No one at the college is to be discriminated against because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, color, religion, age, disability, sex, pregnancy status, gender identity, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

As a reminder, this college rule applies to everyone in my classroom.

Rules aside, a variety of perspectives and engagement is essential to writing and journalism courses. We discuss current events, controversial research topics, and, yes, politics. However, students (and I) sometimes are not perfect when engaging in classroom discussions. That’s okay. I ask that you be patient with your fellow classmates, especially during heated moments. If you disagree with someone, even slightly, I ask that you do it politely and as objectively as possible.

In almost a decade of teaching, I have only ever asked two students to leave classrooms, not because they disagreed or even discriminated against anyone—discrimination has happened mostly rarely and accidentally but usually we talk it out with no further consequences and usually learning all-around happens. These two cases only happened because the students severely disrupted the learning of others—meaning they actively did not allow a lecture or discussion to happen with their behavior. In both cases, we talked about the reason for disruption and both students were welcomed back by both me and the classroom after an apology and classroom consensus of acceptance. If in a very rare case a student is removed for being disruptive and they want to rejoin the classroom, I will ask the permission of all students in the classroom, and we will have the delayed discussion then. Most students who are committed to learning will engage in healthy debates not because they are looking to be right and dominate a class discussion, but because they like to learn and learn from others.

Note that online behavior outside of the college towards myself and other students counts in this. I advise you to be careful about group chats and other text groups as well. If you do not think other students or community members will inform when things cross a line, especially criminally, you are wrong. If you think it has not happened, it has, and it was serious and not tolerated. Treat all your communications with college members as a public record, just like emails are.

I also want to note that the most discrimination I have seen in academia has not been from students towards each other but from people in high positions towards students. I have receipts. That said, if we have a class discussion and you think I am not aware of something that I should be, I would appreciate you talking to me about it. I have learned much from students over the years and would never like to stop. I am not above being politely corrected. Though I am a professor, I consider myself a forever student. Sometimes, it’s generational and my elder millennial generation is still catching up. Sometimes, I just did not know.

If you are registered or need to with the Disability Resource Center (DRC), please let me know how I can best accommodate you. I have been trying to work more closely with SF’s DRC to create assignments with accessibility built-in and lessons with a focus on accessibility awareness. I am open to suggestions.

If you are part of a student community and I can help you officially in my role as a professor with projects or advisement—I would be glad to.

If you have had discrimination happen outside of my classroom at the college and need help navigating it—I will try my best to be an advocate for you.