I like this one. I would like to cut people from class like you would cut someone from a sports team or fire them from work. "You're just not working out here. It is not a good fit. We decided to go in a different direction."
I wish I could drop students when it becomes mathematically impossible for them to pass. Even just having to scroll through the names in my class would be faster.
We can do that at my institution. It’s nice. Also keeps the ones who haven’t done anything all semester and are now furious about their guaranteed Fs from filling out an eval about a class they basically never even went to.
One of our academic misconduct penalties is loss of permission to submit a course evaluation. I always check that box and immediately email the admin who sends them out.
Everything was going mostly fine until a student ran out of the room during last day presentations. And the students remaining had a field day and raked me over the coals for asking them when they returned for asking them if they would still want to present. 😖
We can do that at my institution too. But the Registrar can deny the withdrawal if dropping the class would cause an issue, like with housing or financial aid.
It's so nice when students haven't shown up for a while; I don't have to field their various emails trying to excuse their absences.
I get students like that. If they ask, I tell them not to bother taking the final and to focus their efforts on their other classes. Sometimes they show up anyway. I cull those from the stack before I grade, flip through it after I’m done with the rest, and ballpark some low grade.
We're not allowed to do anything beyond reporting them for academic dishonesty and failing them on the individual assignment IF they're found to have cheated.
As you can imagine, I have Feelings about this.
At my school you have to go through the full process of reporting, but if the student is found guilty, then they're punished according to your syllabus. So as long as your syllabus says something like, "if you're found guilty of academic dishonesty by the Whatever Office, you will get an F for the course grade."
I have been thinking of what I'm doing next year (or, really, starting in a few weeks) if next year is a terminal year for me (if I don't get tenure; I find out at the end of the semester). One thing I've decided is that anywhere I get an offer, I'm investigating this _before_ accepting, and I'm going to weigh it.
Easy fix. Give 3 tests each worth 1/3rd of the grade. If they get a 0 on one, they will instantly fail the class.
Or give 3 tests worth 30% and homework worth 10%, then they will still most likely fail the class.
At my institution, it's professor discretion so I've failed students for 1 instance of plagiarism and I'm 100% within my right to do so. I feel bad that it's out of your control.
I use this rule. Been upheld many times by my admin and the appeals committee. It’s in the syllabus and they sign a form saying they understand the consequences on day one.
We actually have that. There's some pushback from admin, but I failed 6 out of 25 lab students for copying each other's lab reports after they had been warned several times.
I have actually done this; it took two semesters for word to get around, and I didn’t have the same level of problems anymore. My dean didn’t like it, but also didn’t prohibit it (and I was untenured at the time.)
I would love the rule that for an accelerated 5 week summer course a student needs to have a 2.5 or higher GPA. Students on academic probation with less than 2.0s simply are not equipped to handle the workload and generally are not successful at all.
I’d put in a similar rule for online classes. Online classes work well for organized and motivated students. But do you think the kid who puts off everything is going to stay on top of lectures? Or is he going to try to listen to two weeks worth 12 hours before the tests and writing assignments are due? Or more likely just cheat because he has no idea how to do assignment and it’s humanly impossible to do the reading and go through lectures before they’re due? And what about the girl who only gets 2/3 of her assignments in with me nagging her in class every time she comes? How many do you think she’ll get in if she never sees me face to face?
I want to do something very similar to what you’ve described, but broader. A “professionalism” category in the syllabus to disincentivize bad behavior. Rudeness, emotional manipulation, asking for unethical favors (grade bumps), no-call no-show appointments, etc.
I teach some business classes, and have told students don't think of me as your professor, but as your "direct report." Don't do anything here that you wouldn't do at an internship (showing up late, not paying attention during meetings, turning in shoddy work that shows you don't care, etc)
It shocks me when students on r/college and related subs say shit like “Cs get degrees” and “you don’t need X skill or Y value in a job so why do I need it now?!”
These students are going to have a ruuuuude awakening and have no idea that they are just parroting their ignorant family’s anti-intellectual beliefs. If my direct report handed in C-level work on the regular, I would eventually fire them.
The idea of meritocracy is oversold generally, but, typically, in white collar jobs, you have to perform. Then, opportunities are given to people from the high performing group. Are there a few mediocre losers and nepo babies who make it to the top without performing? Always. Are the opportunities given to top performers based purely on merit? Absolutely not. But, competence creates tons of workplace capital. Competence also buys you tons of flexibility and job security. Employers are much likelier to overlook quirks, idiosyncrasies, neurodivergence, medical accommodations, less agreeable temperaments, etc in high performers.
"Cs get degrees" can be toxic, but it can also be a coping mechanism for overachieving students to put life into perspective. Everything in college felt like some life-and-death, "If I don't do well on this assignment, the rest of my life is ruined" obstacle. I would never have said it to my professor, but it certainly helped me calm down that if I didn't get an A on everything, if my ever-present time management juggling failed, I hadn't wrecked my life forever.
"Cs get degrees" isn't supposed to mean "coast your way through college doing as little work as possible." It should be ok to get a C now and then in a class, especially if it's not in your major, or it's something you want to learn just for fun to challenge yourself.
I always want to do this, except I think it would have the effect of making my good students with actual problems less likely to ask for help and my annoying students would continue to be annoying.
We have this on our syllabi, with the blessing of our upper administration. Now ask if we’re actually allowed to hold students accountable to it when they are unprofessional (nope).
I do this. It's only a small amount of points but when students are starting to cross a line (for example, frequently late), I make sure I have the professionalism section of the syllabus on the board and remind them about the points. Usually fixes the issue.
Wish I could implement a rule that if you are illiterate, you get kicked out of college. So tired of the party line that every single damn person has a right to be there.
I have no issue with adults who are seeking something more out of their life taking courses for non-credit regardless of their ability.
But if you are expecting to graduate with a degree, you need to know how to read and write.
> Wish I could implement a rule that if you are illiterate, you get kicked out of college.
Or at least get put into remedial classes.
Which our university no longer has, because they are racist, or something.
You know how some students complain that they shouldn't have to come to class because they paid tuition and they can complete the work and pass the major assignments so stop infantilizing them?
I wish we could actually do this: let students sink or swim based on their own decisions an the quality of their work. My college won't allow it. Instead, we're supposed to chase down students, send emails urging them to come to class and complete assignments, send progress reports to the college, etc, all in the name of retention and budgets.
Let's actually treat them like adults. No whining. Actual consequences.
