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Marine Studies Consortium Academic Policies and Procedures
These policies and procedures guide the operation of Marine Studies Consortium (MSC) academic activities. They are required reading for registered students. Sections below pertain to the responsibilities of MSC Institutional Members (Members), Board of Directors (Directors), Executive Committee, Staff, Lecturers and Students. MSC, its Board of Directors and Executive Committee reserve the right to make additions and modifications to these policies and procedures.
MSC has adopted three policies, which are prohibitions against (1) sexual harassment, (2) discrimination, and (3) academic dishonesty. These are set forth below, in italics, in the first section of this document. For the benefit of students consulting this document, the academic honesty policy is repeated in the Student section of PROCEDURES.
Policies
1. Sexual Harassment PolicyThe Marine Studies Consortium strongly opposes and prohibits sexual harassment of and by its staff, lecturers and students. Sexual harassment includes sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other physical conduct of a sexual nature when: 1) submission or rejection is made either implicitly or explicitly a term or condition of employment, or a basis for grades or other evaluation; 2) such conduct interferes with an individual's work or academic performance; or 3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, humiliating or sexually offensive work or learning environment. In addition, sexually oriented jokes and language, display of sexually oriented cartoons or pictures, and the use of certain gestures can create a sexually offensive work or learning environment and are prohibited.
Any employee or student who believes that he or she is the victim of sexual harassment should relate this impression to the attention of the Executive Director. The Executive Director or a designee will assist the complainant in preparing a written statement of the conditions of the alleged sexual harassment which will be the basis for an investigation of the alleged harassment. The complaint will be treated confidentially. However it may be necessary in the course of the investigation to disclose the allegations and name of the complainant to witnesses, the alleged harasser, and the Executive Committee of the Consortium Board, all of whom will be instructed to maintain confidentiality.
The Executive Director will report on the progress of his investigation to the complainant within ten (10) working days of the complaint. Any employee or adjunct faculty member found to have sexually harassed another employee or student will be subject to discipline up to and including discharge. The Marine Studies Consortium will not permit retaliation against any employee or student because s/he made a complaint of sexual harassment, or participated in the investigation of an allegation of sexual harassment.
Lastly, in the event of the Executive Director being the object of a complaint, the complainant is to approach some member of the Consortium's Executive Committee, who are informed of the possibility that they may so approached in instances of alleged of sexual harassment by the Executive Director.
2. General Non-discrimination Policy
No person shall be excluded from service, enrollment, employment, or participation on the Board of Directors on the basis of:
race, color, religion or creed;national or ethnic origin; age; marital status; sexual orientation; physical or mental handicap if otherwise qualified; citizenship; parental status; political affiliation or membership in any labor organization; height or weight; record of arrest without conviction.
3. Academic Honesty Policy
MSC demands high standards of academic ethics from students and has adopted a strong policy against academic dishonesty. Academic honesty is expected in all situations, even those not anticipated here. Academic honesty requires that all published and unpublished sources, whether quoted, paraphrased or expressed in some other way, are cited in all of the student's oral and written work. In other words, plagiarism and cheating are forbidden. Plagiarism occurs when someone claims the ideas, literal works or paraphrased works of another as his/her own. Such works may or may not be published, and include material on the Internet. Cheating includes but is not limited to: presenting others’ work as one’s own, using improper means to pass an examination, tampering with or destroying classmates’ or lecturers’ work, or altering, then re-presenting previously marked tests or assignments for re-evaluation. Academic dishonesty also includes stealing, copying, or destroying another person's work, such as lab books or final papers; theft or unauthorized removal of books or reserved readings from the library; and fabrication of results or laboratory exercises. The penalty for academic dishonesty is at the discretion of the lecturer, but may be as severe as assignment of an F for the course, and/or expulsion. Students register for MSC courses according to the policies of their institutions, and with the approval of their faculty advisor and/or the Director on their campus.
Procedures
Member Institutions:
1. As described in the MSC bylaws, Institutional Members designate a representative to serve on the MSC Board of Directors.2. Members are responsible for paying annual membership and semester tuition invoices within thirty days of billing date.
3. Members are responsible for supplying course pre-registration and registration data to MSC in a timely manner.
4. Members institutions will be charged the full tuition fee if, by the end of the third week of class, they do not inform MSC of a registered student’s withdrawal. A registered student is one whose registration at their home institution has been communicated to MSC. An exception to this procedure exists for member school where students themselves are responsible for some or all tuition charges. In this case, students are responsible for communicating withdrawals by the end of the third week of class, and institutions will not be responsible for tuition.
