At Southwestern University, the normal student course load is four 4-credit courses per fifteen-week semester. This reflects the practice of many national liberal arts colleges and allows for a deep and rigorous learning experience for students. The options below represent minimum expectations for all 4-credit courses. While it is understood that the workload for some courses might exceed these expectations, no more than a total of 4 credits will be assigned to a single course (where the credit value of any course required to be taken as a corequisite is counted toward this total).

Courses yielding 4 credits at Southwestern University must meet one of the two following minimumstandards:

Option A:A minimum of 150 minutes of direct faculty instruction per week with students expected to work outside of class a minimum of 2.5 hours per week, per credit. This translates to 10 hours per week of outside work and 3 hours per week of classroom instruction (including “passing time”).  For example, a 4-credit class might meet Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30-10:45 (75 minutes each class meeting for a total of 150 minutes), and will also expect a minimum of 10 hours of outside class time per week.

Option B:A minimum of 200 minutes of direct faculty instruction per week with students expected to work outside of class a minimum 2 hours per week, per credit. This translates to 8 hours per week of outside work and 4 hours per week of classroom instruction (including “passing time”).  For example, a 4-credit class might meet Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:30-10:45 (75 minutes for each class meeting for a total of 225 minutes), and will also expect a minimum of 8 hours of outside class time per week.

Direct classroom instruction and out-of-class work for courses yielding fewer than four credits will be expressed as some proportion of a 4-credit course.  Using an example from Option A, a 2-credit class might meet Tuesdays 9:30-10:45 (75 minutes), and will also expect a minimum of 5 hours of outside class time per week.  Using an example from Option B, a 3-credit class might meet Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30-10:45 (150 minutes), and will also expect 6 hours of outside class time per week.  In all cases, the assigned credits meet Southwestern University’s guiding principle of counting direct in-class instruction time twice as much as that for expected outside work.

Disciplinary Status and Eligibility

Southwestern University, through its Judicial Policy described in section IX, reserves the right to determine a student’s disciplinary standing, described as: in good standing, not in good standing, on disciplinary probation, suspended, or expelled.

Students remain in good disciplinary standing as long as they have not been found responsible for violating University policy, or have completed or are in the process of completing sanctions for violations that did not result in disciplinary probation, suspension, or expulsion. Students on disciplinary probation have limited rights and privileges as described in IX.13, Typical Sanctions. Students are not in good standing while a disciplinary situation is under review, including if the student withdraws from or leaves the University while a disciplinary matter is pending.

Expulsion and suspension are denoted on the Southwestern University transcript. After five years, a student or former student may submit a written request and rationale for the removal of the notation related to the disciplinary suspension or expulsion. A committee of three, appointed by the Vice President for Student Life (or designee), will review the request and take into consideration factors such as:

·   the nature of the violation

·   the harm or injury resulting from the violation

·   the amount of time that has passed since the violation

·   the student’s/former student’s behavior since the violation

ACADEMIC STATUS AND ELIGIBILITY

Southwestern University reserves the right to determine academic standing, which can result in dismissal, academic probation, or academic warning. Academic probation and dismissal are denoted on the Southwestern University transcript.

Students remain in good standing academically as long as they are making satisfactory progress toward graduation, and are not on academic probation. “Good standing” is defined as earning at least a 2.0 cumulative grade point average, and completing at least 24 graded credits in an academic year. Academic standing is based only on coursework attempted at Southwestern.

Academic Warning

Full-time students not on academic probation will be placed on academic warning by meeting any of the following conditions:

1. Semester grade point average falls below 2.0, and cumulative grade point average is at least 2.0;
2. Semester grade point average is above a 2.0, but completed less than 24 credits in the academic year. Students receive a letter notifying them of academic warning, but no entry is made on the students’ transcripts.

Students placed on warning are expected to:

1. Receive academic counseling as outlined by the Center for Academic Success and Registrar;
2. Pass at least 12 graded credits in the next regular semester at Southwestern with a term GPA of at least 2.20;
3. Raise the cumulative GPA to at least a 2.0.

Academic Probation

New students will be placed on academic probation by meeting at least one of the following conditions:

1. Cumulative grade point average falls below 2.0 at end of second semester of attendance.
2. Pass fewer than 24 graded Southwestern credits at end of second semester of attendance.

