Northern
Policy Statements
Safe Environment Policy
NAU’s Safe Working and
Learning Environment Policy seeks to prohibit discrimination and promote the
safety of all individuals within the university. The goal of this policy is to prevent the
occurrence of discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, age, national
origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status and to
prevent sexual harassment, sexual assault or retaliation by anyone at this
university.
You may obtain a copy of
this policy from the college dean’s office or from the NAU’s Affirmative Action
website http://www4.nau.edu/diversity/swale.asp. If you have
concerns about this policy, it is important that you contact the departmental
chair, dean’s office, the Office of Student Life (928-523-5181), or NAU’s
Office of Affirmative Action (928-523-3312).
Students with Disabilities
If you have a documented
disability, you can arrange for accommodations by contacting Disability
Resources (DR) at 523-8773 (voice)or 523-6906 (TTY), dr@nau.edu
(e-mail)or 928-523-8747 (fax).Students needing academic accommodations are
required to register with DR and provide required disability related
documentation. Although you may request
an accommodation at any time, in order for DR to best meet your individual
needs, you are urged to register and submit necessary documentation (www.nau.edu/dr) 8 weeks prior to the time you
wish to receive accommodations. DR is strongly committed to the needs of
student with disabilities and the promotion of Universal Design. Concerns or
questions related to the accessibility of programs and facilities at NAU may be
brought to the attention of DR or the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal
Opportunity (523-3312).
Institutional Review Board
Any study involving
observation of or interaction with human subjects that originates at NAU—including
a course project, report, or research paper—must be reviewed and approved by
the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for the protection of human subjects in
research and research-related activities.
The IRB meets
monthly. Proposals must be submitted for
review at least fifteen working days before the monthly meeting. You should consult with your course
instructor early in the course to ascertain if your project needs to be
reviewed by the IRB and/or to secure information or appropriate forms and procedures
for the IRB review. Your instructor and
department chair or college dean must sign the application for approval by the
IRB. The IRB categorizes projects into
three levels depending on the nature of the project: exempt from further review, expedited review,
or full board review. If the IRB
certifies that a project is exempt from further review, you need not resubmit
the project for continuing IRB review as long as there are no modifications in
the exempted procedures.
A copy of the IRB Policy
and Procedures Manual is available in each
department’s administrative office and each college dean’s office or on their
website: http://www.research.nau.edu/vpr/IRB/index.htm. If you have
questions, contact the IRB Coordinator in the Office of the Vice President for
Research at 928-523-8288 or 523-4340.
Academic Integrity
The university takes an
extremely serious view of violations of academic integrity. As members of the academic community, NAU’s
administration, faculty, staff and students are dedicated to promoting an
atmosphere of honesty and are committed to maintaining the academic integrity
essential to the education process.
Inherent in this commitment is the belief that academic dishonesty in
all forms violates the basic principles of integrity and impedes learning. Students are therefore responsible for
conducting themselves in an academically honest manner.
Individual students and faculty members are responsible for identifying instances of academic dishonesty. Faculty members then recommend penalties to the department chair or college dean in keeping with the severity of the violation. The complete policy on academic integrity is in Appendix G of NAU’s Student Handbook http://www4.nau.edu/stulife/handbookdishonesty.htm.
Academic
Contact Hour Policy
The
Arizona Board of Regents Academic Contact Hour Policy (ABOR Handbook, 2-206,
Academic Credit) states: “an hour of
work is the equivalent of 50 minutes of class time…at least 15 contact hours of
recitation, lecture, discussion, testing or evaluation, seminar, or colloquium
as well as a minimum of 30 hours of student homework is required for each unit
of credit.”
The reasonable interpretation of this policy is that for every credit hour, a student should expect, on average, to do a minimum of two additional hours of work per week; e.g., preparation, homework, studying.
SENSITIVE COURSE MATERIALS
If an instructor believes it
is appropriate, the syllabus should communicate to students that some course
content may be considered sensitive by some students.
“University education aims to
expand student understanding and awareness.
Thus, it necessarily involves engagement with a wide range of
information, ideas, and creative representations. In the course of college studies, students
can expect to encounter—and critically appraise—materials that may differ from
and perhaps challenge familiar understandings, ideas, and beliefs. Students are encouraged to discuss these
matters with faculty.”