In a sound academic culture, both instructors and students approach their roles in a professional manner. They are familiar with and respect the policies and regulations of their courses and of the university as a whole, and strive to uphold the ideals of the Mission Statement and to realize the Goals of a Liberal Education. Instructors are both academically competent and reasonably current in their subject matter, and are committed to applying themselves to their teaching tasks to the best of their ability. Students show the same commitment and responsibility to their studies as they would to their employment. The normal expectation is that students do at least two hours of work outside the classroom for each hour of class time.
Students are committed to applying themselves to their learning tasks to the best of their ability.
As professionals both instructors and students take seriously their mutual responsibilities regarding assignments and evaluation. Instructors ensure that the value of each assignment, test, or examination is clearly established in the course outline and do not alter those values without the consent of the class. They strive to ensure that they grade students in accordance with clearly stated criteria and in accordance with prevailing standards. They return student work in a timely fashion and provide adequate comments to enable students to understand the reason for the grade. Finally, instructors show flexibility in the application of deadlines when students have legitimate reasons for special consideration.