Animals & Society                                Jonathan Marx
CRN 21536 - SOCL 350 – 001                              Kinard 334
Credit Hours 3                                                         Marxj@winthrop.edu
Spring 2018                                                            Office Hours:TR 8:30am-9:30am  
TR: 12:30-1:45
Owens G07

My role is one of a facilitator.  I coordinate the readings, films, and speakers within broad topic parameters.  Being a sociologist, I will ground all discussions in sociological terms.  Yet, this is your class--take an active role- Don't play “possum” in class.

Course Goals:

The general goal of this course is to facilitate the student’s ability to understand the place animals occupy in the human social and cultural spaces and the interactions humans have with them. 

Course Learning Outcome:

The student will demonstrate the ability to  comprehend, apply and evaluate social and behavioral science knowledge directed to topics such as the following:  Historical, Philosophical and Ethical Perspectives of Human-Animal Studies, Animals and Ideology, Animals as Reflective Thinkers, Living and Working with Animals, Animals as Pets and Food, Animals as Spectacle, Animals as Scientific Objects and Animal Protection.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES IN SOCL 350: Animal and Society

 SOCL350  helps students make progress towards the following University Level Competencies:

Competency 1: Winthrop graduates think critically and solve problems. 

Method: Students will carefully read assigned materials, view films, and will complete assignments that encourage higher level comprehension.  The student will begin to reframe our relationship with “animals” in more comprehensive fashion.

Assessment:  Students will be graded on writing assignments and tests that challenge both understanding and application of terms, concepts, and theories.

Competency 2: Winthrop graduates are personally and socially responsible. 

Method: Students will be prepared for class by reading assigned materials, arriving to class on time, and participating in course discussions and lectures. The student will also have several opportunities to hear from in animal advocacy in the community (including an additional 1 credit hour service learning component, please ask Professor Marx about). Professor Barak, Winthrop Universities’ Chair of IACUC Winthrop will speak about animal use in research on campus.  Likewise, Tina Vires, Program Director of emotional support animals on campus, will speak about emotional support animals on campus. Students will be exposed to many ideas that may lead to rethinking personal choices in consumption of food and clothing.

Assessment: Participation in discussions and timely arrivals will influence students’ grades.  Several CITI modules on ethical animal usage will need to be passed by the students. Those students enrolled in the service learning component will model an application paper with Wayne Pascelle, CEO of Humane Society of the United States, as a model. 

Competency 3: Winthrop graduates understand the interconnected nature of the world and the time in which they live. 

Method: Students will learn to identify multiple perspectives on HAS and will be able to apply them to understanding how the changing Animal/Human boundaries continue to impact their social histories.

Assessment:  Along with final examination, students will read another outside book in HAS and apply course concepts to it.

 Competency 4: Winthrop graduates communicate effectively. 

Method: Students will read and discuss the research relating to HAS.

Assessment:  Students will be graded on writing assignments, including five page concept application to outside book (okayed by me), and participation in class.

Course Requirements:

1)   The course's format will consist of lectures, discussions and films.  The Winthrop attendance policy           
       will be enforced.  If you miss 25% of the classes, I will not give you a passing grade.    
      However, fewer number of absences will detract from your participation grade.

2)      All reading is required to be complete on assigned dates.  Read for central ideas, but read critically
          and note how these ideas relate to one another.  This will make for more dynamic class    
          interaction.  The readings include:

 a)  Required: Social Creatures: A Human and Animal Studies Reader (SC), Clifton Flynn (editor), Lantern
      Book 2008.

 b)   Optional:  The Animal Reader: The Essential Classic Reading and Contemporary Writings (AR)
       Linda Kalof and Amy Fitzgerald (editors), Berg, 2007.

 c)  Selected weekly reading on BB, emailed pdf or reserve Library.

 d)   A HAS book of your choosing okayed by me (2/8).

3)     ALL TESTS and PAPERS ARE REQUIRED TO BE COMPLETED FOR THE ALLOCATION OF A PASSING GRADE.  EXAMS AND PAPERS MUST BE HANDED IN ON DUE DATES.  A GRADE WILL BE SUBTRACTED FOR EACH DAY A WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT IS LATE.  REQUESTS FOR EXTENSIONS ARE GIVEN ONLY IN EXCEPTIONAL CASES AND ONLY IF ARRANGED 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE.  GRADES WILL NOT BE PROVIDED TILL ALL BORROWED MATERIALS ARE RETURNED OR REPLACED.