5. Members list MSC courses in their catalogs according to their institutional policies.
6. Members grant appropriate credit for MSC courses through their registrars’ procedures.
7. Members provide appropriate publicity for Consortium courses, and advise students who wish to enroll in them.
Board of Directors
1. Consistent with the purposes of the MSC described in its bylaws, Directors propose changes to MSC’s undergraduate curriculum, including new course approval and course discontinuation. The Executive Committee reviews proposed changes, and then refers proposed changes back to the Directors. Directors may then recommend prospective changes for adoption by member institutions.2. MSC Directors are responsible for communicating course information to their registrars and students.
3. MSC Directors represent their home institutions at the Annual Meeting.
Executive Committee
1. MSC Executive Committee may designate a liaison for each course to act as a bridge between the faculty, the students and member institutions. The liaison must be affiliated with a member institution. Liaisons consult, advise and evaluate the lecturers, and are available to students as necessary. Liaisons report to the Executive Director, the Executive Committee or the Board as is appropriate.2. MSC Executive Committee reviews and approves the curriculum. The committee may recommend a proposed new course for adoption by members.
MSC Staff
1. MSC staff, under supervision of the Executive Committee, facilitate engagement of lecturers to teach courses.2. MSC staff maintain course registration, grade and withdrawal information, and provide lists for all courses to appropriate Board members and lecturers.
3. MSC staff collect final grades from lecturers and distribute grades to members in a timely fashion. Final grades are not communicated to students until the grades have been submitted to their home institution.
4. MSC staff devise course calendars and deadlines for course registration, withdrawal and final grade submissions. These are to be as consistent as possible with the calendars and deadlines of members.
5. MSC staff post pertinent information for each course on the MSC web site, including course classroom location and directions, textbook titles, and syllabus. Staff will maintain information to be current during pre-registration for the succeeding semester. When significant changes to this information are posted to the web site (www.brandeis.edu/marinestudies/schedule-location.html
6. MSC staff, representing the Executive Committee, may cancel a given course if an insufficient number of students are registered.
7. MSC staff circulate evaluation forms for each course and lecturer at the end of each semester, tabulate results, and make results available to Directors and Lecturers.
8. MSC staff, in conjunction with lecturers and member institutions, post class cancellations when snow, ice, rain, hurricanes or other emergencies prevent class from being held. Cancellations are posted on the MSC web site (www.brandeis.edu/marinestudies/weather.html
9. Lecturers and MSC staff are jointly responsible for reserving/scheduling classroom space when classes have been cancelled.
Lecturers
1. At the direction of MSC staff, lecturers teaching a course for the first time must prepare a syllabus and submit it to MSC for approval at least six months before the course begins, or teach from a syllabus already approved by MSC. For existing MSC courses they have taught before, lecturers submit any revisions to syllabi to MSC at least two weeks before the course begins. The syllabus includes course topics; assignments; exam and assignment due dates; faculty phone office hours; name and telephone numbers of MSC office and course liaison, if assigned; the MSC academic honesty policy statement; the MSC attendance policy; and the lecturer’s grading, late assignment and missed exam policies.2. Lecturers are required to announce the MSC attendance policy, which is that no more than two classes may be missed except in the case of illness, and to keep attendance records throughout the semester. Using a preliminary class list that MSC will provide at the beginning of a semester, lecturers will provide MSC staff with a current class attendance list for the first, second, third and fourth classes, on the day after these classes.
3. Lecturers teach each class on the day scheduled. Lecturers consult Consortium staff if a class must be rescheduled. Lecturers and Consortium staff are jointly responsible for reserving/scheduling classroom space in rescheduling situations.
4. Lecturers return quizzes, exams and assignments to the students in a timely fashion (usually at the next class).
5. Lecturers maintain grade records and submit final grades, in both letter form (including plus and minus marks) and as percentages, on the day specified in lecturers’ Letter of Agreement with MSC. Special grade reporting arrangements may be necessary in the case of graduating seniors. Lecturers and MSC staff work together to accommodate seniors with special needs. Final grades are not to be communicated to students until the grades have been submitted to MSC staff and MSC has succeeded in communicating the grades to members.
6. Lecturers may be asked to administer the course evaluation forms distributed to them by MSC staff.
7. Lecturers work with the course liaison, if one is assigned by MSC.
8. A student will be granted an Incomplete in a course only if student and lecturer can agree upon an Incomplete Grade Contract that 1) explains the reason for the Incomplete, 2) stipulates the work to be completed, and 3) gives a date, normally to be within six weeks after the end of the semester, by which time the work will be completed and presented to the lecturer. The student must gain signatures of approval of the Incomplete Grade Contract from their MSC lecturer. If the student is unable to complete the required work within the time stipulated in the Incomplete Grade Contract, s/he will receive an F for the course, or be required to retake the course.
