Additional Syllabus Information
Board of Regents Policies & College Procedures
Academic Honesty
At Middlesex Community College, we expect the highest standards of academic honesty. Academic misconduct is prohibited in accordance with the Board of Regents Policy on Student Conduct, Part D, Section 1. This policy prohibits plagiarism, defined as the submission of work by a student for academic credit as one’s own work of authorship which contains work of another author without appropriate attribution, and all forms of cheating including not limited to: (i) use of any unauthorized assistance in taking quizzes, tests or examinations; (ii) use of sources beyond those authorized by the instructor in writing papers, preparing reports, solving problems or carrying out other assignments; (iii) the acquisition, without permission, of tests or other academic material belonging to a member of the College/University faculty or staff; and (iv) engaging in any other behavior specifically prohibited by a faculty member in the course syllabus.
Accessibility & Disability Services
Middlesex Community College is committed to equal access for persons with disabilities. Academic adjustments are provided to students with disabilities to assure equivalent access to academic and campus programs. For more information about academic adjustments and how to request them, please contact Ms. Hilary Phelps, Disability Support Services Coordinator (office: Founders Hall room 121; phone: 860-343-5879; email: hphelps@mxcc.edu). Ms. Phelps works with students to discuss individual requests, review the type of adjustments and services that MxCC will provide, and inform them about any documentation that may be necessary to arrange for certain adjustments. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact Ms. Phelps at least one month before classes begin to avoid any delay in providing academic adjustments, especially when the college must arrange for external resources to provide the adjustments. Please also note that academic adjustments cannot be given retroactively. For further information, please visit www.mxcc.edu/disablity-services.
Attendance Expectations
Adopted February 2014. Students are expected to attend all class sessions for which they are registered. It is the responsibility of students to make up all course work missed because of legitimate class absences and to notify the instructor if they know when an absence will occur.
Middlesex Community College is committed to supporting student success. The College acknowledges that there is often a direct correlation between student success and classroom attendance. A student who misses an individual lecture or classroom activity may limit her/his learning opportunities as well as diminish the learning experience of all members of a course. Moreover, an absence may negatively impact such student’s ability to remain current with course information. This often results in a struggle to keep pace with peers in the course.
Students are expected to attend all class sessions for which they are registered. It is the responsibility of students to make up all course work missed because of legitimate class absences and to notify the instructor if they know when an absence will occur. Students who are reported as never attending a course may be withdrawn from the course by the College. Such withdrawal may jeopardize a student’s academic standing, financial aid award, and/or veterans’ benefits.
Instructors of online courses may define “attendance” as regular participation in electronic course activities including, but not limited to, discussions, chats, journals, quizzes, and assignments. Students who fail to participate in the prescribed manner may miss deadlines for assignments and reduce their ability to maintain pace with course topics and work.
Instructors are required to take attendance during the first three weeks of class for the purpose of reporting to the Financial Aid Office those students who have never attended class. Instructors are encouraged, but not mandated by the College, to require students to attend each class, take attendance in their courses, and assess student attendance either directly or through regular graded classroom participation and/or assessments. However, student attendance cannot be the sole basis for a course grade.
All instructors have the right to prepare and teach college-approved courses to best represent the fields in which they teach, in accordance with approved course descriptions and class schedules. Attendance can be tied to many planned classroom activities and assessments that can be tied directly to a student’s grade. For example, missing a weekly quiz because of -dis-attendance can negatively impact a student’s grade. Failing to participate in a “regulated” classroom discussion can also result in a negative impact on a student’s grade. Missed laboratory or studio activities and participation in group work, can result in a negative grade.
Faculty members are required to distribute to students during the first week of classes, subject to subsequent modification, a course syllabus which contains information as to course objectives, topics and assigned time-frames, indication of evaluative and grading mechanisms to be utilized, reading and attendance requirements, special circumstances under which student absences may be excused, and stipulations for making up work and exams missed during instructor-excused absences. Specific course requirements will be noted in each course syllabus.