Evaluation:

Course grades are based on three exams.  Each exam will contribute (20%) of your final grade.  The remaining (40%) of your grade will be based upon outside book* (20%) and class-participation (20%).

All students will need to pass the CITI model on Working with the IACUC Course.  Each class member will be ranked based upon their total points for the semester (by April 4)   Please email me the completed results (failure to document adequate performance will result in a grade deduction for course). CITI Training Site  Instructions for CITI Training Site login.

 Exams:

The 3 exams will consist of  five short answer item covering material immediately preceding those dates, i.e., they are not cumulative.   Students will be assigned readings to write questions. The questions will include two sections- a list part and a thought part.  All proposed questions will be circulated as a “review sheet”.  The thought part will be an attempt to incorporate other reading/speakers/films. I will go over all lists on the review day, but not the thought part. I reserve the right to mix and match question as I chose, especially on the thought part.  Failure to provide an assigned question at the assigned time means a minus for participation and I will write a question (not desirable). Periodically, guest speakers will present on course-related topics.  Material they introduce is considered "fair game" for testing.

Outside Book:

A HAS book of your choosing and the application of 7 concepts/ideas covered in the course is required (typed at least five pages).  The book needs to be okayed by February 1 or points will be detracted (switching books is associated with point deductions). A list of books (annotated) you can borrow from me are list at the end of the syllabus (first come first serve). The Library also should have these books. I asked them to order several months ago.  Obviously, all borrowed book must be returned to receive course grade.  Many are available on Audible (I can send to you for free if never member).

An evaluation matrix for your book applications will be provided closer to the time paper is dues, last day class (4/19).

Class-participation:

Strong participation includes:  1) displaying evidence that material has been read; 2) ask questions; 3) being critical;  4) relating relevant life-experiences to the class and  5) answering my questions.  In essence read materials and share your impressions.  After each session, a check + (2 points), check (1 point) or check - (0 points) will be allocated to each seminar participant to characterize their verbal contributions.  One point is deducted for each absence.  Any current newspaper or magazine article touching upon a general HAS issue successfully presented to the class will automatically result in a check + for that day.   If you are not attentive, texting, sleeping or basically do anything that I judge not conducive to learning, I will give you a point deduction for the day.  Note: Not getting appropriate test question in at assigned time will impact this element of your grade. Student may come and view the card during office hours and discuss with me.

COURSE GRADING SCALE

A   94-100
A-  90-93
B+  87-89
B    80-86
C+  77-79
C    70-76
D+  67-69
D    60-66
F    59 and under

Syllabus change policy: All dates and assignments are tentative can be changed at the discretion of   the instructor with fair notice to students.

1/9-1/11  Week 1: Introduction to Human Animal Studies

Reads: 
 SC: Social Creatures an Introduction, Clifton Fynn
 SC:  Introduction to Human Animal Studies, Kenneth Shapiro
 SC:  The Zoological Connection, Clifton Bryant
 SC: The Animal Question in Anthropology, Barbara Noske

1/11   Overview of some service learning options:  Karen Brown (Humane Society), Kelly Blankston
               (Tails of the Trails) and Brian Richardson (Richardson Rescue);

1/16-/18      Week 2:   Animals as Philosophical and Ethical Subjects

 Readings:
History of Animals, Aristotle (AR, BB)
From the Letters of 1646 and 1649),  Rene’ Decartes (AR, BB)
 Principles of Morals and  Legislation, Jeremy Bentham (AR, BB)
 SC: Animals are Equal, Peter Singer
 SC: The Case for Animal Rights, Tom Regan
 Wild Justice and Fair Play, Marc Bekoff (AR, BB)

1/23-1/25   Week 3:  Animal Dichotomy: Ideology and Action

Readings:   
The Hunter-Gather prehistory of Human-Animal Interaction, Steven Mithen (AR, BB).
 Animal Planet, Harriet Ritvo (AR, BB).
  SC:  Speciesism, Anthropology and Non-Western Cultures, Barbara Noske
  SC: The Anthropology of Conscience
  Boundary Work in Nazi Germany, Arluke and Sanders (BB)

                    Assigned Questions due (1/25)