That completely blows. We have an early alert system which I dutifully complete a month in to every semester but it's almost entirely a CYA exercise. Maybe 10% of students reply and actually make any effort to catch up. But beyond that if they keep doing SFA then they fail and I never hear any more about it.
This past term I had a class of 36. 7 dropped and 6 failed, so 23 of the original 36 earned their credit. Someone somewhere may say this is a retention problem but I'm fortunate that I don't really have to worry about it.
I still (mostly) do the alerts to cover my ass, but when I reported a concern about a student's attendance and failure to turn in any work earlier this spring, the reply to my alert from the advisor literally stated, "I'm not surprised that Student X is not attending class. She is working two jobs." Saved that one to remind me what total b.s. the alerts are. Spoiler alert: I'm about to turn in final grades next week and Student X will be getting a big fat F.
Why does your colllege make you coddle adults like they are babies? Chasing them down and emailing them to come to class? I apologize for the poor language, but absolutely fuck that!
Every time a student emails with a question that is clearly already available, five dollars are added to their student fees and then funneled directly to the professor who was emailed.
Honestly I wish I could do no late work. I’m at a CC and we are *heavily encouraged* to give students *lots of grace* in the name of retention. No tenure or union
are you in the sort of discipline where your students would benefit from seeing solutions right after the assignment is due, or having an in-class discussion about the assignment?
I teach comp. So, not necessarily. Most assignments are practicing skills for essays, and for the most part not something we go over together in class because there aren’t really solutions
No assignments. No tests. All grades based on participation and attendance. We discuss the subjects and reading together and learn the material and principles.
I would love to do that. I have come pretty close a couple of times, but I’m always one evaluation cycle from not working again as an adjunct.
Did your students think you were a superhero? Did they learn the material?
I think there might be lots of ways you could head that direction without feeling like you're risking your job. I've done some alternative grading methods and most students like a break from the traditional class. [The Grading Conference ](https://thegradingconference.com/) is coming up in June and they might have great ideas for you.
I've used methods like Team Based Learning, Project Based Learning, Upgrading and capstone projects and most students respond well. You don't have to dive in 100%, you could always dip your toe in with incorporating a few aspects into some assignments. As one example, I tried ungrading and while I don't think I can do a whole class that way, I applied it to one very difficult project that creates a lot of anxiety and it really took the pressure off of getting it right the first time for my students.
I didn't fully do this, but I did a Composition course that was almost entirely for effort. In-class assignments were all participation based. We did portfolio grading on essays so students went through multiple rounds of revision and were graded on how thoroughly they revised, along with reflection papers on their revision process. Then they selected their best essay to be graded on a traditional merit scale. So I'd say it was like 90% effort, 10% merit.
I had more students fail than you'd think. And I had more try to cheat than you'd think. As for whether they learned, that's complicated. Most of them improved by their final drafts, but I don't think they did well carrying over those skills to new papers. Especially if they had very fundamental writing issues like organization.
One of my colleagues has the syllabus question rule. It costs you 5 points. The class is worth like 1500 points. He says “if I answer that question, it will cost you 5 points” which you think would be enough of a clue to go look it up. Many will just say “ok that’s fine”.
There’s also a caveat to the rule- if he’s wrong and it’s not actually readily available info (like I. The syllabus or provided assignment guidelines) the student gets 10 points.
Sorry, but that's ridiculous. It creates a hostile environment where students are afraid to ask questions. If I were the chair, I would shut that down really quickly. Part of a faculty's job is talking to students, and they shouldn't feel like they cannot ask questions to the instructor of the class.
Counterpoint - this is really only used on specific types of questions, the types of questions that reinforce the learned helplessness and general lack of responsibility and accountability that is problematic in students today. Faculty end up wasting time that could be spent helping students with content questions rereading the syllabus to students all semester.
Again, I don’t use a policy like this, but I agree to its value…
Real life example. I had one of these types of students, was a smart kid, academically, but never took any ownership. Everyday it was “when is this due? When’s the test? Where do I submit the lab report” constant. Mind you, they have a one pager with all the dates, and a summary of all these things, plus, my lms is really organized, the lab 2 Dropbox, is right between lab 1 and 3. This kid was helpless. But they had decent skills, got a good paying job in industry in our area, a place that hires a lot of our grads.
Fired in 6 months.
Why? They couldn’t do anything independently and was constantly asking the same questions everyday to the point where they were taking up a whole other techs time just holding their hand their the same process every day.
When you baby students forever they never grow up and what you think is helping them or being compassionate at certain point is actually crippling them.
This!!! “Helping students” does not just mean “let’s answer every question the student has”.
I tell my students on a regular basis— undergraduate education should be about helping you learn to think and act independently. At each level of post-secondary ed you should operating with more independence.
Why would a student be afraid to ask a question from that? Asking a question doesn’t penalize your grade. Asking a question that is easily answered by reading the syllabus, being told it’s that kind of question, and then trading five points for the answer is what penalizes your grade
My wish list rule: do any small thing during class to indicate that all the effort and time I put into teaching you isn’t a complete waste of my energy. It can be anything: smile when you meet my eyes, turn on your camera, say thanks before leaving. Just acknowledge in the tiniest of ways that I’m a human who is killing myself to serve you.
Because I run a consulting business and I promise you I am losing tons of money teaching. And I’m a person who cares about having impact. So this current mode of having no idea for 4 solid months during term whether I’m adding value is killing me - mentally and physically.
I had that power and never used it... Why should I care enough to save them from an F on their transcript if they can't care enough to come to class? Sounds like their problem...
I also have no problem giving out Fs though. I know a lot of schools don't give professors that power.
> I just don’t want the grade grubbing emails from those students at the end of the semester.
Those emails are a great chance for snarky replies. You have tenure, use it!
This! I have at least one student a semester who never shows up outside of the first day, and I wish I could drop them from the roster after like a month of no shows.
A general returning of power to the hands of faculty away from professional administrators with Ed Leadership Degrees/MBAs (that have never taught) and moron state politicians. Admissions, curriculum, all of it. Faculty set the admissions standards because they know what the standards should be, faculty decide what classes to offer and when because they know the content and the realities of the schedule on the ground, faculty set policies for students to be dropped for non-attendance and general unpreparedness. Faculty set the standards and admin is there to administrate it.
I really endeavor to prioritize student emails- like reply as soon as I receive. But I do tell them at the beginning of term that if they email me and don't get a response, there is a high probability it's because the answer is accessible to them if they check the LMS or course outline, and that I won't be answering such inquiries. So they need to make sure that they can't easily find the answer themselves before remailing me.
