1.  Students can expect faculty to:

• prepare and present lectures, workshops, and field assignments to support and expand students' exploration and understandings of the program themes and to enhance their understandings of their approaches to, and processes of, learning;
• convene and be prepared for seminars;
• provide carefully considered and timely feedback on all student work;
• provide written evaluations of seminar students and meet with each student in a midterm and final evaluation conference;
• notify students by the end of the fifth week of each quarter if their work to date does not meet requirements for credit;
• be available by appointment for individual conferences;
• respect differences of opinion and interpretation;
• handle all disputes in a spirit of respect and goodwill;
• provide students with help, advice, and encouragement;
• abide by the principles of the Social Contract and the Sexual Harassment Policy.
• conduct their interactions with each other collaboratively and professionally, and actively participate in faculty seminars and business and planning meetings.

2.  Equity Statement
The faculty are dedicated to establishing a learning environment that promotes diversity of students including race/ethnicity, class, gender, age, sexual orientation, and differing abilities. It is important that in this program students feel confident that they can express their ideas.  Therefore, we, your faculty, will practice being generous and respectful members of our classroom community.  Anyone noticing discriminatory behavior in this class, or if you feel discriminated against, please bring it to our attention.  (Adapted from a course description by Kris Winter, Western Washington University)

3. Disability Statement
Students with documented disabilities who may need accommodations or students with particular medical needs about which the faculty should know, should notify us as early in the quarter as possible.  Reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities are arranged through Access Services. (Adapted from a course description by Kris Winter, Western Washington University)

4.  Credit Policy

Students should recognize from the outset that faculty will evaluate their work, not by comparison to the work of other students, but by looking for evidence of growth in skills, creativity, discipline, and commitment from the beginning of the quarter or year to the end within each individual student.  That is, you are not judged in competition with your peers.  You are judged in terms of your own intellectual development.

Evaluation at The Evergreen State College involves both the assigning of credit and an evaluation of a student's work by her/his faculty.  In addition, students write self-evaluations reflecting on their growth as learners. To help the faculty and students develop meaningful evaluations, each student will develop and submit a reflective portfolio each quarter.

Faculty will award each student 16 credits per quarter based on three criteria: 1) the quality of thinking and learning demonstrated by the student's oral and written work, 2) the care and commitment the student gives to the work and to this community which includes regular preparation, attendance and participation in all aspects of the program, and, 3) the degree to which the student demonstrates an understanding of the knowledge and skills investigated in workshops.

Faculty may award less than sixteen credits for work that fails to meet these criteria, but will do so only after consultation with each other.  Students are allowed up to 2 unexplained absences from any required program activity.  Further absences will result in loss of credit.

5.  To earn academic credit, students are expected to:

• set personal goals in collaboration with their faculty that encourage stretching beyond current skills and abilities;
• reflect regularly on what they are learning and how;
• come on time to all seminars, workshops, field assignments, and lectures, except when explicit arrangements to miss them have been made with the faculty;
• come to seminars, field work, and workshops with readings and written work thoughtfully prepared;
• participate actively and intelligently in seminars, workshops, and discussion sessions and support the learning of others in the program;
• think purposefully, creatively, and critically about issues raised in texts, presentations, and workshops, and discuss these issues in and outside of class;
• complete assigned work carefully and thoughtfully by the due date;
• take initiative, in seeking guidance from faculty, whenever significant difficulty exists with the pace or content of the program;
• not participate in program activities while under the influence of alcohol or drugs;
• abide by the principles of the Social Contract, The Student Conduct Code, and the Sexual Harassment Policy;
• take responsibility for their own work, interactions, and responses;
• create a portfolio and complete a self-evaluation and an evaluation of the faculty by the end the quarter.  These are required to receive credit for the program;
• participate in 3 advising conferences with faculty and one with an academic advisor.

In an academic community sharing, and taking responsibility for our own ideas is vital. At the same time, acknowledging our use of other people's ideas is equally important. The work we submit must reflect our own ideas. When we are incorporating the views of others, be those published authors or our seminar members, we must acknowledge our sources. Since much of the work in this program will be collaborative and the ensuing ideas will reflect the contributions of more than one person, we must get into the habit of acknowledging the people and ideas that have influenced us.  There will be many times when we will be asked to take individual positions-in essays, research projects, and seminar discussions-and we must assert our own distinctive interpretations and judgments.  The final work we do must reflect our own judgment and analysis while also recognizing the contributions of people who have influenced our learning

Failure to make such acknowledgements or to present the work of others as our own is plagiarism. At the very least, plagiarism is a basis for denial of credit.  At worst, you can be asked to leave the program or even the college.  Because college policy makes the consequences of plagiarism severe, ask your faculty members if you have any questions.

7.  Community and Program Agreements

All program members will strive to meet the expectations of any program member as long as doing so
will not interfere with the expectations and/or learning of other program members and/or the class as
a whole.  The first step to address an unmet expectation is to inform the program member(s) of the
unmet expectation.  These expectations include but are not limited to:
 
       Respect a program member's input, even if you don't agree with it
       Create a stimulating environment that will facilitate creativity and learning
       Think before you speak
       Be prepared
       Be honest
       Maintain a positive attitude

Agreed upon in Community Meeting on Thursday 10/10/02.  We will discuss specific interpretations of
"expectations" as they arise between and among community members.

In addition to the specific agreements made within the program above, all program members are responsible for reading, understanding and abiding by the Social Contract, the Student Code of Conduct, and the Sexual Harrassment Policies.

In case of a disagreement or conflict between a student and a faculty member, the student should first try to resolve the conflict by meeting with the faculty member in question.  We also expect students to resolve disagreements with other students in responsible and respectful ways.  The faculty is available to help mediate disagreements, when asked, if students have trouble resolving difficult issues.  Students may also refer to the Dispute Resolution Center on Campus.  In the case of challenging an evaluation, if the proceeding steps do not resolve the issue, the next step is to consult the Student Handbook for College Grievance Procedures.

Violation of Evergreen's Social Contract may result in the college taking action.