Inclusiveness and Accommodations

Inclusiveness Ground Rules

Students should expect and demand to be treated with respect by their classmates and the course staff. All students belong here, and the staff is here to help them learn and enjoy a challenging course. 

• • Harassment, bullying, and threats have no place in CSE 341. This may sound obvious, but it is too important not to state explicitly.

  • Blatant sexism, homophobia, racism, and other forms of bigotry will not be tolerated.

  • Language shapes how we think. Be mindful of how you talk to and baout other people in this class. Do not use language that creates the impression that someone does not belong in our community.

If any incident occurs that threatens this commitment to a supportive and inclusive environment, students should let the staff know so the issue can be addressed.

Fostering a Welcoming Environment

It takes more to create a welcoming environment than just following the ground rules. Try to make an extra effort to be kind and empathetic! Here are a few suggestions on how to make our community as welcoming as possible:

• • Assume that all of your fellow students have what it takes to succeed in this course! Everybody is here because they want to learn about programming languages.

  • Avoid "feigning surprise." Don't act surprised when someone says they don't know something. This applies to both technical things ("What?! I can't believe you don't know what structural induction is!") and non-technical things ("You don't know who Barbara Liskov is?!") Feigning surprise has no social or educational benefit. When people feign surprise, it usually makes them feel better about themselves and makes other people feel worse. Even when that's not the intention, it's almost always the effect. We want everyone to feel comfortable saying "I don't know" and "I don't understand."

  • Avoid “well-actually”. A well-actually happens when someone says something that's almost, but not entirely, correct, and you say, "well, actually…" and then give a very minor correction. This is especially annoying when the correction has no bearing on the actual conversation. This doesn't mean we aren’t interested in correctness or precision in this class—in fact, we are more interested in correctness and precision than pretty much anybody else! But almost every occurrence of a well-actually in our experience is about grandstanding and showing off, not truth-seeking.

  • Avoid microaggressions. Subtle racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and other kinds of bias are not welcoming. Microaggressions are often small, subtle, or unintentional comments or actions that we all sometimes do by mistake. It's okay to make mistakes. Just apologize, and try not to make the same mistake in the future.

Accommodations

Please refer to university policies regarding disability accommodations and religious accommodations.