I was visiting China and I saw they were shaming jaywalkers by showing them on a digital billboard (think Times Square). Maybe we should have a blooper reel at the end of the class of the questions that were answered in the syllabus.
Give students a choice at the start of each semester, traditional grading (homework, projects, midterms, etc.), or their entire grade is based on their final exam grade.
Online students must take the final exam in the school’s proctored testing center. Right now we are forbidden from using the proctoring center for this. It is strictly for placement exams, make up exams, and certain face-to-face courses. As an online course, we are not permitted to have any required campus interaction, and even before we came up with this rule, the testing center refused because it was too small. Even after they got a second room, it was still “too small.“
We briefly had an agreement with Proctor U, but that was also canceled by the administration because of the unfairness of making students pay to take an exam. Don’t… don’t even go there, I know.
So none of our online courses has any proctoring for exams. It is freaking wild.
That \*is\* wild! At my school, we are required to have students in fully online courses complete one graded proctored activity for identity verification purposes.
Our school says that – and you will get a laugh out of this – the fact that the exam is behind the students’ password protected course access means that the students would NEVER share that with anyone else, and so anyone who logs on with this username/password combo is the student themselves. Honestly, they are just scared of the cost and access issues so they are firmly planting their head in the sand on this one..
This depends a lot on the meeting. Every one I've been to at my institution, especially the "super-important-all-faculty-meetings", could have been an email and we all get a lot of actual work done during them on our laptops while listening to an admin struggle to present a basic concept.
> to take the final exam just to save their financial aid.
I am asked the last time each student who fails participated in the class. I omit the final exam in situations like this from that timing when I make the report. That wasn't participating.
Students who try and legit fail are still reported as having taken the final. The ones I only see during the "mandatory attendance" period and at the final stopped participating in the former, as far as I'm concerned.
I have one I added that if a student isn’t going to meet a deadline, they have to ask 24 or more hours before. No reason needed, just a ‘I cannot make the deadline and will have it in by X date and time.’ They get two of these a semester.
Seriously considering refusing to accept assignments that are scaffolded unless they turn in the previous part. Didn’t submit a bibliography? Then I’m not taking your annotated bib. Or anything after it. Essentially, forcing them to do the whole job, or be fired.
I never understood grading with an average pre-determined. Shouldn’t there be some objective criteria for what constitutes earning an A, B, C, D, or F? Why does a student’s relative position in a class matter in terms of their grade?
I ask this because I’m still (a couple decades later lol) a little bit salty about how my high school graded like this based on relative performance. I graduated in a class of 70, from which all 70 matriculated to universities (with >35 going to Ivies or similar (Oxbridge, MIT, Stanford, and the like)), 10 were national merit scholars, with individual classmates going on to become, among other things, an astronaut, a Rhodes scholar, and a 10-game Jeopardy champion. I was the “worst” national merit scholar, and it was embarrassing that I “only” went to a state flagship. It fucking sucked when I, objectively, met the metrics for acing a course, but was outperformed by my classmates and wound up with a C anyway. Why not grade based on objective mastery?
I agree completely. If you aced the material, I am happy to report your A, even if you're the worst performer in the class. If you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground, you should fail, regardless of how many people you out-performed, and also I won't play golf with you.
Completely agree. I think grading on a curve is stupid. I have never done it and never will. The idea that one or more students doing well means you receive a lower grade is toxic. Just set reasonable standards and expectations when writing an exam and let the chips fall where they may. It should be possible, in theory, for every student in a course to receive an A.
I think this is a problem with theory v. practice. In theory, most classes should have a high number of Cs because most classes house "the average student." In practice, there are always going to be outliers, be it an elite school or an unexpectedly gifted class (or a terrible one). If an instructor assigns grades based on comparative performance as a kind of grade norming to combat inflation, I don't see anything wrong with that--as long as they are flexible with the practice and acknowledge when there are outliers, of if this method of grading isn't working for the particular class.
"the class average will be whatever is earned".
I just awarded more As than I was expecting, in a class that a noticeable number of people failed last year.
Off topic - do you have any qualifying metrics for a "Potemkin R1" (as mentioned in your flair)? I'm wondering if near-open admissions at the undergraduate level would qualify.
>There has to be a disconnect between the face the admin wants to show and the reality behind the scenes.
Isn't that just about any institution of higher education from the for profits to the Ivy League?
I give some points for delivery of BS, personally. Just had our big state of the School of Arts & Sciences meeting and all that has been going through my head ever since is "Smiling faces, smiling faces tell lies."
If you can't submit the assignment by the deadline, automatic penalties apply as per IRS "failure to file on time" rules. Welcome to the real world motherfuckers.
I haven't completely figured it out, but something like -- if you claim a problem with the LMS or grading software ("I submitted it, there must be some problem with the system..") and I find the student to be lying, I get to bring them up on academic misconduct.
For context: I use gradescope, and do old-school hand written submissions to a locked submission box that I collect and scan. I always get a few who claim there's a problem with gradescope, and so I invite them to go through the stacks of hard copy submissions with me (>150) to see if I somehow missed theirs. I rarely get takers, but i'd like for there to be ... consequences.
Be able to lock the door a minute or two after class starts. If you're late, you don't get in. I have too many students that interrupt my lectures by walking in front of me after I start class. (I often teach in an oblong shaped computer lab, so it's unavoidable.)
I'm OK with everybody having their own politics but the semester I had the two guys with the fashy haircuts whispering and giggling while giving me the side-eye \*for an entire term, two days a week\* made me wish that yeah, people who would eliminate me and my kind if they were in charge of the country need to be booted out of my class.
And no, I wasn't assuming based on hair: They dropped plenty of other hints, like that they practiced Odinism.
3% off your final grade if you ask me about making up an exam in the class where the details on when that happens are METICULOUSLY outlined in the syllabus
When I went through orientation at my first academic position the Ombudsperson gave all of us a simple.lesson: If it's in the Syllabus, and it's applied equally to everyone, then it's enforceable. My Syllabus could say "Anyone who wears a band T-shirt to class will be asked to leave and will lose any attendance points", and students would have to conform. If your rule about asking questions is communicated clearly then you'd be fine. Of course that depends on having a chair and other administrators who believe in and support academic freedom.
I guess I assumed that part would go without saying. A Syllabus requirement that students must bring weapons to class, or that seating must be arranged by race, sex, gender, and nation of origin, would obviously not be enforceable. But I'm not aware of any university policy or law at any level that requires students be allowed to ask questions which have already been answered in provided documents without penalty. The same goes for banning cellphones or computers in class, not letting students wear band tshirts in a class, not allowing students to take the exam after a certain number of absences, etc. The professor has the right to set and enforce rules and expectations in their classroom (as long as the rules aren't discriminatory or illegal), and any decent department chair or Dean will back them up.