After the first year, continuing students will be placed on academic probation if the cumulative grade point average falls below 2.0. To remove academic probation, students must:

1. Participate in the Planning for Academic Success Seminar (PASS) offered by the Center for Academic Success and Registrar;
2. Pass at least 12 graded credits in the next regular semester at Southwestern with a semester grade point average of at least 2.20;
3. Raise their cumulative grade point average to at least 2.0.

Failure to meet these conditions may result in dismissal. Reasonable progress in removing academic probation is determined at the end of each regular semester by a committee composed of the Dean of the Faculty (or a designate), the Registrar (or a designate), and the Vice President for Student Life (or a designate). This determination, and the notification of students affected, is made as soon as is practicable after semester grades are posted. Students who are making reasonable academic progress may be continued on academic probation for the following semester. Students who take Southwestern summer courses, or approved courses from another institution, may use those credits toward the determination of their academic standing for the subsequent semester.

Dismissal and Eligibility for Continuance

Students will be ineligible to return under the following conditions:

1. Completion of fewer than 8 credits in the first regular semester;
2. Failure of all courses in a semester;
3. Requirements to remove probationary status are not met.

Students declared ineligible to return the first time must wait one regular semester to be considered for readmission to the University.

Dismissal based on spring semester performance is effective beginning with the following second summer session. Students who take Southwestern summer courses may use those credits toward the determination of their academic standing for the subsequent semester. 26 Students declared ineligible to return a second time must wait one year to be considered for readmission. Students declared ineligible to return a third time are permanently suspended from the University. Ineligible-to-return status and its duration are noted on students’ transcripts.

Students declared ineligible to return to the University may appeal that decision as outlined in the following section. Students who sit out the period of ineligibility must apply for and be granted readmission in order to re-enroll at Southwestern. Students who are granted readmission to the University after being declared ineligible are readmitted on academic probation, but the ineligible-to-return status remains on the students’ records and is considered in determining any subsequent terms of dismissal or readmission.

Appeal of Academic Ineligibility Decisions

The student submits an appeal, in writing, to the Registrar no later than the deadline specified in the letter of dismissal. If applicable, the letter should be accompanied by appropriate supporting documentation. The student also may submit other written materials with the written letter, including letters from faculty members supporting the appeal.

The Registrar convenes a meeting of the Academic Standards Committee, which studies the appeal letter, any supporting materials, and the student’s records with input from the Dean of Students (or designate) and Vice President for Student Life (or designate). The decision by the Academic Standards Committee is final and is conveyed to the student by letter.

In cases where an ineligibility appeal is granted by the Academic Standards Committee, the student remains on academic probation, and the original dismissal status is used in determining the length of any subsequent ineligibilities.

On December 7, 2018, Southwestern University’s Curriculum Committee approved a policy on the ACS Remote Teaching Initiative.  Select this link for policy language.

Every effort should be taken to secure accurate and complete grade records in reporting to the Office of the Registrar. Under unusual circumstances a faculty member may change a grade after the grade reports have been filed by completing the form provided by the Office of the Registrar. After approval signatures have been secured, the changed grade will then be entered on the student’s permanent record. The grade change form is filed permanently with the Grade Request Form previously submitted by the faculty member.

End-of-Semester Grades. Semester grades are due in the Office of the Registrar by the Monday following the end of final exams. In the Spring only, grades of students graduating in Spring or Summer are due a week earlier—on the Monday that Spring Semester final exams begin. Faculty use WebAdvisor to enter their grades online. The same online mechanism is used for entry of “Academic Warning” notifications. Once entered, students may view their final grades via WebAdvisor, so there is no need for faculty to post grades on paper lists. It is difficult to post them without violating FERPA—the federal law regarding student privacy.

Incomplete Grades. The grade of “Incomplete” shall be given only in the case of a medical emergency or some other emergency situation beyond the student’s control. The grade of “Incomplete” may not be given for the sole reason of permitting additional time to complete assigned course work or because a student does not attend a final exam. Students must request the grade of “Incomplete” by submitting a request to the appropriate faculty member which explains the emergency situation surrounding the request. This request must be acknowledged by the faculty member at the time the grade of “Incomplete” is assigned. When the “Incomplete” is given, it must be removed by 5:00 p.m. on the posted deadline (see the Academic Calendar). All “Incomplete” grades are changed to “F” after the deadline unless the student has filed a written petition for an extension, approved by the student’s faculty member and the Registrar. The petition must establish a new deadline for the removal of the “Incomplete.” In the event that the student is unable to request an Incomplete from the faculty member, a request may be made on the student’s behalf by the Center for Academic Success.