1/30-2/1     Week 4:   Test Week Section 1

                      Review---1/30
                      Test-------2/1

Please get book title, Okayed for final due (2/1)              

2/6-2/8       Week 5:  Emotions, Intelligence, Animal Human Bond
Readings:
Grief Sadness and the Bones of Elephants, Masson and McCarthy (AR,BB)
 Orangutan Cultures and the Evolution of Material Culture, Schaik et al. (AR,BB)
Tale of two Schools (Are we smarter than Animals…) Frans De Waal (BB)
 SC: Understanding Dogs: Caretakers.., (Clinton Sanders, BB)
 An Anthropologist on Mars, Oliver Sacks (BB)
Speaking for Animals, Sanders and Arluke ( AR,BB)

Film:  The wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill: In a celebration of urban wildness, THE WILD PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL follows formerly homeless street musician Mark Bittner into San Francisco’s avian subculture, where a remarkable flock of wild green-and-red parrots live and work to survive. Dubbed the “Bohemian St. Francis,” Bittner falls in with the flock as he searches for his path through life, unaware that the wild parrots will do more for him than eat his sunflower seeds.

2/13-22         Week 6:  Living, Working and Dying with Animals   
Readings:
SC: The  health benefits of human-animal interaction, Rowan and Beck
SC Human Grief Benefits from the death of pet, Gosse and Barnes
SC: The Power of Play,   Irvine
SC: The Emergence of Modern Pet-Keeping, Ritvo
Animal Pets: Cruelty and Affection, Yi-Fu Tuan (AR,BB)

2/13 Speaker:  Officer Harrelson & Co-Worker Nike.

2/20  Speaker:   Tina Vires, Program Director Office of Accessibility,  Emotional Support Animals

Assigned questions due test 2.

2/27-3/1 :  Week 7 Section 2

Review---2/27
Test-------3/1

March 6-8   Week 8:  Attitudes  
Reading :
SC:  Gender, Sex-roles Orientation and Attitudes toward Animals, Herzog et al.
SC:   Childhood Pet Keeping and Humane Attitudes in young adulthood, Paul and Serpell
SC:   Animal Rights and Human Social Issues
AniCare: Treating Animals Abuse, Kenneth Shapiro (BB)

 Film: Unnatural History of Cane Toad: The A documentary detailing the spread of Hawaiian sugar-cane toads through Australia in a botched effort to introduce them as counter pests.                     

March 22-27  Week 9: Food week
Readings:
Making and consumption of Meat, DeMello (BB)
Delicious, Dangerous, Disgusting and Dead, Herzog (BB)

Spectacle and Sport:  March 29-April 3
Readings:
 Now that’s Entertainment, Pacelle (BB)
 Dogfighting: Symbolic, Evans, et. al. (AR, BB)
 Zoo Spectatorship, Malamud (AR,BB)
The Illumination of the Animal Kingdom ,Burt (AA,BB)
   

Animals as Scientific Objects Science April 5-10
Reading:
Systems of Meaning in Primate Labs, Arluke and Sanders (BB)
The Moral Status of Mice, Herzog (BB)

April 10
Speaker: Professor Barak, Winthrop Universities’ Chair of IACUC.

April 10-17 The animal protection movement
Reading:
The Animal Protection Movement, DeMello (BB)
The Pig who sag to the Moon, Masson, chapter 6 and conclusion (BB)
 

April 12-Bring your pet to class day. Picnic (weather willing)

April 17:   Film: The Witness. 

 Question for Final Needed   (4/17)

4/ 19  Review , Paper due on Outside Book, and “thank you” from class evaluation required.

Final:   April 26  (Thurs) at 11:30

Potential Books for final reports from my personal library (first come first serve) must be returned for passing grade. Any other book need my approval and are welcomed.  These should also be at the library.