Note: Veterans should contact the college Veterans Affairs office for more information about attendance and their funding.
Audio Recordings in the Classroom
Adopted February 2014. Audio recording classroom activities may affect both faculty and students in a number of ways, including the extent to which their participation may be affected by the audio-recording. In recognition thereof, the College acknowledges that there are legitimate interests involving copyright; academic freedom of the College, the instructor, and the students; privacy rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA); and, expectations that need to be respected regarding members of the class having their identity and statement records protected.
Instructors may permit a student to audio-record a classroom lecture for her/his personal use when studying. Instructors may also audio-record their own lectures for pedagogical uses. Before any classroom lecture or activity is audio-recorded, the student wishing to make the audio recording must ask permission of the instructor. It is the instructor’s right to deny recording of a class, unless the audio-recording has been previously authorized in writing by the College’s Office of Accessibility Services.
In every class session in which audio-recording will occur (whether the recording is being made by the instructor or a student), the instructor must announce to the class that the lecture/classroom activity is being audio-recorded and inquire if anyone has an objection to being so audio-recorded. If any student expresses a preference not to have her/his voice recorded, the instructor can either grant her/him an exemption from verbal participation with no penalty, or the instructor can re-consider the permission to record, unless the audio-recording has been authorized in writing by the College’s Accessibility Services Office, in which a denial of the request to audio-record is not permitted.
Audio-recordings by students are for personal use only, for the sole purpose to aid student learning. It is never permissible for a student or anyone else to copy, distribute, sell, file-share, or Web-serve any classroom audio-recording in part or in full. The unauthorized recording of others by students is a serious violation of the Board of Regents Policy on Student Conduct. Unauthorized recordings may also be illegal, subjecting the violator to both civil and criminal penalties. Faculty are required to report unauthorized recording activity of any kind by any student to both the Academic Dean and the Dean of Students.
Under limited circumstances, faculty may use recordings of classroom activities to aid learning of students registered in classes at Middlesex Community College. Posting within a Blackboard shell may be in compliance. It is not permissible to “publish” recordings of College course lectures for general use, whether or not for profit or financial gain of any kind, without the prior written permission of both the Academic Dean and College President.
E-Mail Accounts for Students
All Connecticut Community College students now have an official email address (prefix@mail.ct.edu) to which all college-based communications will be sent. The “prefix” is the first letter of your first name, followed by first 4 letters of your last name, followed by a 4-digit number (e.g., jsmit1234@mail.ct.edu for John Smith). If your last name contains fewer than four characters; the “prefix” will include all letters of your last name (e.g., jdoe1234@mail.ct.edu for John Doe). You access Office 365 at https://portal.microsoftonline.com and log in with your CCC NetID username and password. For more details, please see http://www.ct.edu/365#faq.
Grade Appeal Process (Review of Academic Standing)
A student may seek review of the assignment of a grade or other decision affecting academic status in accordance with the following procedures, as established by the Board of Regents for Higher Education:
- The grade or academic decision affecting academic status should be discussed informally with the instructor or official responsible for the decision within fifteen (15) calendar days of the student’s awareness of the decision.
- If agreement on the matter is not reached within ten (10) calendar days of this appeal or the instructor is not available, the student may refer the matter to the Dean of Academic Affairs by filing a written appeal. The appeal must be filed with the Dean of Academic Affairs within thirty (30) calendar days of the student’s awareness of the decision which is being appealed. Upon receipt of such appeal, the dean shall meet with the instructor, if he or she is available, to determine that step 1 has taken place or is not possible and to receive relevant information from the instructor responsible for the decision. The dean may then refer the matter to the academic supervisor (division director, or program/discipline coordinator) for informal consideration prior to Step 3 below.