X Grade Symbol. The X grade symbol is to be assigned by the instructor only in cases of suspected academic dishonesty or where the grade cannot be assigned due to physical inability to access some existing but missing piece of required work. It may be used by the Registrar if grades cannot be collected from the instructor before grades reports are mailed. The X grade symbol is considered very temporary, and the replacement grade should be reported by the faculty as soon as possible - generally within two weeks. When the X grade symbol is submitted by the instructor, it must be accompanied by a form explaining the nature of the problem, and agreeing to submit the grade in a timely manner. If X grade symbols persist to the deadline for reporting I grades, they will revert to the grade of F, except in cases where judicial review is pending.

In the event that a student simply fails to appear for the final exam or submit a required project, neither X or I is appropriate. The grade should be calculated with a zero for the missing work. If circumstances justify, the grade can be changed later by the instructor, via the grade change form.

The University Catalog states that students are expected to attend all regularly scheduled classes for which credit is granted. Individual faculty members establish specific attendance policies, which appear in the syllabus for each course. Official excuses are not normally issued except as described below. In the case of extended illness or other emergency, the Center for Academic Success and Registrar notifies faculty members by e-mail, voice-mail, or in writing. The faculty members then decide whether the situation justifies an excused absence for the student involved. Detailed procedures for notifying faculty of an absence may be found in the Student Handbook.

Whenever an excused absence has been granted, the faculty member is expected to offer students an opportunity to complete missed examinations or other required work, but it is the student’s responsibility to contact the professor about missed assignments, etc.

Students who are absent from class because they are participating in intercollegiate athletics, class-related field trips, ensemble tours, interviews at graduate schools, or faculty-sponsored attendance at professional conferences will be excused from classes as follows:

1. A student’s excused absence from class does not excuse any work missed during the absence, but does excuse the student from any penalty that would otherwise be imposed by a professor’s attendance policy.
2. The student and the professor will devise an appropriate means for the student to complete assignments, class work, examinations, labs, etc. scheduled during the absence. The responsibility to complete missed work lies solely with the student, who must discuss the absence with the professor as far in advance as possible to work out a satisfactory schedule for submitting work due, taking exams, making up labs, etc. This schedule may involve the student’s completing certain items before rather than after the absence.
3. Coaches, sponsors, and professors should make every effort to schedule approved activities held off-campus so as to produce the least conflict with scheduled classes.
4. Professors whose courses require field trips should include the requirement in the University Catalog description of the course and indicate the scheduled dates of the trip in the course syllabus, to allow students time to resolve schedule conflicts or drop/add courses, if necessary.

For the kinds of absences described above to be excused, a statement of the nature and purpose of the activity, a list of names of the students and faculty members participating in the activity, and the dates and hours during which these participants will be off campus must be submitted in writing by the sponsor of the activity to the Center for Academic Success and Registrar or the Office of the Vice President for Student Life, depending on the nature of the activity. The Director for Academic Success, the Registrar Specialist, or the appropriate designated person within Student Affairs will distribute information about the scheduled activity and the names of the students whose absences are to be excused to all faculty members and to the Business Office (to confirm insurance coverage). The Dean of the Faculty may restrict participation in off-campus activities of students who are on academic or disciplinary probation.

Southwestern University recognizes that it has students from a variety of religious and cultural traditions that have special days of observance or celebration that may take students out of their regular activities on certain days during the school year. Since the academic calendar does not always coincide with these days, the following policy is to be followed in order to facilitate student absences due to cultural and religious observances.

• As far in advance as possible, the student is expected to notify the professor(s) or instructor(s) of the class(es) to be missed.
• The student is expected to learn what assignments or exams are due or will be assigned on those dates and negotiate with the professor(s) or instructor(s) alternate times for fulfilling those requirements. Students should be prepared to fulfill the requirements prior to the class(es) to be missed.