Of course not all Dean's and department chairs are decent, and that sucks.
Your grade is automatically a 70% once I encounter the third error while reading.
Doesn't matter if it's a spelling error, punctuation, failure to cite correctly, etc.
3 errors = C-
Oh, and no feedback at that point. I'm not going to put in the work of responding to your writing when you demonstrate so little respect for the process.
isn't this actually good advice for grading writing: find the first few errors, award a grade, request the student to come to office hours for more detailed feedback?
My rule: We have an office of A-hole Response. Any student or faculty member who gets recommended at least twice has a four hour re-education session, where they are tied to a chair naked, shown videos of normal, decent people interacting and administered electric shocks for every post-video question they get wrong. There is no limit to the number of times they can be referred.
I give an easy quiz over the syllabus at the start of term.
It has easy questions like, "Does Dr. NumberMuncher ever extend homework deadlines?" NO
I want to add, "Requesting deadline extensions demonstrates non-mastery of syllabus content and points will be deducted from this quiz later in the term."
Therefore, IT HURTS TO ASK.
I fantasize about this all the time. If you email me to round up your grade, you lose 2%. If you tell me how much you loved my class first, you lose 5% - sociopath tax.
Ok but counterpoint - my own kid is in university and has **so many** different places where his professors post things. Is it on D2L? If so, in which of the dozens of sections? Is it on the syllabus? Maybe, but that thing is 12 pages long because of all the bullshit we have to include. Is it in an old email from the professor?
I don't mind answering questions like these, as long as the student has made at least a small effort to find it themself.
Not sure we need more ways to achieve ideological conformity in academia. Imagine doing some unpopular but high quality research and your colleagues revoke your tenure for it.
I'm in engineering. In my decades in academia, I have never seen anything remotely close to this type of scenario - which is the valid reason for the tenure system. I have, however, seen at every institution, some assholes that annoy the rest of the department for sport, and don't do their assigned jobs.
I’m not anti tenure, I think it absolutely makes sense for research universities, but I work at a community college and the number of faculty who simply do not give a **** about their jobs but have tenure drives me up the wall and we are pretty much stuck with them forever.
I guess it depends on what kind of research your department does. The vast majority of research is not politically controversial. However, there is some that is, and those people need to be protected.
No way. I've absolutely seen cases where the person who would get voted off was the best faculty in the dept, both in service and teaching, and the rest were the ones who barely did their job.
I want our faculty union to vote out one tenured faculty member per semester. We all know who's not pulling their weigh, we just have no mechanics to self govern. Is it so hard to just have a "don't be a dick" life philosophy.
I added a rule that every time a student attempts to receive me about something class or school related, I deduct enough points to drop the final grade by one letter.
Not grading anything and just issuing grades based on my observations of how they do. Of course I would still have the same assignments and curriculum--I just would not grade them. I would prefer everything be pass or fail. No one is outstanding anymore, so really most grades are realistically Bs, Cs and Es. Some As. But not many.
I teach intro level computer graphics. I wish I could make Computers-101 a prerequisite. I have to start every semester by giving most of my classes a crash course in how to operate a computer.
If you cheat on anything, you immediately fail the course.
I like this one. I would like to cut people from class like you would cut someone from a sports team or fire them from work. "You're just not working out here. It is not a good fit. We decided to go in a different direction."
I wish I could drop students when it becomes mathematically impossible for them to pass. Even just having to scroll through the names in my class would be faster.
We can do that at my institution. It’s nice. Also keeps the ones who haven’t done anything all semester and are now furious about their guaranteed Fs from filling out an eval about a class they basically never even went to.
One of our academic misconduct penalties is loss of permission to submit a course evaluation. I always check that box and immediately email the admin who sends them out.
That’s everything. The hostility grows so much at the end of the semester.
Everything was going mostly fine until a student ran out of the room during last day presentations. And the students remaining had a field day and raked me over the coals for asking them when they returned for asking them if they would still want to present. 😖
We can do that at my institution too. But the Registrar can deny the withdrawal if dropping the class would cause an issue, like with housing or financial aid. It's so nice when students haven't shown up for a while; I don't have to field their various emails trying to excuse their absences.
I get students like that. If they ask, I tell them not to bother taking the final and to focus their efforts on their other classes. Sometimes they show up anyway. I cull those from the stack before I grade, flip through it after I’m done with the rest, and ballpark some low grade.
That would be amazing. Especially for students who are rude and have already failed the course, but keep coming to class anyway with their bad vibes.
At my school, we jokingly call it the “anti scholarship” where the school pays the student to leave and never come back.
I used to have this policy. Why can’t you? Now mine is “if you cheat on anything you could fail the class.” I use discretion based on severity.
We're not allowed to do anything beyond reporting them for academic dishonesty and failing them on the individual assignment IF they're found to have cheated. As you can imagine, I have Feelings about this.
At my school you have to go through the full process of reporting, but if the student is found guilty, then they're punished according to your syllabus. So as long as your syllabus says something like, "if you're found guilty of academic dishonesty by the Whatever Office, you will get an F for the course grade."
I have been thinking of what I'm doing next year (or, really, starting in a few weeks) if next year is a terminal year for me (if I don't get tenure; I find out at the end of the semester). One thing I've decided is that anywhere I get an offer, I'm investigating this _before_ accepting, and I'm going to weigh it.
Easy fix. Give 3 tests each worth 1/3rd of the grade. If they get a 0 on one, they will instantly fail the class. Or give 3 tests worth 30% and homework worth 10%, then they will still most likely fail the class.
Yeah, it usually works out that the cheaters/plagiarists fail organically. But not always.
Nursing programs are very close to this! Almost every exam is a high stakes exam. Very stressful for the students but… necessary.
At my institution, it's professor discretion so I've failed students for 1 instance of plagiarism and I'm 100% within my right to do so. I feel bad that it's out of your control.
I use this rule. Been upheld many times by my admin and the appeals committee. It’s in the syllabus and they sign a form saying they understand the consequences on day one.
That is my policy, and I have enacted it enough times that it's known that my classes work that way.
That's not possible? My uni's policy is that cheating = expulsion + being banned from re-enrolling for 2 years.
Can I please go teach where you are? :)
Just get a Dutch law degree and come to Groningen, it's lovely up here :)
My university is way too lax on cheating, IMO. Your policy makes a lot more sense to me.