9. Lecturers outline late penalties for assignments and procedures for missed exams in the course syllabus.
10. A lecturer who encounters a paper/presentation/exam or other work where s/he believes that a violation of academic ethics has occurred may proceed in one of two ways. (a) The lecturer could first discuss the case with the student(s) involved. (b) The lecturer could first seek guidance from MSC (Executive Director, course liaison or a Director) before meeting with a student to resolve the case. The lecturer must also determine if a third person(s) should be involved as a witness (but not an adjudicator) to a meeting with student(s) involved. In either case, if the student(s) does/do not accept the resolution of the case proposed by the lecturer, the student(s) may follow the academic procedures of the home institution.
Students
Academic Honesty PolicyMSC demands high standards of academic ethics from students and has adopted a strong policy against academic dishonesty. Academic honesty is expected in all situations, even those not anticipated here. A cademic honesty requires that all published and unpublished sources, whether quoted, paraphrased or expressed in some other way, are cited in all of the student's oral and written work. In other words, plagiarism and cheating are forbidden. Plagiarism occurs when someone claims the ideas, literal works or paraphrased works of another as his/her own. Such works may or may not be published, and include material on the Internet. Cheating includes but is not limited to: presenting others’ work as one’s own, using improper means to pass an examination, tampering with or destroying classmates’ or lecturers’ work, or altering, then re-presenting previously marked tests or assignments for re-evaluation. Academic dishonesty also includes stealing, copying, or destroying another person's work, such as lab books or final papers; theft or unauthorized removal of books or reserved readings from the library; and fabrication of results or laboratory exercises. The penalty for academic dishonesty is at the discretion of the lecturer, but may be as severe as assignment of an F for the course, and/or expulsion. Students register for MSC courses according to the policies of their institutions, and with the approval of their faculty advisor and/or the Director on their campus.
Academic Procedures
1. Students are expected to adhere to the honor codes, academic ethics rules and behavior standards of their home institutions at all times.2. If a student decides to withdraw from a Consortium course that s/he has registered to take, s/he, or the Director or Registrar of the home institution, must notify MSC by the end of the third week of the course. MSC will bill the student’s home institution if withdrawal notification is not made by the end of the third week of the course. Students from Framingham State and Salem State Colleges, as well as some students from Northeastern University, are personally responsible for tuition. If registered, they will be billed after three weeks of class unless they have notified MSC of withdrawal by the end of the third week of class.
3. Students are expected to read and comply with the requirements (assignments, exams, attendance, etc.) as set out by the lecturer.
4. All materials (exams and assignments) are due on the date scheduled. If a student misses such dates s/he should follow the policy outlined by the lecturer, who may or may not accept late work according to their discretion.
5. If a Consortium lecturer gives a student the opportunity to e-mail, mail or fax completed exams or assignments, the student is entirely responsible for delivery of these items, according to directions given by the lecturer. If sent by surface mail or delivery service, materials should be sent Return / Receipt. If sending via fax, students must also call or e-mail the lecturer to confirm receipt. In other words, it will never be sufficient for a student to simply mail, fax, email or commission delivery of his/her work to a lecturer. The lecturer must acknowledge receipt of the work via a channel made available by the student. If receipt is not acknowledged, the student cannot assume that his/her has been turned in.
6. Students are expected to retain a copy of each assignment for their records.
7. Students are expected to attend each class. If a student misses a class for whatever reason, s/he must notify their lecturer and arrange to hand in work. Class notes are student responsibilities. As a general rule, no more than two classes may be missed. Classes missed when a student is on a break scheduled at their member institution count against this total.
8. Students should discuss problems with course work with their lecturer and/or their home institution advisor. If problems remain unresolved or are difficult to discuss with the lecturer, then the student can contact MSC staff or the faculty liaison assigned to the course.
9. A lecturer who encounters a paper/presentation/exam or other work where s/he believes that a violation of academic ethics has occurred may proceed in one of two ways. (a) The lecturer could first discuss the case with the student(s) involved. (b) The lecturer could first seek guidance from MSC (Executive Director, course liaison or a Director) before meeting with a student to resolve the case. The lecturer must also determine if a third person(s) should be involved as a witness (but not an adjudicator) to a meeting with student(s) involved. In either case, if the student(s) does/do not accept the resolution of the case proposed by the lecturer, the student(s) may follow the academic procedures of the home institution.
10. A student will be granted an Incomplete in a course only if student and lecturer can agree upon an Incomplete Grade Contract that 1) explains the reason for the Incomplete, 2) stipulates the work to be completed, and 3) gives a date, normally to be within six weeks of the end of the semester, by which time the work will be completed and presented to the lecturer. The student must gain signatures of approval of the Incomplete Grade Contract from their MSC lecturer. If the student is unable to complete the required work within the time stipulated in the Incomplete Grade Contract, s/he shall receive an F for the course, or be required to retake the course.
11. Students who wish to appeal a final grade may contact their lecturer to request that a grade be reconsidered. If a student does not accept the lecturer’s adjudication of a contested final grade, s/he may follow the appeal procedure used by their home institution.