Plagiarism is the submission of another’s work as one’s own without acknowledgment in written work.

There are basically four ways in which research papers use or incorporate written materials, and each of these requires footnoting.

1. Direct Quotations should be marked off with quotation marks, with a footnote to indicate the source. It is not necessary to place in quotation marks every word in your paper that appears in a source you are using. If your paper concerns Napoleon, for example, you need not place “Napoleon” in quotation marks merely because your sources use the name. Similarly, there are phrases of some length such as “on the other hand” or “it is evident that” which are common property and act in effect as single words.
2. Paraphrase. Where your own language follows closely the language of a written source, or where your line of argument follows a source, you need not use quotation marks, but you are obliged to indicate the source in a footnote.
3. General Indebtedness. Where the ideas in your paper closely resemble and were suggested by ideas in a source, a footnote should be used to indicate this.
4. Background Information. In any area of inquiry there are matters of fact commonly known to everyone with a serious interest. Such information need not be footnoted one fact at a time. Instead, a general footnote toward the beginning of the paper, naming the sources where such information was obtained, is sufficient.

The library will retain only electronic copies of each honors thesis completed, beginning in Spring 2015. The thesis, with a scanned completed signature page included, will be uploaded to Southwestern’s institutional repository, SU Scholar, at suscholar.southwestern.edu. The library will review the submission, assign metadata, and make it publicly available, with a stable URL.

In addition, if requested, the library will bind one printed copy as our gift to graduating honors students, for no charge. To receive a bound copy, students should bring the printed thesis pages, already in order, along with a completed signature page, to the library. Pages must have at least a 1 inch margin on the left side of the page (more if possible), and at least a 1/2 inch margin on the other three sides because the bindery will crop the pages in the binding process. Most theses have a 1 inch margin all around. Students should include with the thesis their full name, future email address (and a non-SU email if possible), and a phone number and address where the thesis can be mailed in December. This information and the printed work should be submitted to Debi Flummer in SLC 120.

Fall Study Days consist of the weekend following the last day of class and preceding the start of finals week. Spring Study Days consist of the four-day period (Thursday through Sunday) following the last day of class and preceding the start of finals week. No activities (curricular or extracurricular including tests, finals, make-up work, etc.) requiring student participation are scheduled during this time set aside for final preparations. Exceptions to this restriction must be approved in advance by the Dean of the Faculty. Spring-semester final examinations for seniors graduating in May and August may be scheduled during the last three days of the spring semester or during study days.

A faculty member may schedule night exams for daytime classes when the following conditions have been met:

• The faculty member must notify the registrar when submitting the course schedule prior to student registration that the course will have night exams.
• Night exams are to be scheduled between 8:00 pm and 10:00 pm on Monday through Thursday evenings, and not immediately prior to holidays. Exceptions to this rule must be approved by the Dean of Faculty.
• The syllabus distributed at the beginning of the semester must include scheduled dates for the night exams as well as language that clarifies policies related to schedule conflicts. Suggested language is here:
• Night exams: This course has evening exams from [times between 8:00 and 10:00 pm] on [dates]. Students who are unable to take a night exam at the scheduled time because of a legitimate conflict must notify the instructor at least one week in advance to arrange another mutually convenient time.

In the case of a conflict between a night exam and other scheduled University classes or activities, or in the case of work-related commitments for the student, the student should notify the instructor at least one week in advance of the scheduled exam to make alternative arrangements. In these cases, the student should be permitted to reschedule the exam without penalty. Moreover, faculty are strongly encouraged to be flexible in rescheduling a night exam for a student with a conflict due to other legitimate reasons not listed above.

At Southwestern University, the normal student course load is four 4-credit courses per fifteen-week semester. This reflects the practice of many national liberal arts colleges and allows for a deep and rigorous learning experience for students. The options below represent minimum expectations for all 4-credit courses. While it is understood that the workload for some courses might exceed these expectations, no more than a total of 4 credits will be assigned to a single course (where the credit value of any course required to be taken as a corequisite is counted toward this total).

Courses yielding 4 credits at Southwestern University must meet one of the two following minimum standards:

Option A: A minimum of 150 minutes of direct faculty instruction per week with students expected to work outside of class a minimum of 2.5 hours per week, per credit. This translates to 10 hours per week of outside work and 3 hours per week of classroom instruction (including “passing time”).