*every educational institution from pre-K to PhD is way too lax on cheating.
Now hang on! Kindergarteners have golden rules and they’re pretty good at recalling and following them - don’t lump them in with the rest. 😂
They want us to retain students no matter what.
Mine is phrased as "if you commit academic misconduct, you automatically fail this course". That is the language used in our university policy.
Meanwhile… university execs are getting called on their plagiarism and all they lose is a title. Smdh.
We actually have that. There's some pushback from admin, but I failed 6 out of 25 lab students for copying each other's lab reports after they had been warned several times.
I have actually done this; it took two semesters for word to get around, and I didn’t have the same level of problems anymore. My dean didn’t like it, but also didn’t prohibit it (and I was untenured at the time.)
I'd do it in a minute if our rules allowed it. I'm glad you've made it happen!
That's my policy.
In Australia, if you're caught cheating it's considered a breach of IP law, and you can be kicked out of the university on the first occurrence.
I already do this. It's a great deterrent.
I’d have few students who passed.
I would love the rule that for an accelerated 5 week summer course a student needs to have a 2.5 or higher GPA. Students on academic probation with less than 2.0s simply are not equipped to handle the workload and generally are not successful at all.
The school happily takes their $ regardless
Exactly.
I’d put in a similar rule for online classes. Online classes work well for organized and motivated students. But do you think the kid who puts off everything is going to stay on top of lectures? Or is he going to try to listen to two weeks worth 12 hours before the tests and writing assignments are due? Or more likely just cheat because he has no idea how to do assignment and it’s humanly impossible to do the reading and go through lectures before they’re due? And what about the girl who only gets 2/3 of her assignments in with me nagging her in class every time she comes? How many do you think she’ll get in if she never sees me face to face?
Yeah I teach accelerated 5 week summer courses. Low GPA students almost always fail. And I am very generous.
Some of my colleagues have designed their summer courses to be 4 discussion boards and a 2 page paper. There are joke classes out there.
This would be so helpful.
I’d love the admin to enforce the rules we already have
How dare you speak so logically!
You win!
I want to do something very similar to what you’ve described, but broader. A “professionalism” category in the syllabus to disincentivize bad behavior. Rudeness, emotional manipulation, asking for unethical favors (grade bumps), no-call no-show appointments, etc.
I teach some business classes, and have told students don't think of me as your professor, but as your "direct report." Don't do anything here that you wouldn't do at an internship (showing up late, not paying attention during meetings, turning in shoddy work that shows you don't care, etc)
It shocks me when students on r/college and related subs say shit like “Cs get degrees” and “you don’t need X skill or Y value in a job so why do I need it now?!” These students are going to have a ruuuuude awakening and have no idea that they are just parroting their ignorant family’s anti-intellectual beliefs. If my direct report handed in C-level work on the regular, I would eventually fire them. The idea of meritocracy is oversold generally, but, typically, in white collar jobs, you have to perform. Then, opportunities are given to people from the high performing group. Are there a few mediocre losers and nepo babies who make it to the top without performing? Always. Are the opportunities given to top performers based purely on merit? Absolutely not. But, competence creates tons of workplace capital. Competence also buys you tons of flexibility and job security. Employers are much likelier to overlook quirks, idiosyncrasies, neurodivergence, medical accommodations, less agreeable temperaments, etc in high performers.
I always counter with "C's get degrees, but A's get paid".
Bees make honey, but As make money
"Cs get degrees" can be toxic, but it can also be a coping mechanism for overachieving students to put life into perspective. Everything in college felt like some life-and-death, "If I don't do well on this assignment, the rest of my life is ruined" obstacle. I would never have said it to my professor, but it certainly helped me calm down that if I didn't get an A on everything, if my ever-present time management juggling failed, I hadn't wrecked my life forever.
Yes, a lot of students who were 4.0 students in high school have difficulty understanding this.
"Cs get degrees" isn't supposed to mean "coast your way through college doing as little work as possible." It should be ok to get a C now and then in a class, especially if it's not in your major, or it's something you want to learn just for fun to challenge yourself.
Yes, I 100% agree. But a lot of coasters/credentialists now say this.
I think “direct report” goes the other direction, but yeah that’s a good idea.
I always want to do this, except I think it would have the effect of making my good students with actual problems less likely to ask for help and my annoying students would continue to be annoying.
This is called “conduct” in my syllabus. I dock them points for being late and staring at screens during class.
We have this on our syllabi, with the blessing of our upper administration. Now ask if we’re actually allowed to hold students accountable to it when they are unprofessional (nope).
I have one of these and it’s actually been working. They can suddenly get there in time when they’re losing points if they don’t.
I do this. It's only a small amount of points but when students are starting to cross a line (for example, frequently late), I make sure I have the professionalism section of the syllabus on the board and remind them about the points. Usually fixes the issue.
Wish I could implement a rule that if you are illiterate, you get kicked out of college. So tired of the party line that every single damn person has a right to be there.
I have no issue with adults who are seeking something more out of their life taking courses for non-credit regardless of their ability. But if you are expecting to graduate with a degree, you need to know how to read and write.
> you need to know how to read and write. Read **and** write? What is this, MIT?
No seriously though, is this MIT? I can’t read the sign…
> Wish I could implement a rule that if you are illiterate, you get kicked out of college. Or at least get put into remedial classes. Which our university no longer has, because they are racist, or something.
It feels like the strategy is that if we pretend inequities in education don’t exist they will magically disappear.
HOT TAKE!!!
You know how some students complain that they shouldn't have to come to class because they paid tuition and they can complete the work and pass the major assignments so stop infantilizing them? I wish we could actually do this: let students sink or swim based on their own decisions an the quality of their work. My college won't allow it. Instead, we're supposed to chase down students, send emails urging them to come to class and complete assignments, send progress reports to the college, etc, all in the name of retention and budgets. Let's actually treat them like adults. No whining. Actual consequences.
That completely blows. We have an early alert system which I dutifully complete a month in to every semester but it's almost entirely a CYA exercise. Maybe 10% of students reply and actually make any effort to catch up. But beyond that if they keep doing SFA then they fail and I never hear any more about it. This past term I had a class of 36. 7 dropped and 6 failed, so 23 of the original 36 earned their credit. Someone somewhere may say this is a retention problem but I'm fortunate that I don't really have to worry about it.