Patricia McConnell. The Other End of the Leash shares a revolutionary, new perspective on our relationship with dogs, focusing on our behavior in comparison with that of dogs. An applied animal behaviorist and dog trainer with more than twenty years of experience, Dr. Patricia McConnell looks at humans as just another interesting species, and muses about why we behave the way we do around our dogs, how dogs might interpret our behavior, and how to interact with our dogs in ways that bring out the best in our four-legged friends. (Applied)

Karen Pryor.  Don’t Shoot the Dog   Karen Pryor is a behavioral biologist with an international reputation in two fields, marine mammal biology and behavioral psychology. She is a founder and leading proponent of "clicker training," a training system based on operant conditioning. (Applied)

Jean Donaldson. The Cultural Clash.   The book that has shaped modern dog training and ownership with its unique and scientifically sound recognition of the "cultural" differences between dogs and humans.  Dogs can't read so you need to in order to really understand your dog.
(Applied)

Victoria Stilwell. Train your Dog Positively.  Among world's best-known positive reinforcement dog trainer and star of the hit Animal Planet TV show, It's Me or the Dog, explains how to use her force-free, scientifically-backed training methods to solve common canine behavior problems. (Applied )

Janet Alger and Steven Alger.  Cat Culture. This work contends that the anti-social cat is a myth; cats form close bonds with humans and with each other. In the potentially chaotic environment of a shelter than houses dozens of uncaged cats, this work reveals a sense of self and the build of a culture - a shared set of rules, roles, and expectations that organizes their world and assimilates newcomers.
(Perfect for cat lovers)

 Yi-Fu Tuan. Domination & Affection.  Tuan does a masterful job exploring the condescending human treatment of animals as 'playthings' that exist only for our entertainment. He charts the malevolent history of male domination over women and children and the sad chronicle of slaves, dwarfs and other 'freaks' treated as human appliances or toys. This provocative study of power in the world of pleasure, play and art is a tour de force." -Cultural Information Service "A brilliant book that will appeal to a wide audience. The volume provides excellent material for school and college seminar debates on humankind's place in nature and attitudes toward other living things. . . . (A) penetrating analysis. . . . Readable at all levels."-Choice (ideal for Philosophy major)

 Marc Bekoff.  The Emotional  Lives of Animals.  Based on award-winning scientist Marc Bekoff’s years studying social communication in a wide range of species, this important book shows that animals have rich emotional lives. Bekoff skillfully blends extraordinary stories of animal joy, empathy, grief, embarrassment, anger, and love with the latest scientific research confirming the existence of emotions that common sense and experience have long implied. Filled with Bekoff’s light humor and touching stories, The Emotional Lives of Animals is a clarion call for reassessing both how we view animals and how we treat them. (Ethnologists and Biologists must read).

Katherine Grier. Entertaining and informative, Pets in America is a portrait of Americans' relationships with the cats, dogs, birds, fishes, rodents, and other animals we call our own. More than 60 percent of U.S. households have pets, and America grows more pet-friendly every day. But as Katherine C. Grier demonstrates, the ways we talk about and treat our pets--as companions, as children, and as objects of beauty, status, or pleasure--have their origins long ago. (ideal for History Majors).

Armold Arluke and Clinton Sanders. Regarding Animals.  What is it about Western society, ask the authors, that makes it possible for people to express great affection for animals as sentient creatures and simultaneously turn a blind eye to the most callous behavior toward them? Animals are sold as expensive commodities, used as food and clothing, killed as vermin and hunted for sport. But they also are treated as members of the family, used as the cause of social movements, and made the subject of art, film and poetry.  (Sociology, Anthropology and Social Psychology majors)

Hal Herzog.   Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat is a highly entertaining and illuminating journey through the full spectrum of human–animal relations, based on Dr. Herzog’s groundbreaking research on animal rights activists, cockfighters, professional dog-show handlers, veterinary students, and biomedical researchers. Blending anthropology, behavioral economics, evolutionary psychology, and philosophy, Herzog carefully crafts a seamless narrative enriched with real-life anecdotes, scientific research, and his own sense of moral ambivalence.  (Sociology, Anthropology and Psychology majors).

Leslie Irvine looks closely at how people form connections with dogs and cats available in adoption shelters and reflects on her own relationships with animals. "If You Tame Me "makes a persuasive case for the existence of a sense of self in companion animals and calls upon us to reconsider our rights and obligations regarding the non-human creatures in our lives. (Sociology, Anthropology and Psychology majors).

In The Humane Economy, Wayne Pacelle, President/CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, explores how our everyday economic decisions impact the survival and wellbeing of animals, and how we can make choices that better support them. Though most of us have never harpooned a sea creature, clubbed a seal, or killed an animal for profit, we are all part of an interconnected web that has a tremendous impact on animal welfare, and the decisions we make—whether supporting local, not industrial, farming; adopting a rescue dog or a shelter animal instead of one from a “puppy mill”; avoiding products that compromise the habitat of wild species; or even seeing Cirque du Soleil instead of Ringling Brothers—do matter. The Humane Economy shows us how what we do every day as consumers can benefit animals, the environment, and human society, and why these decisions can make economic sense as well. (Business, Political Science and Policy must read).