Option B: A minimum of 200 minutes of direct faculty instruction per week with students expected to work outside of class a minimum 2 hours per week, per credit. This translates to 8 hours per week of outside work and 4 hours per week of classroom instruction (including “passing time”).

Direct classroom instruction and out-of-class work for courses yielding fewer than four credits will be expressed as some proportion of a 4-credit course.

Under exceptional circumstances, proposals to create courses that do not fit into options A or B (such as corequisite courses) may be submitted to the Curriculum Committee for approval. The proposal should include a rationale addressing why the course cannot fit into options A or B. The following factors will be taken into consideration:

(1) None of the courses are offered at the introductory level.

(2) The course has its own syllabus, assignments, workload expectations, assessment mechanisms, learning goals and recorded grades. 

(3) The new course affects only majors in the field. Impact on any other department will be considered.

This policy was approved by the faculty at the Faculty Meeting on January 27, 2020 and is guided by the following SACSCOC Credit Hour Policy Statement (http://www.sacscoc.org/policies.asp)

Federal Definition of the Credit Hour. For purposes of the application of this policy and in accord with federal regulations, a credit hour is an amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement that is an institutionally established equivalency that reasonably approximates

1. Not less than one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours out of class student work each week for approximately fifteen weeks for one semester or trimester hour of credit, or ten to twelve weeks for one quarter hour of credit, or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time, or
2. At least an equivalent amount of work as required outlined in item 1 above for other academic activities as established by the institution including laboratory work, internships, practica, studio work, and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours.

On September 21, 2020, the Southwestern University Faculty approved a policy on Recording Class Lectures.  Select this link for policy language.

View “The Grid” (Fall 2012-Spring 2019)

View “The New Grid” (Fall 2019+) 

On December 7, 2018, Southwestern University’s Curriculum Committee approved a policy on the ACS Remote Teaching Initiative.  Select this link for policy language.

A course is deleted from the curriculum in the following ways:

1. Academic departments/programs propose deletions of outmoded or revamped courses when submitting departmental/program offerings for catalog copy.
2. When a course has not been offered for more than three years, the Office of the Registrar notifies the appropriate department/program chair to see if deleting the course is appropriate. With departmental/program approval, the courses are deleted.

Deleted courses must not change the major or minor requirements without the additional approval of the academic area (or School of Fine Arts), the Curriculum Committee, and the faculty as a whole.

1. Course offerings for Summer School come through the respective department chair and are due in mid-February along with the annual course schedule for the upcoming year, so that the Office of the Registrar can distribute the Summer School schedule in early March. The Office of the Registrar will be the clearinghouse for and will send out a form to each department chair for submitting course offerings, including all summer study abroad courses.

2. Instructors may offer Advanced Standing Examinations according to regular provisions in the University Catalog.

3. Academic Internships and Independent Study

A. Tuition should be paid in the term when the course is taken.

B. A minimum of three on-site teacher-to-pupil contacts should be made by the instructor. This does not include telephone or letter contacts.

C. The instructor can offer an Independent Study or an Internship as a course during the summer sessions and the load will be treated the same as any other course offerings in calculating teaching load. That is, an Internship or Independent Study enrollee counts as one student on a 12-student class. Travel and other expenses normally are borne by the instructor.

D. Most Independent Studies and Internships to be offered will not be listed in the official Schedule of Classes in advance. Registration is generally via signed add card. Sections are added as cards are received. The Office of the Registrar must receive the Independent Project Description Form for each Independent Study and the number must be entered on the student’s official registration card before registration closes for the session. If possible, the titles of all Independent Studies should be assigned at pre-registration. No student may take an Independent Study as the first course in a subject area.

E. Independent Studies and Internships are generally placed in the Summer III term as are Southwestern study abroad courses.

4. Teaching Load and Compensation

A. For a regular course, the maximum teaching load is one 4-credit course during a three-week session (May or June term). For study abroad, a maximum of one semester hour may be offered for each week of the program’s scheduled duration.

B. Summer School compensation is based on the type of course offered (regular course, tutorial, independent study, or internship). Compensation is determined by the Budget Committee on an annual basis. 