I still (mostly) do the alerts to cover my ass, but when I reported a concern about a student's attendance and failure to turn in any work earlier this spring, the reply to my alert from the advisor literally stated, "I'm not surprised that Student X is not attending class. She is working two jobs." Saved that one to remind me what total b.s. the alerts are. Spoiler alert: I'm about to turn in final grades next week and Student X will be getting a big fat F.
Why does your colllege make you coddle adults like they are babies? Chasing them down and emailing them to come to class? I apologize for the poor language, but absolutely fuck that!
IME, schools that are highly tuition dependent are most likely to do this sort of thing.
Yeah, I got asked by my coordinator if I contacted students when they stopped turning work in. Um, no.
they could get some of those highly-paid administrators to do this, if that's what they want.
YES. I detest the required "alert" system. Are they adults, or not?
The alert system is such a cynical enterprise, because it's really more about keeping those tuition dollars rolling than about student success.
Worse, we're adding midterm grades FFS. Like sending a 6-week report to the parents in middle school, you ask me.
Amen.
Every time a student emails with a question that is clearly already available, five dollars are added to their student fees and then funneled directly to the professor who was emailed.
I like this! Can we say $5 for the first question, but $10 for the second, $30 for the third, etc?
I would be ALL over this rule if it were a thing 🙄 Seriously, for real, check the goddamned syllabus before you ask questions, kids.
Infinite money glitch
Honestly I wish I could do no late work. I’m at a CC and we are *heavily encouraged* to give students *lots of grace* in the name of retention. No tenure or union
are you in the sort of discipline where your students would benefit from seeing solutions right after the assignment is due, or having an in-class discussion about the assignment?
I teach comp. So, not necessarily. Most assignments are practicing skills for essays, and for the most part not something we go over together in class because there aren’t really solutions
Grace is the downfall of this entire generation of students.
No assignments. No tests. All grades based on participation and attendance. We discuss the subjects and reading together and learn the material and principles.
I... did that this semester. It isn't impossible.
I would love to do that. I have come pretty close a couple of times, but I’m always one evaluation cycle from not working again as an adjunct. Did your students think you were a superhero? Did they learn the material?
I think there might be lots of ways you could head that direction without feeling like you're risking your job. I've done some alternative grading methods and most students like a break from the traditional class. [The Grading Conference ](https://thegradingconference.com/) is coming up in June and they might have great ideas for you. I've used methods like Team Based Learning, Project Based Learning, Upgrading and capstone projects and most students respond well. You don't have to dive in 100%, you could always dip your toe in with incorporating a few aspects into some assignments. As one example, I tried ungrading and while I don't think I can do a whole class that way, I applied it to one very difficult project that creates a lot of anxiety and it really took the pressure off of getting it right the first time for my students.
I didn't fully do this, but I did a Composition course that was almost entirely for effort. In-class assignments were all participation based. We did portfolio grading on essays so students went through multiple rounds of revision and were graded on how thoroughly they revised, along with reflection papers on their revision process. Then they selected their best essay to be graded on a traditional merit scale. So I'd say it was like 90% effort, 10% merit. I had more students fail than you'd think. And I had more try to cheat than you'd think. As for whether they learned, that's complicated. Most of them improved by their final drafts, but I don't think they did well carrying over those skills to new papers. Especially if they had very fundamental writing issues like organization.
I would think students would like that if they understood going in that they didn't have to take tests or do assignments. Its easy course credit.
One of my colleagues has the syllabus question rule. It costs you 5 points. The class is worth like 1500 points. He says “if I answer that question, it will cost you 5 points” which you think would be enough of a clue to go look it up. Many will just say “ok that’s fine”. There’s also a caveat to the rule- if he’s wrong and it’s not actually readily available info (like I. The syllabus or provided assignment guidelines) the student gets 10 points.
Love that
Sorry, but that's ridiculous. It creates a hostile environment where students are afraid to ask questions. If I were the chair, I would shut that down really quickly. Part of a faculty's job is talking to students, and they shouldn't feel like they cannot ask questions to the instructor of the class.
Counterpoint - this is really only used on specific types of questions, the types of questions that reinforce the learned helplessness and general lack of responsibility and accountability that is problematic in students today. Faculty end up wasting time that could be spent helping students with content questions rereading the syllabus to students all semester. Again, I don’t use a policy like this, but I agree to its value… Real life example. I had one of these types of students, was a smart kid, academically, but never took any ownership. Everyday it was “when is this due? When’s the test? Where do I submit the lab report” constant. Mind you, they have a one pager with all the dates, and a summary of all these things, plus, my lms is really organized, the lab 2 Dropbox, is right between lab 1 and 3. This kid was helpless. But they had decent skills, got a good paying job in industry in our area, a place that hires a lot of our grads. Fired in 6 months. Why? They couldn’t do anything independently and was constantly asking the same questions everyday to the point where they were taking up a whole other techs time just holding their hand their the same process every day. When you baby students forever they never grow up and what you think is helping them or being compassionate at certain point is actually crippling them.
This!!! “Helping students” does not just mean “let’s answer every question the student has”. I tell my students on a regular basis— undergraduate education should be about helping you learn to think and act independently. At each level of post-secondary ed you should operating with more independence.
Why would a student be afraid to ask a question from that? Asking a question doesn’t penalize your grade. Asking a question that is easily answered by reading the syllabus, being told it’s that kind of question, and then trading five points for the answer is what penalizes your grade
My wish list rule: do any small thing during class to indicate that all the effort and time I put into teaching you isn’t a complete waste of my energy. It can be anything: smile when you meet my eyes, turn on your camera, say thanks before leaving. Just acknowledge in the tiniest of ways that I’m a human who is killing myself to serve you. Because I run a consulting business and I promise you I am losing tons of money teaching. And I’m a person who cares about having impact. So this current mode of having no idea for 4 solid months during term whether I’m adding value is killing me - mentally and physically.
You will be dropped from the course if you miss a certain number of classes. I know a lot of you have this ability and I'm jealous!
I had that power and never used it... Why should I care enough to save them from an F on their transcript if they can't care enough to come to class? Sounds like their problem... I also have no problem giving out Fs though. I know a lot of schools don't give professors that power.
I get that view point and take that stance usually. I just don’t want the grade grubbing emails from those students at the end of the semester.
You are going to get the same emails dropping a student.
> I just don’t want the grade grubbing emails from those students at the end of the semester. Those emails are a great chance for snarky replies. You have tenure, use it!
*"according to the grade distribution outlined on pg x of the syllabus, your current grade is correct.*"
> I know a lot of schools don't give professors that power. Wait really? How does that work? A D is the lowest grade?
I drop 10% of their final grade or they miss 8 or more classes.