Beyond a deliciously voyeuristic excursion, Sex in the Sea uniquely connects the timeless topic of sex with the timely issue of sustainable oceans. Through overfishing, climate change, and ocean pollution we are disrupting the creative procreation that drives the wild abundance of life in the ocean. With wit and scientific rigor, Hardt, research co-director of the nonprofit Future for Fish, introduces us to the researchers and innovators who study the wet and wild sex lives of ocean life and offer solutions that promote rather than prevent, successful sex in the sea. Part science, part erotica, Sex in the Sea discusses how we can shift from a prophylactic to a more propagative force for life in the ocean.
(for those that like it spicy) .

The Lion in the Living Room:  How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World. House cats rule back alleys, deserted Antarctic islands, and our bedrooms. Clearly, they own the Internet, where a viral cat video can easily be viewed upwards of ten million times. But how did cats accomplish global domination? Unlike dogs, they offer humans no practical benefit. The truth is they are sadly incompetent rat-catchers and pose a threat to many ecosystems. Yet, we love them still. To better understand these furry strangers in our midst, Abby Tucker travels to meet the breeders, activists, and scientists who've dedicated their lives to cats. Witty, intelligent, and always curious, Tucker shows how these tiny creatures have used their relationship with humans to become one of the most powerful animals on the planet. The appropriate reaction to a cuddly kitten, it seems, might not be aww but awe.

The Pig who Sang to the Moon. Weaving history, literature, anecdotes, scientific studies, and Masson’s own vivid experiences observing pigs, cows, sheep, goats, and chickens over the course of five years, this important book at last gives voice, meaning, and dignity to these gentle beasts that are bred to be milked, shorn, butchered, and eaten. Can we ever know what makes an animal happy? Many animal behaviorists say no. But Jeffrey Masson has a different view: An animal is happy if it can live according to its own nature. Farm animals suffer greatly in this regard.  Chickens, for instance, like to perch in trees at night, to avoid predators and to nestle with friends. The obvious conclusion: They cannot be happy when confined twenty to a cage.  For far too long farm animals have been denigrated and treated merely as creatures of instinct rather than as sentient beings. Shattering the abhorrent myth of the “dumb animal without feelings,” Jeffrey Masson has written a revolutionary book that is sure to stir human emotions far and wide.

Birds are astonishingly intelligent creatures. According to revolutionary new research, some birds rival primates and even humans in their remarkable forms of intelligence.  The Genius of Birds, acclaimed author Jennifer Ackerman explores the newly discovered brilliance of birds. As she travels around the world to the most cutting-edge frontiers of research—the distant laboratories of Barbados and New Caledonia, the great tit communities of the United Kingdom and the bowerbird habitats of Australia, the ravaged mid-Atlantic coast after Hurricane Sandy and the warming mountains of central Virginia and the western states—Ackerman not only tells the story of the recently uncovered genius of birds but also delves deeply into the latest findings about the bird brain itself that are shifting our view of what it means to be intelligent.

From world-renowned biologist and primatologist  Frans de Waal, a groundbreaking work on animal intelligence destined to become a classic. Are We Smart Enough to Know how to How Smart Animals Are?  What separates your mind from an animal’s? Maybe you think it’s your ability to design tools, your sense of self, or your grasp of past and future―all traits that have helped us define ourselves as the planet’s preeminent species. But in recent decades, these claims have eroded, or even been disproven outright, by a revolution in the study of animal cognition. Take the way octopuses use coconut shells as tools; elephants that classify humans by age, gender, and language; or Ayumu, the young male chimpanzee at Kyoto University whose flash memory puts that of humans to shame. Based on research involving crows, dolphins, parrots, sheep, wasps, bats, whales, and of course chimpanzees and bonobos, Frans de Waal explores both the scope and the depth of animal intelligence. He offers a firsthand account of how science has stood traditional behaviorism on its head by revealing how smart animals really are, and how we’ve underestimated their abilities for too long.