Compensation for a regular 4-credit course is $1,000 per student taught up to a maximum of $7,000 per course. Regular courses are capped at 12 students.

Compensation for a 4-credit tutorial is $900 per student taught up to a maximum of $4,500.

Compensation for an independent study of 4 or more credits is $800 per student taught.

Compensation for an internship of 4 or more credits is $700 per student.

Faculty should contact the Dean of the Faculty’s Office for a description of instructor expectations across the types of courses offered during summer terms. Compensation for 1, 2, and 3 credit courses, tutorials, independent studies, and internships are proportional to the 4 credit levels.

C. A class with fewer than five students pre-registered may be canceled at the discretion of the instructor immediately after registration. The Office of the Registrar will notify registered students of any canceled classes and modify the Summer Schedule of Classes accordingly. If, on the first day of the applicable summer term, enrollment has fallen to three students or less, the instructor, in consultation with the Dean of the Faculty and the Registrar, may then cancel the course.

D. Faculty are paid immediately following each summer term, provided that grades have been submitted on Grade Request Rosters in accordance with University guidelines.

E. In order to avoid delays in grade reporting and compensation, the summer faculty must follow normal drop/add procedures and observe the Summer School Calendar for drop dates, grade deadlines, etc.

5. Types of courses recommended to be included in the Summer Schedule of Classes are:

A. Courses that meet all-University General Education Requirements.

B. Special opportunities for advanced work in a major such as academic internships, research projects, etc.

C. Non-traditional or experimental courses especially designated for our summer school format.

D. Required courses may not be offered only in summer school.

5. Summer School classes are not ordinarily taught by outside faculty hired especially for summer school. Exceptions to this practice must be approved in advance by the Curriculum Committee upon recommendation of the Dean of the Faculty and the appropriate department chair.

6. Summer School instructors are expected to have an office time of at least thirty minutes daily either immediately before or after their classes.

7. Study abroad programs do not usually follow the Summer School Calendar. These conventions should be followed for drop dates, etc.: the last day to drop without record is at the end of the first one-third of the program, and the last day to drop is at the end of the second one-third of the program. Instructors are requested to enforce these dates and keep a written record of any changes in registration. Further, instructors are requested to confirm enrollments in their classes by email during the first week of the program. Grades are due upon the instructor’s return to campus. If there is a delay in the instructor’s return, grades should be reported by email from the instructor’s Southwestern email address. The last day for removing “Incomplete” grades is twenty-one calendar days after the end of the program.

8. Interpretation and administration of these policies is the responsibility of the Registrar.

Every effort should be taken to secure accurate and complete grade records in reporting to the Office of the Registrar. Under unusual circumstances a faculty member may change a grade after the grade reports have been filed by completing the form provided by the Office of the Registrar. After approval signatures have been secured, the changed grade will then be entered on the student’s permanent record. The grade change form is filed permanently with the Grade Request Form previously submitted by the faculty member.

End-of-Semester Grades. Semester grades are due in the Office of the Registrar by the Monday following the end of final exams. In the Spring only, grades of students graduating in Spring or Summer are due a week earlier—on the Monday that Spring Semester final exams begin. Faculty use WebAdvisor to enter their grades online. The same online mechanism is used for entry of “Academic Warning” notifications. Once entered, students may view their final grades via WebAdvisor, so there is no need for faculty to post grades on paper lists. It is difficult to post them without violating FERPA—the federal law regarding student privacy.

Incomplete Grades. The grade of “Incomplete” shall be given only in the case of a medical emergency or some other emergency situation beyond the student’s control. The grade of “Incomplete” may not be given for the sole reason of permitting additional time to complete assigned course work or because a student does not attend a final exam. Students must request the grade of “Incomplete” by submitting a request to the appropriate faculty member which explains the emergency situation surrounding the request. This request must be acknowledged by the faculty member at the time the grade of “Incomplete” is assigned. When the “Incomplete” is given, it must be removed by 5:00 p.m. on the posted deadline (see the Academic Calendar). All “Incomplete” grades are changed to “F” after the deadline unless the student has filed a written petition for an extension, approved by the student’s faculty member and the Registrar. The petition must establish a new deadline for the removal of the “Incomplete.” In the event that the student is unable to request an Incomplete from the faculty member, a request may be made on the student’s behalf by the Center for Academic Success.

