Expectations and Program Covenant
A few years ago, Evergreen adopted six expectations of Evergreen graduates:
• Articulate and assume responsibility for your own work.
• Participate collaboratively and responsibly in our diverse society.
• Communicate creatively and effectively.
• Demonstrate integrative, independent, critical thinking.
• Apply qualitative, quantitative and creative modes of inquiry appropriately to practical and theoretical problems across disciplines.
• As a culmination of your education, demonstrate depth, breadth and synthesis of learning and the ability to reflect on the personal and social significance of that learning.
These expectations are quite general and apply to all students. They refer to the outcome of your education when you graduate . You are at the beginning of your education. Outcomes are far in the distance, and yet it's useful to have these six expectations in mind.
In this program, we have expectations that can be useful references points for you now. They will enable you to practice the habits and skills that can foster Evergreen's six expectations for graduates. When you read them below, note that they refer to participation, work habits, and punctuality. These are matters of form. They constitute the bare minimum requirements for credit in the program. Successful study of the program's content depends on abiding by these matters of form.
These expectations are the substance of our program covenant. During the first week of the quarter, you will be asked to sign a document stating that you've read these expectations and agree to work in the manner described here.
We recognize that this is a demanding program, particularly given the other significant responsibilities you may have. Please voice whatever problems or concerns you have early in the quarter so that we may deal with them constructively.
Classes
• Everyone will arrive on time and stay until class is over.
• If you miss a class, contact another student to get assignments or handouts, and to get filled in on what happened. Then, if you still have questions, come to one of the program faculty for clarification. We meet only ten weeks, and for only 12 hours per week. Only one absence is permitted. Be sure to contact your seminar leader prior to your absence.
• Students who have not completed the day's assignment should not attend, and will forfeit their one allowable absence.
• Everyone is expected to participate fully in all class activities. This will include listening attentively in lectures, taking notes, reading aloud in class, both from your own writing and from the course's texts, participating in all workshops, and coming to class fully prepared to discuss our work in seminar.
Papers
• Each student will write semiweekly seminar papers, four assigned papers, one rewritten paper, a self-evaluation, and a faculty evaluation. Your ability to do well on these papers depends on your diligent preparation and participation in class as a reader, writer, and discussant. Lack of participation and attendance in class translates into lack of preparedness for the program's work, and constitutes neglect of that work.
• You must always hand in your work on the due date. It's better to hand in a paper you can't stand than to hand in nothing. Late papers will not be accepted.
• Read and follow all directions. Reading well is prerequisite to doing well in the program.
• Full credit will be awarded for full participation ONLY. Reduced credit will occur if:
you are consistently late for class.
you do not write all seminar papers, assigned papers, rewrites, and evaluations.
you are absent more than once.
you do not come to class prepared.
Fun
In this class, you are a member of a community of learners. This is an unusual opportunity. If you give yourself fully to the work, you will have an education that will last you your life. You will also have a lot of fun. Nothing quite compares with doing this particular kind of work with other people like you. Let's work hard and enjoy it.
Special Responsibilities of Faculty
(1) Give prompt and careful responses to student work.
(2) Be available for individual conferences with students.
(3) Prepare final evaluations of students in a timely manner at the end of each quarter.
Academic Honesty
The work you submit must reflect your own ideas. When you are incorporating the views of others, be those published authors or your seminar colleagues, acknowledge your sources. While much of the work in this program will be collaborative and the ensuing ideas will reflect the contributions of more than one person, get into the habit of acknowledging the people and ideas that have influenced you. There will be many times when you will be asked to take an individual position—in an essay or in a seminar discussion—and you must assert your own distinctive interpretation and judgments. The final work you submit must reflect your own judgment and analysis while also recognizing the contributions of people who have influenced your learning.
Failure to make acknowledgments of others' contributions, or to present the work of others as your own, is plagiarism. Any student who plagiarizes material will face strict sanctions, which can include leaving the program or the College. Raise any questions and concerns you may have about citing sources or about a particular instance with the faculty.
Human Subjects Review
If your writing involves interviewing, videotaping, or otherwise treats another person as an object of inquiry, it is important to comply with the Human Subjects Review Policy of the College. Packets can be obtained from the Academic Deans. This policy requires that you gain informed consent from any subject you are interviewing. You must complete the Human Subjects Review form and obtain the approval of a faculty member and the academic dean before you conduct any interviews. If you have questions, talk with a faculty member.
Resolving Conflicts
Academic and personal conflicts are common and to be expected in academic communities. The Social Contract lays out expectations about how we should deal with such conflicts:
Evergreen can thrive only if members respect the rights of others while enjoying their own rights.... All [members of the community] must share alike in prizing academic and interpersonal honesty, in responsibly obtaining and in providing full and accurate information, and in resolving their differences through due process and with a strong will to collaboration. (WAC 174-120-020)
We expect all members of the program to abide by these principles of honest and face-to-face resolution of conflicts. If you do not feel successful in resolving a conflict, bring your concerns to the attention, first, of your seminar leader. If the individual faculty member cannot resolve the problem, he or she will bring it to the attention of the faculty team and they will take steps to resolve the problem. Any conflicts that cannot be resolved by your own efforts or the efforts of your faculty will be referred to our program's Academic Dean. You should not skip steps in this process.
