Expectations of Mass Communications Majors and Minors

The Department of Mass Communications provides preparation for professional careers as professional communicators. To prepare students for life in the professional world, students are expected to behave in a professional manner in courses, in their relationships with faculty and other students, and in their contacts with the media.
The following are a few specifications of expected behavior:

1. Regular attendance is expected in all classes, just as regular and prompt attendance is expected in any job. Each faculty member will set up his/her own attendance requirements and may lower grades or drop students from a course for inadequate attendance.

2. Students are expected to be active participants (as defined by the faculty member) in each course.

3. Completing work on deadline is an important aspect of any professional's work. In media work, it is even more important. Thus, faculty will simulate professional conditions by requiring absolute adherence to course deadlines.

4. All work turned in to a faculty member must be prepared in a professional manner, adhering carefully to format requirements and other standard expectations of professional presentations. Faculty may use a "fatal error" policy in their courses, which limits the number of errors which may occur before materials are either returned to the student ungraded or are severely downgraded.

5. Each student is responsible for his/her own education. When a student must be absent from class, it is the student's responsibility to make up the work of that class period. Faculty members should not be expected to provide lecture notes, summarize classes, nor tutor students in course material they have missed. Students should seek such help from other students. If a student knows in advance that he/she will miss a class, it is permissible to ask the instructor for permission to send someone to take notes or tape record the class. However, many Mass Communications Department classes involve in-class productions, group projects, viewings, field trips and discussions which there is no way to make up.

6. In all classes it is expected that everyone will be focused on the task at hand. A professional does not engage in any behavior which might disrupt a production atmosphere. Such prohibited behaviors include visiting, working on material unrelated to the class, sleeping, entering or leaving a room in a loud and disruptive manner, rudeness toward the instructor or other members of the class, etc. On occasion, a student who is also a parent has a baby-sitting problem. Rather than miss a class, a student occasionally requests that he/she be allowed to bring children to class. If the request involves an older child who is capable of sitting quietly in the back of the classroom with a book, etc., the instructor may, at his/her discretion, say yes. But putting younger children into this situation is unfair to the parent (who can't concentrate on the class), the instructor (whose concentration is equally compromised), and especially to other students. The university's chief counsel has ruled that this kind of situation comes under the heading of a class disruption, and is not permitted.

7. No one should assume without asking that a faculty member permits eating or drinking in class. Some faculty prohibit these activities. Ask.

8. Just as in the professional world, an individual should not tape record any class, conversation or other activity without first receiving permission.

9. The work of media professionals is frequently considered "intellectual property" under the terms of American copyright law. Respect the intellectual property of others by not pirating (copying) work, including, of course, the software installed on departmental computers.

10. In the professional world, some organizations are quite formal and others are informal. The same is true of classes at SIUE. Professionals adapt to the culture of the organization they become a part of. Students should similarly adapt to the classroom culture the faculty member establishes. This extends to such things as how discussions are conducted and how the professor is addressed. Again, when in doubt, ask.

11. It is a long-standing rule of the Department of Mass Communications that students who do not show up for the semester's first day of class may be dropped from the roster to make way for "crashers." A crasher is a student who is not enrolled in the course who comes to class the first day in hopes of being added to the roster. The Department of Mass Communications does not wait-list courses. Crashing is the departmentally- recognized procedure for gaining admission to a closed class.

12. All majors and minors must make appointments to be advised by a faculty member of the Department of Mass Communications. Faculty members post appointment schedules on their office doors. However, if students procrastinate until the end of the semester, they will not find faculty willing to advise them. No advisement appointments will be made during the last two weeks of the semester.

13. If you have an appointment with a faculty member, it is expected that you will appear on time. If you cannot keep an appointment, do the professional thing: call to cancel and, perhaps, re-schedule.

14. Faculty have many and varied responsibilities. If you wish to discuss something with a faculty member, please call to make an appointment rather than just drop in. The faculty member you may wish to see may have allocated the time to a meeting, course preparation, research, or some other responsibility.

15. Everyone is expected to follow the rules for the use of departmental laboratories, studios and equipment which are posted and/or distributed in courses. These rules are designed to ensure safety and provide for efficient use of our departmental resources. Equipment and key check-out rules and policies are summarized below:

(1) Equipment may be checked out to students currently enrolled in Mass Communications courses which require equipment use for assigned projects.

(2) Equipment may be checked out for 24 hours.

(3) Equipment loans may be reserved in advance on the sign-up sheet in the hall by room 1020.

(4) Borrowers are responsible for the equipment they check out. Borrowers will be put on SIUE's Accounts Receivable for repair or replacement costs resulting from lost, stolen or damaged equipment.

(5) Borrowers will be charged $5 per day for every day that equipment is returned late. Borrowers with equipment delinquent for more than 72 hours will have the replacement costs of the equipment put on Accounts Receivable.

(6) Borrowers who violate department policies. demonstrate negligence or repeatedly return equipment late will be denied future borrowing privileges.