X Grade Symbol. The X grade symbol is to be assigned by the instructor only in cases of suspected academic dishonesty or where the grade cannot be assigned due to physical inability to access some existing but missing piece of required work. It may be used by the Registrar if grades cannot be collected from the instructor before grades reports are mailed. The X grade symbol is considered very temporary, and the replacement grade should be reported by the faculty as soon as possible - generally within two weeks. When the X grade symbol is submitted by the instructor, it must be accompanied by a form explaining the nature of the problem, and agreeing to submit the grade in a timely manner. If X grade symbols persist to the deadline for reporting I grades, they will revert to the grade of F, except in cases where judicial review is pending.

In the event that a student simply fails to appear for the final exam or submit a required project, neither X or I is appropriate. The grade should be calculated with a zero for the missing work. If circumstances justify, the grade can be changed later by the instructor, via the grade change form.

The University Catalog states that students are expected to attend all regularly scheduled classes for which credit is granted. Individual faculty members establish specific attendance policies, which appear in the syllabus for each course. Official excuses are not normally issued except as described below. In the case of extended illness or other emergency, the Center for Academic Success and Registrar notifies faculty members by e-mail, voice-mail, or in writing. The faculty members then decide whether the situation justifies an excused absence for the student involved. Detailed procedures for notifying faculty of an absence may be found in the Student Handbook.

Whenever an excused absence has been granted, the faculty member is expected to offer students an opportunity to complete missed examinations or other required work, but it is the student’s responsibility to contact the professor about missed assignments, etc.

Students who are absent from class because they are participating in intercollegiate athletics, class-related field trips, ensemble tours, interviews at graduate schools, or faculty-sponsored attendance at professional conferences will be excused from classes as follows:

1. A student’s excused absence from class does not excuse any work missed during the absence, but does excuse the student from any penalty that would otherwise be imposed by a professor’s attendance policy.
2. The student and the professor will devise an appropriate means for the student to complete assignments, class work, examinations, labs, etc. scheduled during the absence. The responsibility to complete missed work lies solely with the student, who must discuss the absence with the professor as far in advance as possible to work out a satisfactory schedule for submitting work due, taking exams, making up labs, etc. This schedule may involve the student’s completing certain items before rather than after the absence.
3. Coaches, sponsors, and professors should make every effort to schedule approved activities held off-campus so as to produce the least conflict with scheduled classes.
4. Professors whose courses require field trips should include the requirement in the University Catalog description of the course and indicate the scheduled dates of the trip in the course syllabus, to allow students time to resolve schedule conflicts or drop/add courses, if necessary.

For the kinds of absences described above to be excused, a statement of the nature and purpose of the activity, a list of names of the students and faculty members participating in the activity, and the dates and hours during which these participants will be off campus must be submitted in writing by the sponsor of the activity to the Center for Academic Success and Registrar or the Office of the Vice President for Student Life, depending on the nature of the activity. The Director for Academic Success, the Registrar Specialist, or the appropriate designated person within Student Affairs will distribute information about the scheduled activity and the names of the students whose absences are to be excused to all faculty members and to the Business Office (to confirm insurance coverage). The Dean of the Faculty may restrict participation in off-campus activities of students who are on academic or disciplinary probation.

The faculty is reminded that there are legal standards regarding keeping student records, disclosing confidential information, giving reference letters, etc. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, prescribes the conditions under which information about students can be released and has opened many once-confidential internal records to review by students. The faculty should become thoroughly familiar with the appropriate pages of the current Student Handbook, which indicate where student records are kept and what access is granted to them. The University Catalog, Advising Handbook, and Staff Handbook also carry relevant information.

Certain directory information is available via the mySouthwestern portal. Other directory information which may be published in appropriate forms includes the student’s name, local residence address, mailing address, local telephone number, date, and place of birth, major field of study, photographs or other personal imagery, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, and any recent previous educational institution attended by the student. Because of legal considerations and because of Southwestern’s respect for student’s privacy, only those student employees in the Office of the Registrar are permitted to work with any documents which contain student grades. In conformity with the policy, faculty members and administrative staff are requested not to send departmental student employees to work with student records in the Office of the Registrar nor may student permanent records be removed from the Office of the Registrar.