- The Dean of Academic Affairs or other official(s) designated by the Dean of Academic Affairs shall afford review as provided below. The Dean of Academic Affairs will review the appeal and may either determine on the basis of his/her own investigation the outcome of the appeal or may refer the appeal to a grade appeals committee. If the appeal is referred to a grade appeals committee, the student will be contacted by the chair of that committee and will be apprised of the procedures for handling the appeal.The student shall be afforded the right to present a statement of appeal and relevant information in support of it. It is the student’s responsibility to show that the decision in question is arbitrary, i.e., without a reasonable basis, or was made for improper reasons in violation of section 1 of this policy. The student is entitled to a written response within thirty (30) days of the completion of his or her presentation. A decision to change the grade or modify the decision which has been appealed is advisory to and subject to the approval of the president.
- The foregoing decision may be appealed to the president by filing a statement of appeal within ten (10) calendar days of the date of the decision. Review by the president shall be on the basis of the written record unless he or she decides that fairness requires broader review. The decision of the president shall be final.
- The time frames provided herein may be modified by the president for good cause shown.
Non-Discrimination Policies
Middlesex Community College (MxCC) strives to provide all of its students and employees with an environment that is conducive to learning, teaching, and the execution of employment responsibilities. Our goal is for our college environment to foster inclusivity and be free of harassment of any kind.
Please visit https://mxcc.edu/nondiscrimination for information about:
- Nondiscrimination Policy
- Non-Discrimination Statement
- Affirmative Action Policy
- People with Disabilities: Policy Statement
- ADA Grievance Procedure for the General Public
- Racism and Acts of Intolerance
- Sexual Misconduct and Relationship Violence Statement
Religious Accommodation Statement
If your religious obligations conflict with a course calendar requirement, and if you wish to request an accommodation, you must make your request in writing prior to the date of the assessment or activity you will miss and preferably at the beginning of the semester. When requesting a make-up quiz, test, exam, assignment, or activity, state the reason for your request and the date(s) on which your religious obligation(s) will conflict with the course calendar requirements. Also, if your religious obligation/ holiday is unfamiliar to your instructor, you may be asked to provide a calendar which shows the published date(s) of your religious observance(s) or holiday(s).
School Cancellations Due to Weather or Emergency Situations
In the event of inclement weather or local emergency either before the start of a day when classes are in session or during the school day, you may check for information on delayed openings, college closings, class cancellations, etc., by listening to many of the area’s local radio and TV stations. Additionally, a message will be posted on the MxCC website at www.mxcc.edu and an announcement made on the college’s main phone number, 860-343-5800. (When calling the main phone number, be sure to choose option 1 from the menu for school closings.) Students are urged to exercise their own judgment if road conditions in their localities are hazardous.
Sexual Harassment and Assault
At Middlesex Community College we take sexual assault seriously. Learn more about our Sexual Harassment and Assault policy here.
Student Code of Conduct
Academic institutions exist for the transmission of knowledge, the pursuit of truth, the development of students, and the general well-being of society. In line with this purpose, the Board of Regents for Higher Education (“BOR”) in conjunction with the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (“CSCU”) has the duty to protect the freedoms of inquiry and expression, and furthermore, has the responsibility to encourage all of its members to develop the capacity for critical judgment in their sustained and independent search for truth.
CSCU has certain self-defined institutional values. Principal among these values is respect for the safety, dignity, rights, and individuality of each member of the CSCU Community. The opportunity to live, study, and work in an institution which values diverse intellectual and cultural perspectives and encourages discussion and debate about competing ideas in an atmosphere of civility is a basic component of quality higher education.
All members of CSCU must at all times govern their social and academic interactions with tolerance and mutual respect so that the students who pass through a CSCU door are enriched by these experiences and are prepared for full and enlightened participation in a multi-cultural society. Because of the BOR’s and CSCU’s commitment to principles of pluralism, mutual respect, and civility, certain activities are not acceptable on CSCU campuses. Acts of intolerance, of hatred or violence based on race, religion, sexual orientation or expression, disability, gender, age, or ethnic background are antithetical to the BOR’s and CSCU’s fundamental principles and values. It is the BOR’s and CSCU’s responsibility to protect our students’ right to learn by establishing an environment of civility.
Withdrawing From Class
Please click here to see withdrawal information.
