ACADEMIC HONESTY AND INTELLECTUAL GENEROSITY
Citing our sources and giving credit where it’s due are more than bureaucratic obligations; they’re ethical, political practices — especially in this age of artificial intelligence. As Sarah Ahmed and Kishonna Gray acknowledge, citations are a means of determining “who appears,” who counts, whose work gets validated. Our citational choices have the power to build communities, as well as to dismantle and reform canons and disciplines. They’re creative opportunities, too! The endnote and footnote can become a poetic or epistolary form!
Please familiarize yourself with the University’s Code of Academic Integrity and the Libraries’ plagiarism resources. If you have any questions regarding proper citation of sources or other academic integrity matters, please ask me or consult the Weingarten Center for academic support and disability services, the Marks Family Center for Excellence in Writing, or any of these other services supporting academic skills. Plagiarism and cheating of any form do carry consequences, and egregious cases will be referred to the Center for Community Standards and Accountability.
Regarding Generative AI: I used to welcome creative, critical, consentful, and transparent uses of generative AI in student work, but the more we learn about the extractive, exploitative nature of this technology — from its abuse of copyrighted material, to its disregard for attribution, to the environmental impacts of its operation — the less value I see in it. That said, if you can make a compelling case for its transformative, ethical use in your own work, please speak with me!
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
Via AAUP-Penn: The policies of the University of Pennsylvania protect academic freedom, as defined in the AAUP’s 1940 Statement of Principles. This statement has been endorsed by over 250 scholarly and educational organizations in the United States, and its principles are written into faculty handbooks nationwide, including Penn’s. The principles of academic freedom were established to protect the integrity of research and teaching from interference by donors, trustees, politicians, and others who might seek to make universities serve private and political interests. They are founded on the idea that a university’s purpose is to generate new knowledge that can serve the common good in a democratic society, and that generating new knowledge requires free and open inquiry. To safeguard the university’s public mission, academic freedom entails the following rights:
- The right of faculty members to full freedom in research, teaching, extramural speech (public speech on issues of general concern) and intramural speech (speech about the university itself, including criticism of it).
- The right of students to freedom in learning, which includes freedom of association and expression and freedom of inquiry in the classroom.
That said, these freedoms should be exercised in light of additional ethical responsibilities…
INCLUSION AND RESPECT
Before coming to Penn, I taught at The New School in New York for 18 years. The following is modified from TNS’s Safe Zone declaration: We in this class are dedicated to creating a welcoming environment for all members of the university community inclusive of race, ethnicity, national origin, culture, language, gender and gender expression, sexuality, religious and political beliefs, age, educational privilege, and ability. We’ll aim to celebrate our diversity and to respectfully negotiate differences in experience, understanding, and expression. We will stand against all forms of discrimination and oppression, whether directed against individuals or groups. We will also make an effort to respect one another’s individuality in our forms of address, which includes learning one another’s names and pronouns.
If you experience anything in the classroom that undermines these values — or if there is anything I can do to better cultivate inclusivity and respect — please let me know.