Students assigned educational essays for violations of the University Judiciary Committee's standards of conduct now will have a clearer set of guidelines to work with.
At UJC's Sunday night meeting, a list of seven guidelines for essay sanctions passed unanimously. The guidelines are intended to give affected students a clearer idea of what is expected of them when they are asked to write essay sanctions.
The new standards range from technical prescriptions (assigning a standard font size and asking that outside materials used be cited in a standard bibliography) to reinforcements of the University's Honor code (essays now must be pledged).
Students also are asked not to write essays that serve as justifications of one's actions or that are used to evaluate the actions of others.
The new sanctions are indicative of past problems, UJC Vice Chair for Sanctions Gavin Reddick said.
"All of the guidelines are there in response to particular incidents in the past," Reddick said.
While she would not comment on specific cases, UJC Chair Alexis Gregorian said, in general, that many submitted essays did not reflect adequate effort.
"A lot of times these essays just weren't meeting this level," Gregorian said. "A few just weren't up to par."
Reflective essays are an increasingly common sanction and are intended to encourage students to think about their actions rather than to punish them, Gregorian said.
"It's an educational sanction we like to give out," Gregorian said.
Essay assignments can be given for the violation of any UJC standard and are usually assigned in conjunction with additional sanctions, including community service, Gregorian said.
Essay assignments ask students to reflect on the consequences or potential consequences of their actions and also can ask students to explain the positive effects of additional sanctions such as community service.
Essays that are deemed unacceptable by the UJC vice chair for sanctions are sent back to the student to be resubmitted.
Additionally, the student may be asked to fulfill additional requirements as punishment for not submitting an acceptable essay on his or her original deadline.
Reddick said he hopes the new guidelines will help ensure that students only have to complete their assignments once.
"It just makes it easier for everyone to understand things," Reddick said. "Hopefully it will head off these problems and will help students avoid additional sanctions in the future."
The new guidelines also may encourage students to take the assignments more seriously, said an anonymous third-year Commerce school student who completed an essay sanction in his first year.
"If they gave more precise directions, [students assigned UJC essays in the future] would put more effort into it," the student said.
The student admitted that because there were no official guidelines administered with the assignment, he had not put very much effort into his essay.
"The description was very vague and they didn't really require us to do any research or anything really," he said. "Basically I did it the night before."
Read More
Administrators and faculty paint conflicting pictures of May 4 encampment clearing
By Cecilia Mould and Finn Trainer | 3 days agoThe details contested between the town halls included the clarity of the University’s tent policy and the presence of suspicious individuals at the encampment.
Faculty Senate calls for an external review of May 4 clearing of encampment
By Priya Kommu | 3 days agoSenators had questions about the lack of direct communication between University administrators and the students and faculty present at the encampment.
University's last minute update to EHS tent regulations document creates confusion, frustration
By Arshiya Pant | 3 days agoRyan said that he did not believe there was confusion among protesters about the permissibility of tents due to warnings from University officials on several occasions to remove tents.
