Syllabus Preparation

Syllabus preparation

Updated August 2023

Information pertaining to the following items must be included in all syllabi. If you are a department chair, please inform any adjuncts or visitors in your department of these requirements.

Disability Statement

Updated August 2023

Your syllabus MUST include the following disability statement:

McMinnville and OCE:

Students with disabilities are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. If you are a student with a disability and feel you may require academic accommodations please contact Learning Support Services (LSS), as early as possible to request accommodation for your disability. The timeliness of your request will allow LSS to promptly arrange the details of your support. LSS is located in Melrose Hall 020 (503-883-2562), or lss@linfield.edu. We also encourage students to communicate with faculty about their accommodations.

Portland:

Students with disabilities are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. If you are a student with a disability and feel you may require academic accommodations contact Learning Support Services (LSS), as early as possible to request accommodation for your disability. The timeliness of your request will allow LSS to promptly arrange the details of your support. LSS is located in Building 6 (971-369-4143) or pdx-lss@linfield.edu. We also encourage students to communicate with faculty about their accommodations.

LC Learning Outcomes

Current as of August 2021

Syllabi for all courses carrying an LC designation must contain the appropriate learning outcomes for that designation. Ideally, a given syllabus will also be explicit about the opportunities students will have to satisfy these learning outcomes in your course. Learning outcomes language can be found here.

Students are expected to submit exemplars of their work to their LC Portfolio in Blackboard, demonstrating that they have met the relevant outcomes for any course for which they wish to earn LC credit. In addition, they must provide a brief explanation describing why they believe their work meets the outcomes. While the onus is on the students, we suggest that you remind them of this expectation by including a brief statement in your syllabus. For example, if you are teaching a course carrying a QR designation, you might include the following:

“In order to earn a QR for this course, you must submit relevant exemplars of your work to your LC Portfolio in Blackboard by the last day of finals week, as discussed in the Linfield University Course Catalog."

Academic Integrity Statement

Current as of August 2021

Your syllabus must include an academic integrity statement. Include a clear statement that you "adhere to the University policy on academic honesty, as published in the Linfield University Course Catalog."

Linfield University operates under the assumption that all students are honest and ethical in the way they conduct their personal and scholastic lives. Academic work is evaluated on the assumption that the work presented is the student's own, unless designated otherwise. Anything less is unacceptable and is considered a violation of academic integrity. Furthermore, a breach of academic integrity will have concrete consequences that may include failing a particular course or even dismissal from the University.

Violations of academic integrity include but are not limited to the following:

Cheating: Using or attempting to use unauthorized sources, materials, information, or study aids in any submitted academic work.

Plagiarism: Submission of academic work that includes material copied or paraphrased from published or unpublished sources without proper documentation. This includes self‐plagiarism, the submission of work created by the student for another class unless he or she receives consent from both instructors.

Fabrication: Deliberate falsification or invention of any information, data, or citation in academic work.

Facilitating Academic Dishonesty: Knowingly helping or attempting to help another to violate the University's policy on academic integrity.

Faculty recognize their responsibility to help students understand academic integrity and how to conduct themselves with integrity in the classroom. To this end, faculty shall include a clear academic integrity policy within their syllabus.

In dealing with breaches of academic integrity, the instructor shall have discretion as to what penalty to impose regarding the course grade. Within ten days of the discovery of an offense, the instructor must submit in writing a description of the offense to both the student and the Dean of Students, or designee. This description should include the course consequences for violations of academic integrity and the penalty given in the specific case. If the student disagrees with the accusation of breach of academic integrity, the student will use the Academic Grievance process as outlined in the University Catalog section entitled Academic Grievances. In addition, it is recommended that faculty issue an academic alert for any violation of the academic integrity policy.

The Dean of Students, or designee, will maintain a confidential list of students who are reported for violations of academic integrity in order to track repeat offenses. The Dean will have discretion to refer a first time offender to the University Hearing Board; however, any subsequent violations by the same student will automatically be referred to the University Hearing Board. This decision on referral will be communicated in writing to the student and to the instructor(s), who has (have) a legitimate educational interest.

The University Hearing Board may impose University‐level penalties upon the offending student. Fundamental fairness shall be in force for all academic integrity proceedings, as outlined in the Policies and Procedures of the University Hearing Board (see the current Student Policy Guide).

Title IX Statement

Updated August 15, 2022

Effective Spring 2022, you MUST include one of the two options for a “Sexual Misconduct and Relationship Violence & Title IX” statement. Please select the statement which best fits each of your courses.

Download these statements in a Word document here.

Statement 1:

Sexual Misconduct and Relationship Violence & Title IX

Linfield University faculty are committed to supporting students and fostering a campus environment free of sexual misconduct and relationship violence. If a student chooses to disclose to a faculty or staff member an experience related to sexual misconduct, sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking, all faculty and staff are obligated to report this disclosure to the Linfield Title IX Coordinator by emailing titleix@linfield.edu. Upon receipt of the report, the Title IX Coordinator will contact you to inform you of your rights and options and connect you with support services. If you would rather share information about these experiences with an employee who does not have these reporting responsibilities and can keep the information confidential, please visit confidential resources.

For more information about your rights and reporting options at Linfield, including confidential reporting options, please visit inside.linfield.edu/sexual-misconduct/. Support services are offered to all Linfield students regardless of whether or not they report. Still have questions? Email knowmore@linfield.edu.

Statement 2:

Sexual Misconduct and Relationship Violence & Title IX

Linfield University faculty are committed to supporting students and fostering a campus environment free of sexual misconduct and relationship violence. In this course, the topic of sex (including sexual misconduct/sexual violence) may emerge either purposefully or inadvertently in readings, films, class discussions or other class materials. We recognize that such topics may be particularly upsetting for some survivors; we encourage all students to seek the support they need. While making personal connections with the topics studied in any course can be a meaningful and important endeavor, please be aware of the following policy regarding confidentiality and disclosures of incidents of sexual misconduct/sexual violence. If a student chooses to disclose to a faculty or staff member an experience related to sexual misconduct, sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking, all faculty and staff are obligated to report this disclosure to the Linfield Title IX Coordinator, Linfield Title IX Coordinator by emailing titleix@linfield.edu. Upon receipt of the report, the Title IX Coordinator will contact you to inform you of your rights and options and connect you with support services. If you would rather share information about these experiences with an employee who does not have these reporting responsibilities and can keep the information confidential, please visit confidential resources.

Diversity and Inclusion Statement

Please consider including a Diversity and Inclusion Statement that promotes inclusion and reflects the campus-wide Respect Diversity posters: “Linfield University honors human rights and academic freedom, celebrates diverse cultures, fosters a climate of mutual respect, and promotes an inclusive environment that affirms the value of all persons.”

Sample statements can be found here.

Writing Center Statement

If you want to integrate the Writing Center into your curriculum, please feel free to attach this sample statement to your syllabus:

When working on writing assignments for this class, I encourage you to take advantage of the Linfield Writing Center. The Writing Center is a drop-in service that provides help with all parts of the writing process—brainstorming, drafting, revising, refining. The Writing Center can help you with your thesis, organization, logic and reasoning, evidence, documentation, grammar and usage and more. The Writing Center is located in Nicholson Library. There is more information available on their website: https://inside.linfield.edu/writing-center.html.

2023-24 No-Instruction Dates

Symposium Day for McMinnville and Portland undergraduate students will take place on Friday, May 17, 2024.