A civility webinar titled “Coping with Misconduct in the College Classroom” will take place for faculty members from noon-2 p.m. Oct. 24 in Education South-Room 101.
This online seminar, offered by Magna Publications Inc. will help faculty cope with misconduct in the classroom.
According to Magna Publications’ Web site, “this seminar’s main mission is to empower instructors, administrators, counselors and other college personnel to use their legal prerogatives to institute policies and practices that will foster civility on the college campus. This can be achieved by familiarizing them with practical strategies and principles that facilitate greater coordination and cooperation between college departments and services.”
Magna Publications Inc. is a communications company that publishes higher education newsletters and manages on site and audio conferences. Dr. Gerald Amada will be lecturing during this interactive program offered over the Web. Amada, a founder and retired director of the Mental Health Program at the City College of San Francisco, has written more than 80 articles and published nine books about mental health, psychotherapy and disruptive college student issues.
Faculty members interested in the webinar need to R.S.V.P. to Mary Petty by Oct. 15 in order to reserve their place due to a 30-person limit.
In Dr. McFarland’s fall faculty address he said disruptive behavior by students in classroom settings is one of the problems Texas A&M University-Commerce faces. It is the responsibility of the Department of Student Affairs to handle student conduct problems.
“We might get one or two a semester. Usually it’s more reinforcing that faculty had authority in the classroom,” Deborrah Hebert, assistant vice president and dean of student affairs, said.
According to the Student Guidebook, “The obligation of knowing that the student’s conduct reflects not only upon the student, but also upon the institution and its citizenry and is judged in this manner. The obligation to follow the tenets of common decency and acceptable behavior commensurate with aspirations implied by a college education.”
“Our focus is to treat each other with respect and respond in appropriate ways?-?ways to encourage and teach,” Hebert said.
Students who violate the Code of Student Conduct in the Student Guidebook are subject to disciplinary action such as expulsion from the university, suspension, probation, loss of privileges, admonition and warning, notification of parents and other disciplinary action as approved by the University Discipline Committee.
“This is not a new issue. The disruptions have changed, but the issue has not,” Hebert said.