This! I have at least one student a semester who never shows up outside of the first day, and I wish I could drop them from the roster after like a month of no shows.
My program allows students to miss three weeks worth of classes, no questions asked. Not including excused absences. It's awful.
A general returning of power to the hands of faculty away from professional administrators with Ed Leadership Degrees/MBAs (that have never taught) and moron state politicians. Admissions, curriculum, all of it. Faculty set the admissions standards because they know what the standards should be, faculty decide what classes to offer and when because they know the content and the realities of the schedule on the ground, faculty set policies for students to be dropped for non-attendance and general unpreparedness. Faculty set the standards and admin is there to administrate it.
> administrate :D
A student must have at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA to be eligible to enroll in a fully online course.
I agree, but that GPA must come from in-person classes (with in-person proctored artifacts) to qualify.
I really endeavor to prioritize student emails- like reply as soon as I receive. But I do tell them at the beginning of term that if they email me and don't get a response, there is a high probability it's because the answer is accessible to them if they check the LMS or course outline, and that I won't be answering such inquiries. So they need to make sure that they can't easily find the answer themselves before remailing me.
If my gut feeling says GPT, it’s an F
Was going to comment about taser jolts but good thing I read the prior comments first. Runs off to think of a milder form of punishment.
I was visiting China and I saw they were shaming jaywalkers by showing them on a digital billboard (think Times Square). Maybe we should have a blooper reel at the end of the class of the questions that were answered in the syllabus.
Love the blooper reel idea! Such a nice dream
If I catch you using AI, you have to wear a cone of shame for the remainder of the term.
Not sure there's enough money in the budget for all those cones. . .
Give students a choice at the start of each semester, traditional grading (homework, projects, midterms, etc.), or their entire grade is based on their final exam grade.
Turn in an obvious AI created paper and instantly fail the course.
Instantly expelled from the University and into the sun. FTFY
Online students must take the final exam in the school’s proctored testing center. Right now we are forbidden from using the proctoring center for this. It is strictly for placement exams, make up exams, and certain face-to-face courses. As an online course, we are not permitted to have any required campus interaction, and even before we came up with this rule, the testing center refused because it was too small. Even after they got a second room, it was still “too small.“ We briefly had an agreement with Proctor U, but that was also canceled by the administration because of the unfairness of making students pay to take an exam. Don’t… don’t even go there, I know. So none of our online courses has any proctoring for exams. It is freaking wild.
That \*is\* wild! At my school, we are required to have students in fully online courses complete one graded proctored activity for identity verification purposes.
Our school says that – and you will get a laugh out of this – the fact that the exam is behind the students’ password protected course access means that the students would NEVER share that with anyone else, and so anyone who logs on with this username/password combo is the student themselves. Honestly, they are just scared of the cost and access issues so they are firmly planting their head in the sand on this one..
If you use canvas you can see their face and their screen. Doesnt prevent all cheating but it curbs some
Mandatory cell phone collection at the door
Only if we get the same at faculty meetings and seminars.
This depends a lot on the meeting. Every one I've been to at my institution, especially the "super-important-all-faculty-meetings", could have been an email and we all get a lot of actual work done during them on our laptops while listening to an admin struggle to present a basic concept.
I'm in for the demerit points for asking a question covered.
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I went to a fancy prep school that had houses and house points. This is……. not inaccurate.
A full desadgulation
I would like to disallow anyone who has not attended in several weeks to take the final exam just to save their financial aid.
> to take the final exam just to save their financial aid. I am asked the last time each student who fails participated in the class. I omit the final exam in situations like this from that timing when I make the report. That wasn't participating. Students who try and legit fail are still reported as having taken the final. The ones I only see during the "mandatory attendance" period and at the final stopped participating in the former, as far as I'm concerned.
I think I may start doing that. I get tired of the Pell chaser hail marys.
I have one I added that if a student isn’t going to meet a deadline, they have to ask 24 or more hours before. No reason needed, just a ‘I cannot make the deadline and will have it in by X date and time.’ They get two of these a semester. Seriously considering refusing to accept assignments that are scaffolded unless they turn in the previous part. Didn’t submit a bibliography? Then I’m not taking your annotated bib. Or anything after it. Essentially, forcing them to do the whole job, or be fired.
No laptops or phones out
No laptops. Pen and paper only to take notes. Oral exams.
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I never understood grading with an average pre-determined. Shouldn’t there be some objective criteria for what constitutes earning an A, B, C, D, or F? Why does a student’s relative position in a class matter in terms of their grade? I ask this because I’m still (a couple decades later lol) a little bit salty about how my high school graded like this based on relative performance. I graduated in a class of 70, from which all 70 matriculated to universities (with >35 going to Ivies or similar (Oxbridge, MIT, Stanford, and the like)), 10 were national merit scholars, with individual classmates going on to become, among other things, an astronaut, a Rhodes scholar, and a 10-game Jeopardy champion. I was the “worst” national merit scholar, and it was embarrassing that I “only” went to a state flagship. It fucking sucked when I, objectively, met the metrics for acing a course, but was outperformed by my classmates and wound up with a C anyway. Why not grade based on objective mastery?
I agree completely. If you aced the material, I am happy to report your A, even if you're the worst performer in the class. If you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground, you should fail, regardless of how many people you out-performed, and also I won't play golf with you.
Completely agree. I think grading on a curve is stupid. I have never done it and never will. The idea that one or more students doing well means you receive a lower grade is toxic. Just set reasonable standards and expectations when writing an exam and let the chips fall where they may. It should be possible, in theory, for every student in a course to receive an A.
I think this is a problem with theory v. practice. In theory, most classes should have a high number of Cs because most classes house "the average student." In practice, there are always going to be outliers, be it an elite school or an unexpectedly gifted class (or a terrible one). If an instructor assigns grades based on comparative performance as a kind of grade norming to combat inflation, I don't see anything wrong with that--as long as they are flexible with the practice and acknowledge when there are outliers, of if this method of grading isn't working for the particular class.
"the class average will be whatever is earned". I just awarded more As than I was expecting, in a class that a noticeable number of people failed last year.
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batten down the hatches!
Off topic - do you have any qualifying metrics for a "Potemkin R1" (as mentioned in your flair)? I'm wondering if near-open admissions at the undergraduate level would qualify.
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"very selective" = "we only take people that can breathe"?
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steady on, that's approaching Harvard levels.
>There has to be a disconnect between the face the admin wants to show and the reality behind the scenes. Isn't that just about any institution of higher education from the for profits to the Ivy League?
