As of March 7, the sometimes controversial work of the Classroom Civility Committee came to an end. Having spent the last 14 months examining how to help professors better manage their classrooms, the committee completed its recommendations, which are currently under review by several offices across the University.
“Originally, [the Classroom Civility Initiative was] about helping clarify classroom expectations,” said Paaige Turner, Ph.D., a co-chair of the commitee and a professor in the Communication Department “We sought to define the ethos of who we want to be as a learning community.”
According to Turner, the committee explored policies that would promote clear expectations for both students and professors, and establish a way to respond to behavior problems in the classroom. Turner said that some of the committee’s recommendations have already produced results. The Reinert Center for Teaching Excellence, which seeks to promote “quality teaching” at SLU, has already held workshops to help professors develop clear syllabi. The center has also added classroom-management resources to its website.
Dean of Students Scott Smith, Ph.D., is also examining how to apply the committee’s recommendations. Smith said that he plans to explore how to integrate the committee’s findings into the already-existent Code of Non-Academic Student Discipline and Responsibility.
Smith has proposed a new addition to the code, which will address “behavior that disrupts, obstructs, or interferes with classroom activities, teaching, research, advising, or other University learning scholarly activities and functions.”
“I anticipate that next year, there will be ongoing conversation about how to respond to the [committee’s] report,” Smith said.
Turner said the committee’s recommendations include a call for equitable procedures for everyone and a provision to ensure that students with behavioral problems “get the help that they need.”
The Classroom Civility Initiative generated some controversy last semester. Some members of the student body said that it was unnecessary and worried that it would endanger students’ rights. It became a frequent topic at meetings of the Student Government Association Senate, and junior Jeff Witcher created a Facebook group called “Say NO to ‘Civility in the Classroom!'”, which has retained almost 500 members as of press time.
