students. I don't see how a syllabus is even really relevant here at all because (University wide) student honor/conduct codes and the like are what actually applies here. Courts generally stay out of grading disputes (for good reason!) "University faculties must have the widest range of discretion in making judgments as to the academic performance of students and their entitlement to promotion or graduation." - Board of Curators of the University of Missouri v. Horowitz (Supreme Court) Not only that the probability of this going to court is zero - the university provided a replacement professor to assign grades instead of failing the class. I also read about this in another paper this morning and it said that the university had assigned security to this class previously due to its behavior.

by ejcx 12y ago

learnstats2 12y ago

What you describe is exactly how it should be and is considered best practice in education. Not a contract, but the terms and expectations of the class set out as clearly as possible in advance. In this case, this has failed. The professor has then tried to punish all the students on his own whim, presumably because of the actions of a minority. What about the other students: those who didn't cheat, those who didn't spread rumours, those who didn't contribute to an unsafe atmosphere, and those who met the educational goals of the class? There's no possible way the whole class deserves a blanket fail. Thankfully the faculty realise this.

bachmeier 12y ago
> What about the other students: those who didn't cheat, those who didn't spread rumours, those who didn't contribute to an unsafe atmosphere, and those who met the educational goals of the class? There's no possible way the whole class deserves a blanket fail. As a faculty member, I can understand someone wanting to fail an entire class - some classes are just bad, and some students are bad people - but you just can't do it. If someone is disrupting the learning environment, they have to be removed. You're performing when you enter the classroom, and you have to deal with the hecklers and the critics.

rayiner 12y ago

If the syllabus is a contract, cheating is a breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. I'm all for failing classes pervasive cheating. There isn't enough social pressure in schools to name and shame cheaters.

venomsnake 12y ago
Yeah. People that are stupid enough to be caught don't deserve to graduate.
iak8god 12y ago
> I'm all for failing classes pervasive cheating. There isn't enough social pressure in schools to name and shame cheaters. I'm all for failing individuals who cheat, including every single student in a class if that's the case. It's hard to tell if that's what's happened here. It kind of looks like the prof is (rightly) fed up with a bunch of things and (questionably) throwing a tantrum. As for pressure to name and shame cheaters, note that it is usually a huge hassle to formally charge students with cheating. I know people who deal with this by giving exams that are hard to cheat on and really hard to pass without having done the assignments. The alternative involves a lot of interactions with the university bureaucracy for each case -- as it probably should.

hn_ 12y ago

A syllabus is not a contract. It can be changed unilaterally at any time and is no way legally enforceable. "The court finds no legal support for treating a course syllabus as a contract. The few courts that have considered the issue have concluded that a syllabus does not constitute a contract....Indeed, a valid contract requires several elements, including mutual agreement and valuable consideration....A course syllabus — which commonly outlines reading requirements, test dates and the like — does not have any such attributes." Gabriel v. Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences – Vermont Campus "[A syllabus] does not contractually obligate the college but instead, is a variable metric devised by the individual course instructor." - Miller v. MacMurray College "There is no contract between a professor or instructor and a student created by the syllabus or university guidelines. A professor or instructor’s failure to abide by the syllabus or university guidelines will be actionable only under the same circumstances that any other academic evaluation decision is justiciable: that is when the conduct is alleged to be arbitrary or capricious or to constitute bad faith" - Collins v. Grier

ejcx 12y ago
That's crazy interesting and now I have some reading to do. I still view the grading scale as a something that should not change, however. I'm not surprised a syllabus is not a contract but I do think that most universities, when presented with a situation like this, have it in their interest to honor the syllabus.
- hn_ 12y ago
  Grading scales can and do change depending on circumstances of how the class goes. If a majority of the students do poorly on a quiz worth 20% of your grade, the professor may choose to bump that down to 10% and give a second quiz worth 10%. Perhaps because some students complained the quiz was a poor reflection of what was actually learned. Professors require flexibility to deal with things that happen as the class progresses. A Syllabus is just a basic outline. Seriously - if a test was scheduled on a day where there was a fire in the building and class was cancelled what is the professor supposed to do if he/she can't venture outside of the syllabus? Universities do not create syllabi, individual professors do for individual classes. Some universities don't even require a professor to give one to their students. I don't see how a syllabus is even really relevant here at all because (University wide) student honor/conduct codes and the like are what actually applies here. Courts generally stay out of grading disputes (for good reason!) "University faculties must have the widest range of discretion in making judgments as to the academic performance of students and their entitlement to promotion or graduation." - Board of Curators of the University of Missouri v. Horowitz (Supreme Court) Not only that the probability of this going to court is zero - the university provided a replacement professor to assign grades instead of failing the class. I also read about this in another paper this morning and it said that the university had assigned security to this class previously due to its behavior.