401 Faculty Professional Responsibility & Standards of Conduct
15.1.0 INTRODUCTION
The standards for professional responsibility listed in the following subsections are standards to which faculty members are expected to adhere. While maintaining all rights of freedom of expression as citizens, Snow College faculty are perceived to represent the institution and should understand that the public may judge their profession and their institution by their individual utterances and behavior. Hence, faculty members should at all times strive to be accurate, exercise appropriate restraint, show respect for the opinions of other, and make every effort to indicate that they are not speaking or acting for the institution when speaking or writing as individual citizens. Specific areas of personal responsibility and standards of conduct are outlined below.
15.1.1 STANDARD OF CONDUCT- RESPONSIBILITEIES TO STUDENTS
(1) Faculty members engage in reasonable and substantial preparation for teaching their courses, appropriate to the educational objectives to be achieved.
(2) Faculty members meet scheduled classes. Schedules are altered or classes canceled only for valid reasons and only after adequate notice is given to students and to the Department Head, Dean or Vice President for Academic Affairs. Failure to meet a class without prior notice to students is excusable only for reasons beyond the control of the faculty member.
(3) Faculty members inform students in writing of the general content, requirements, and evaluation criteria at the beginning of any course that they teach. Faculty members evaluate student course work in a timely manner, conscientiously, without prejudice or favoritism and consistently with the criteria stated at the beginning of the course and related to the legitimate academic purposes of the course.
(4) Faculty members maintain regular office hours for consultation with students, or otherwise assure accessibility to students.
(5) Faculty members do not reveal matters told to them in confidence by students except as allowed or required by law.
(6) Faculty members avoid the misuse of classroom time by preempting substantial portions of class time for the presentation of views on topics unrelated to the subject matter of the course. Faculty members do not reward agreement or penalize disagreement with his or her views on controversial topics.
(7) Faculty members do not engage in the sexual harassment of students or violate student’s rights under the American Disability Act.
15.1.2 STANDARDS OF CONDUCT – PROFESSIONAL OBLIGATIONS
(1) Faculty members do not plagiarize nor do they permit the appearance that they are the author of work done by others.
(2) Faculty members do not misappropriate others’ ideas.
(3) Faculty members do not misuse privileged or otherwise confidential information.
(4) Faculty members exercise “reasonable care” (Section 15.1.5) in meeting their obligations to their associates when they are engaged in joint teaching or other professional effort.
(5) Faculty members exercise “reasonable care” (Section 15.1.5) in meeting their commitments to the institution and to funding agencies where appropriate in research, publication, or other professional endeavors.
(6) Faculty members keep informed and knowledgeable about the developments in their fields.
(7) Faculty members do not engage in the sexual harassment of other faculty members or any employee of the College. Faculty members should avoid consensual relationships with others in their workplace since such relationships may lead to sexual harassment charges. (See Policy 15.2.16)
(8) Faculty members obey Federal, State and Local laws, ordinances and regulations.
15.1.3 STANDARDS OF CONDUCT - - RESPONSIBILITIES TO THE INSTITUTION
(1) Faculty members conduct themselves in an open, fair, civil, and humane manner both in general and when making decisions or recommendations concerning admission, employment, promotion, retention, tenure, and other professional matter. Faculty members do not harass or discriminate against anyone on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, veteran status, or marital or parental status; the presence of any physical or mental disability; nor for any other reason impermissible under applicable constitutional or statutory law.
(2) Faculty members are encouraged to engage to outside professional activities which improve their academic skills. Time spent on non-institutional activities shall not interfere with a faculty member’s institutional commitments. Faculty members also comply with state law and institutional rules, policies and regulations relating to conflicts of interest.
(3) Faculty members do not exploit the institution’s name or their relationship to the institution for personal reasons unrelated to their legitimate academic or professional activities. They avoid creating the impression that they are representing the institution in public appearance or statements, unless in fact they are.
(4) Faculty members do not purposely destroy institutional property, purposely disrupt institutional programs, purposely inflict physical injury and threaten such injury to other persons on campus, or purposely interfere with the legitimate activities of other persons on the campus, nor do they purposely and unlawfully incite, aid or abet others to engage in such destruction, disruption, injury, or interference. Mere advocacy or expression shall not be considered incitement, unless the advocacy or expression poses a clear and present danger of the imminent occurrence of destruction, injury, or interference.
However, nonviolent reaction from members of an audience at a meeting or program open to the public shall not be considered disruption or interference of legitimate activities, unless such reaction prevents the continuation of the program.
(5) Faculty members do not misappropriate institutional property or knowingly use it or misuse it in violation of state or federal law, local ordinances or institutional policies, rules and regulations.
(6) Faculty members do not knowingly mislead the institution by falsely asserting facts relevant to their qualifications as faculty members or their eligibility for institutional benefits.
(7) Faculty members adhere to the drug- and alcohol-free workplace policy.
15.1.4 STANDARDS OF CONDUCT-RESPONSIBILITIES OF CITIZENSHIP
Faculty members share the general legal duties of citizenship.
Faculty members who violate state or federal law or local ordinances may expect no immunity or special protection by reason of faculty status. As with other citizens, breaches of legal duty by faculty members are matters for disposition by the legal system. The College will not commence disciplinary proceedings against faculty members who engage in unlawful conduct which also constitutes a violation of a standard of conduct of this policy.
15.1.5 DEFINITION OF REASONABLE CARE
This term, which is familiar to the law, means that the level of performance required of a faculty member is that which is recognized in the profession as reasonable in the light of the obligations which he or she has assumed, taking into account competing demands upon his or her energy and time, nature and quality of his or her work, and all other circumstances which the academic community would properly take into account in determining whether he or she was discharging his or her responsibilities at an acceptable level.