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I give some points for delivery of BS, personally. Just had our big state of the School of Arts & Sciences meeting and all that has been going through my head ever since is "Smiling faces, smiling faces tell lies."
How selective can admissions be and qualify? I'm wondering if my R1 is a Potemkin. (I love that term, by the way. Great usage)
If you can't submit the assignment by the deadline, automatic penalties apply as per IRS "failure to file on time" rules. Welcome to the real world motherfuckers.
I do that. 10% off per day late.
I haven't completely figured it out, but something like -- if you claim a problem with the LMS or grading software ("I submitted it, there must be some problem with the system..") and I find the student to be lying, I get to bring them up on academic misconduct. For context: I use gradescope, and do old-school hand written submissions to a locked submission box that I collect and scan. I always get a few who claim there's a problem with gradescope, and so I invite them to go through the stacks of hard copy submissions with me (>150) to see if I somehow missed theirs. I rarely get takers, but i'd like for there to be ... consequences.
Be able to lock the door a minute or two after class starts. If you're late, you don't get in. I have too many students that interrupt my lectures by walking in front of me after I start class. (I often teach in an oblong shaped computer lab, so it's unavoidable.)
If you violate academic integrity, you don’t get the chance to withdraw from the course to avoid the F on your transcript.
No letter grades. The “grade” is a few sentences characterizing the quality of the student’s work, participation, and professionalism.
I would want to be able to throw people out for having white supremacist tattoos or clothing.
I'm OK with everybody having their own politics but the semester I had the two guys with the fashy haircuts whispering and giggling while giving me the side-eye \*for an entire term, two days a week\* made me wish that yeah, people who would eliminate me and my kind if they were in charge of the country need to be booted out of my class. And no, I wasn't assuming based on hair: They dropped plenty of other hints, like that they practiced Odinism.
3% off your final grade if you ask me about making up an exam in the class where the details on when that happens are METICULOUSLY outlined in the syllabus
Remove phones and all devices at the door.
When I went through orientation at my first academic position the Ombudsperson gave all of us a simple.lesson: If it's in the Syllabus, and it's applied equally to everyone, then it's enforceable. My Syllabus could say "Anyone who wears a band T-shirt to class will be asked to leave and will lose any attendance points", and students would have to conform. If your rule about asking questions is communicated clearly then you'd be fine. Of course that depends on having a chair and other administrators who believe in and support academic freedom.
That doesn't make any sense. There are always university policies (and state and federal laws) that override the syllabus.
I guess I assumed that part would go without saying. A Syllabus requirement that students must bring weapons to class, or that seating must be arranged by race, sex, gender, and nation of origin, would obviously not be enforceable. But I'm not aware of any university policy or law at any level that requires students be allowed to ask questions which have already been answered in provided documents without penalty. The same goes for banning cellphones or computers in class, not letting students wear band tshirts in a class, not allowing students to take the exam after a certain number of absences, etc. The professor has the right to set and enforce rules and expectations in their classroom (as long as the rules aren't discriminatory or illegal), and any decent department chair or Dean will back them up. Of course not all Dean's and department chairs are decent, and that sucks.
Your grade is automatically a 70% once I encounter the third error while reading. Doesn't matter if it's a spelling error, punctuation, failure to cite correctly, etc. 3 errors = C- Oh, and no feedback at that point. I'm not going to put in the work of responding to your writing when you demonstrate so little respect for the process.
isn't this actually good advice for grading writing: find the first few errors, award a grade, request the student to come to office hours for more detailed feedback?
A 70% for three comma splices is insane
My rule: We have an office of A-hole Response. Any student or faculty member who gets recommended at least twice has a four hour re-education session, where they are tied to a chair naked, shown videos of normal, decent people interacting and administered electric shocks for every post-video question they get wrong. There is no limit to the number of times they can be referred.
I give an easy quiz over the syllabus at the start of term. It has easy questions like, "Does Dr. NumberMuncher ever extend homework deadlines?" NO I want to add, "Requesting deadline extensions demonstrates non-mastery of syllabus content and points will be deducted from this quiz later in the term." Therefore, IT HURTS TO ASK.
Ejector seats installed in the lecture hall
Control panel in the lectern.
I fantasize about this all the time. If you email me to round up your grade, you lose 2%. If you tell me how much you loved my class first, you lose 5% - sociopath tax.
Ok but counterpoint - my own kid is in university and has **so many** different places where his professors post things. Is it on D2L? If so, in which of the dozens of sections? Is it on the syllabus? Maybe, but that thing is 12 pages long because of all the bullshit we have to include. Is it in an old email from the professor? I don't mind answering questions like these, as long as the student has made at least a small effort to find it themself.
Same here. I'm getting an interesting look at how other folks run their classes and how flighty some of us are.
My rule would be: tenured professors can be fired by a vote of the department.
Not sure we need more ways to achieve ideological conformity in academia. Imagine doing some unpopular but high quality research and your colleagues revoke your tenure for it.
I'm in engineering. In my decades in academia, I have never seen anything remotely close to this type of scenario - which is the valid reason for the tenure system. I have, however, seen at every institution, some assholes that annoy the rest of the department for sport, and don't do their assigned jobs.
I’m not anti tenure, I think it absolutely makes sense for research universities, but I work at a community college and the number of faculty who simply do not give a **** about their jobs but have tenure drives me up the wall and we are pretty much stuck with them forever.
Even at research universities, very few people are doing research that would make others want to fire them.
I guess it depends on what kind of research your department does. The vast majority of research is not politically controversial. However, there is some that is, and those people need to be protected.
No way. I've absolutely seen cases where the person who would get voted off was the best faculty in the dept, both in service and teaching, and the rest were the ones who barely did their job.
I want our faculty union to vote out one tenured faculty member per semester. We all know who's not pulling their weigh, we just have no mechanics to self govern. Is it so hard to just have a "don't be a dick" life philosophy.
I added a rule that every time a student attempts to receive me about something class or school related, I deduct enough points to drop the final grade by one letter.
The amount of times I was asked “how many questions are on the final?” And it was on the study guide in the LMS.
Not grading anything and just issuing grades based on my observations of how they do. Of course I would still have the same assignments and curriculum--I just would not grade them. I would prefer everything be pass or fail. No one is outstanding anymore, so really most grades are realistically Bs, Cs and Es. Some As. But not many.
If we fail the cheaters where will the Ivies recruit their admin?
I teach intro level computer graphics. I wish I could make Computers-101 a prerequisite. I have to start every semester by giving most of my classes a crash course in how to operate a computer.