Policies

Tentative

Academic Dishonesty:
Cheating will not be tolerated. If academic dishonesty is suspected, it will be reported to the judicial coordinator and to the All University Judicial Board, where appropriate.
Grading scale:
All papers, examinations and other work for credit will be graded on the basis of a raw score equal to the percentage of the total number of possible points (100). The final letter grade will be determined by the total raw score. Thus, two people with the same raw scores will receive the same letter grade. The scale of determination, however, is made only at the end of the course, once all the grades are in. Estimates may be offered earlier.
Class attendance:
Students are expected to attend classes. In the unlikely event that a class needs to be canceled (e.g., because of weather), I will try to leave a message on my voice mail (575-5826).
Late papers:
Late papers will be accepted, but the instructor reserves the right to deduct up to one point for each day a paper is late.
Spelling and Grammar:
Mistakes in spelling and grammar are not appreciated. While no points will be taken off any paper or examination solely for mistakes in spelling or grammar, clarity is important in philosophy and errors in spelling or, particularly, grammar can make writing more difficult to understand. The same applies to illegibility. A paper with such errors may therefore receive a lower grade than it otherwise would, because it may therefore be less clear than it could be. Furthermore, the instructor may disregard any claim made in an ungrammatical sentence.
Make-up tests:
Make-up examinations will not be offered. Instead, during the final exam period an examination will be given which will be a "universal make-up." Whatever (single) test you missed, the grade on the "universal make-up" will replace. In fact, if you have missed no test but simply have a lower grade on one of the exams than you wish, you may take the "universal make-up" to replace that lowest grade. (But it will replace the grade even if you do worse on the universal make-up than on the original exam, so don't take this option lightly.) However, in classes where the instructor is teaching multiple sections, whenever possible instead of taking a make-up test the student should (after notifying the instructor) simply take the test at the time another section (taught by the same instructor) is taking it.
Quizzes:
Occasionally quizzes will be given, often without prior announcement. Sometimes extra projects offered to the entire class can count as quizzes. For example, students might be offered an opportunity to attend and comment on a public philosophy lecture. There will be no make-up opportunities for in-class quizzes. Missed quizzes will be given a grade of zero. However, the lowest quiz grades will be dropped.
Reevaluation:
Any student may request that any paper, examination, or other course work be reevaluated if she or he feels that it has been unfairly or carelessly graded. No penalty will be imposed for taking advantage of this option, of course, but neither is there any guarantee that the grade will not decrease if the work looks inferior on the subsequent reading.
Incompletes:
Failure to complete the assigned work on time is not a sufficient reason to be granted a grade of "incomplete" in the course. Giving birth to a child the morning of the final examination is, if a good faith effort has been made up to that point to keep up with the work.
Courtesy:
Please use common classroom courtesy. For example,
Special Needs:
If you have special needs (e.g. require a notetaker or are deaf or blind), please bring a card from the student access office within the first week of class. (Of course is something develops during the course of the semester, let the instructor know as soon as possible.)

Richard Lee, rlee@uark.edu, last modified: 21 February 2004