In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders, of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them and support them as they grow, sharing nutrients with those who are sick or struggling and creating an ecosystem that mitigates the impact of extremes of heat and cold for the whole group. As a result of such interactions, trees in a family or community are protected and can live to be very old. In contrast, solitary trees, like street kids, have a tough time of it and in most cases die much earlier than those in a group.  I know, its trees but can be applied here if creative.

There are more than 30,000 species of fish - more than all mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians combined. But for all their breathtaking diversity and beauty, we rarely consider how fish think, feel, and behave.  In What a Fish Knows, ethologist Jonathan Balcombe takes us under the sea and to the other side of the aquarium glass to reveal what fishes can do, how they do it, and why. Introducing the latest revelations in animal behavior and biology, Balcombe upends our assumptions about fish, exposing them not as unfeeling, dead-eyed creatures but as sentient, aware, social - even Machiavellian. They conduct elaborate courtship rituals and develop lifelong bonds with shoal mates. They also plan, hunt cooperatively, use tools, punish wrongdoers, curry favor, and deceive one another. Fish possess sophisticated senses that rival our own. The reef-dwelling damselfish identifies its brethren by face patterns visible only in ultraviolet light, and some species communicate among themselves in murky waters using electric signals.

I contain Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life.  Every animal, whether human, squid, or wasp, is home to millions of bacteria and other microbes. Ed Yong, whose humor is as evident as his erudition, prompts us to look at ourselves and our animal companions in a new light—less as individuals and more as the interconnected, interdependent multitudes we assuredly are. The microbes in our bodies are part of our immune systems and protect us from disease. In the deep oceans, mysterious creatures without mouths or guts depend on microbes for all their energy. Bacteria provide squid with invisibility cloaks, help beetles to bring down forests, and allow worms to cause diseases that afflict millions of people. Many people think of microbes as germs to be eradicated, but those that live with us—the microbiome—build our bodies, protect our health, shape our identities, and grant us incredible abilities. In this astonishing book, Ed Yong takes us on a grand tour through our microbial partners, and introduces us to the scientists on the front lines of discovery. It will change both our view of nature and our sense of where we belong in it. Bit of challenge to apply but worth it.

What a Robins knows. A lifelong birder, tracker, and naturalist, Jon Young is guided by three basic premises: the robin, junco, and other songbirds know everything important about their environment, be it backyard or forest; by tuning in to their vocalizations and behavior, we can acquire much of this wisdom for our own pleasure and benefit; and the birds’ companion calls and warning alarms are just as important as their songs. Deep bird language is an ancient discipline, perfected by Native peoples the world over, and science is finally catching up. This groundbreaking book unites the indigenous knowledge, the latest research, and the author’s own experience of four decades in the field to lead us toward a deeper connection to the animals and, in the end, a deeper connection to ourselves. Super cool listening to free audio available online https://www.hmhbooks.com/whattherobinknows/audio2.html;

Students with disabilities policy: Winthrop University is dedicated to providing access to education. If you have a disability and require specific accommodations to complete this course, contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS) at 323-3290. Once you have your official notice of accommodations from the Office of Disability Services, please inform me as early as possible in the semester.

Student code of conduct: As noted in the Student Conduct Code: “Responsibility for good conduct rests with students as adult individuals.” The policy on student academic misconduct is outlined in the “Student Conduct Code Academic Misconduct Policy” in the online Student Handbook. More explicit policies relative to a specific discipline/department may also be posted in a syllabus.

Global Learning Initiative Statement for courses with at least one global component:

 Students will read several pieces that contrast cultural variation in the perception of the animal/human dichotomy and its implication.

Electronic & Recording Devices:

Use of electronic devices such as smartphones, computers, tablets, and recording devices are strictly prohibited in my class with rare exception.  Use of these devices in class without my permission will result in a warning the first time, and a full letter grade reduction in the course the second time. To clarify, a cell phone that accidentally rings is not a violation of this policy, but sending a text during lecture, taking photos without permission, or recording without permission is a violation.

If you have a special circumstance that merits an exception to this policy, please discuss it with me in advance.  In the case of a disability accommodation, computers or recording devices will be permitted in class once I have been notified by the Office of Accessibility.  Students should confirm that I have received the letter before using electronic devices in class.  All students should be aware that in these rare cases, it is possible that the class could be recorded; however, these students have signed a confidentiality contract agreeing to keep any recordings private.