Faculty members are well advised to handle all records as confidential and to avoid release of materials about a student to anyone other than the student, unless it is known that the person requesting the information has a legal right to it or the student has granted permission, in writing, to release such materials to a third party.

Further, faculty members should not discuss any academic or personal matters relating to students with other students or outsiders (such as representatives of news media) without a signed release from the student specifically granting permission to do so.

Southwestern University recognizes that it has students from a variety of religious and cultural traditions that have special days of observance or celebration that may take students out of their regular activities on certain days during the school year. Since the academic calendar does not always coincide with these days, the following policy is to be followed in order to facilitate student absences due to cultural and religious observances.

• As far in advance as possible, the student is expected to notify the professor(s) or instructor(s) of the class(es) to be missed.
• The student is expected to learn what assignments or exams are due or will be assigned on those dates and negotiate with the professor(s) or instructor(s) alternate times for fulfilling those requirements. Students should be prepared to fulfill the requirements prior to the class(es) to be missed.

Official course designation assignment requests are approved by the Curriculum Committee and occur during the Catalog review process.

1. The determination of whether or not a course will fulfill general education Exploration and Breadth requirements is the responsibility of the appropriate academic area or school.
2. In the case of interdisciplinary or cross-listed courses, courses that are clearly aligned with a particular area require no further review beyond the process outlined above. If a course is interdivisional or may be used to satisfy an Exploration and Breadth requirement in more than one area/school, it requires the approval of the area/school for which the credit would be listed.
3. The assignment of the Writing Attentive designation to a course is determined by the department/program.

Plagiarism is the submission of another’s work as one’s own without acknowledgment in written work.

There are basically four ways in which research papers use or incorporate written materials, and each of these requires footnoting.

1. Direct Quotations should be marked off with quotation marks, with a footnote to indicate the source. It is not necessary to place in quotation marks every word in your paper that appears in a source you are using. If your paper concerns Napoleon, for example, you need not place “Napoleon” in quotation marks merely because your sources use the name. Similarly, there are phrases of some length such as “on the other hand” or “it is evident that” which are common property and act in effect as single words.
2. Paraphrase. Where your own language follows closely the language of a written source, or where your line of argument follows a source, you need not use quotation marks, but you are obliged to indicate the source in a footnote.
3. General Indebtedness. Where the ideas in your paper closely resemble and were suggested by ideas in a source, a footnote should be used to indicate this.
4. Background Information. In any area of inquiry there are matters of fact commonly known to everyone with a serious interest. Such information need not be footnoted one fact at a time. Instead, a general footnote toward the beginning of the paper, naming the sources where such information was obtained, is sufficient.

Examination papers and term papers which are not returned to the student by the end of the semester should be retained for at least one full additional semester. [See Minutes of Academic Affairs Council, May 13, 1971.]

The library will retain only electronic copies of each honors thesis completed, beginning in Spring 2015. The thesis, with a scanned completed signature page included, will be uploaded to Southwestern’s institutional repository, SU Scholar, at suscholar.southwestern.edu. The library will review the submission, assign metadata, and make it publicly available, with a stable URL.

In addition, if requested, the library will bind one printed copy as our gift to graduating honors students, for no charge. To receive a bound copy, students should bring the printed thesis pages, already in order, along with a completed signature page, to the library. Pages must have at least a 1 inch margin on the left side of the page (more if possible), and at least a 1/2 inch margin on the other three sides because the bindery will crop the pages in the binding process. Most theses have a 1 inch margin all around. Students should include with the thesis their full name, future email address (and a non-SU email if possible), and a phone number and address where the thesis can be mailed in December. This information and the printed work should be submitted to Debi Flummer in SLC 120.

Fall Study Days consist of the weekend following the last day of class and preceding the start of finals week. Spring Study Days consist of the four-day period (Thursday through Sunday) following the last day of class and preceding the start of finals week. No activities (curricular or extracurricular including tests, finals, make-up work, etc.) requiring student participation are scheduled during this time set aside for final preparations. Exceptions to this restriction must be approved in advance by the Dean of the Faculty. Spring-semester final examinations for seniors graduating in May and August may be scheduled during the last three days of the spring semester or during study days.