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Course Books and Readings
We will read three books together in addition to the other materials embedded in the course syllabus page. The books are available for sale through the textbook system at Barnes & Noble. They are also held on reserve at the Shapiro Library reserves:
Tressie McMillan Cottom. 2019. Thick: And Other Essays. New York: The New Press.
Akiko Takeyama. 2016. Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan. 2020. Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus. New York: Norton.
You are not required to own these books but you need to read them. If you do not want to buy the books, please read them through the library reserve system. As I say in lecture, Sexual Citizens is such a new book that it will not be published until mid-January 2020. Therefore we will not be able to buy it (personally, or in the library) until January. If you pre-order it through amazon before January 14th, the publisher will give a 30% discount.
Grading and Requirements
Lecture Attendance: 5% of final grade
Section Participation: 20% of final grade
Discussion Questions: 10% of final grade
Reading Quizzes: 10% of final grade
Weekly Writing: 20% of final grade
Paper: 15% of final grade
Final Project: 20% of final grade
Grade Breakdowns
A+ (98 and above), A (94-97), A- (90-93)
B+ (88-89), B (84-87), B- (80-83)
C+ (78-79), C (74-77), C- (70-73)
D+ (68-69), D (64-67), D- (60-63)
F (59 and below)
Please refer to the LSA grading policy for this term.
Canvas
All project assignments need to be turned in through Canvas. Go to Canvas / Assignments and follow the instructions there to turn in work. Please note that you will see two Canvas pages for this course – one for the lectures, and one for your specific discussion section. The vast majority of materials will be available through your discussion section Canvas page. That is where you turn in assignments.
Office Hours and Consultations
I am always happy to talk with you in person. Please come to my office hours, and bring your ideas, musings, and / or rough drafts. You don't have to show up with complete thoughts! I believe writing and learning are long-term processes and I will reward students who take this seriously. I am happy to talk through your ideas. You can sign up for office hours with me through Google Calendar. If you have any trouble signing up for meetings, please email me.
You are also welcome to sign up for your GSI's office hours. Please click the links below, and notice that unless you've changed it, your google calendar might dumbly default to California time:
Mari Alvarez - Thursdays, 1 to 3pm, and by appointment, BlueJeans video or voice call
Victoria Bell - Wednesdays, 11am to 1pm, and by appointment, BlueJeans video or voice call
Emily Coccia - Fridays, 2 to 4pm, and by appointment. Please email her to figure out a way to connect.
Lena Gankin - Tuesdays, 2 to 4pm, and by appointment, BlueJeans video or voice call
Kuni Hirano - Tuesday, 9 to 11am and by appointment, BlueJeans video or voice call
Val Kutchko - Wednesdays, 11am to 1pm, and by appointment, BlueJeans video or voice call
Laura Malecky - Tuesdays 4 to 5:15pm, BlueJeans video or voice call; Wednesdays 3 to 3:45, BlueJeans video or voice call, and by appointment
Mark Natividad - Thursdays, 11am to 1pm, and by appointment, BlueJeans video or voice call
Sydney Tunstall - Tuesdays, 12 to 2pm, and by appointment, BlueJeans video or voice call
Academic Honesty
My policies conform to the University’s policies. Let me know if you have any questions.
Late Work
I will accept work turned in past its deadline but the grade will be reduced three points for each day late. If something is due at 5pm and it comes in at 5:01pm, it will lose 3 points. If you have trouble meeting deadlines, I strongly recommend you convince yourself that work is due earlier than it really is.
Luddite policy
Despite being a firm believer (and user) of technology, I have a strict policy against laptops and cell phones during our class meetings. Students are not permitted to use laptops to take notes. As I explain here, I believe we all learn better with fewer distractions and, unfortunately, laptops are a huge distraction. If you have a circumstance that makes your laptop necessary for learning, please email me or come and talk with me about it.
Attendance
Students are expected to attend all class meetings, and be prepared to think, talk, and reflect in them. I will record all the course lectures. If you miss class you have the responsibility to listen to what you missed.
Lecture Recordings
All class lectures are video recorded. Those recordings are available through Canvas. To find them, log in to Canvas, click on the lecture page, and then Lecture Recordings.
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
I am deeply committed to providing equal opportunity for participation in all programs, services and activities. Please talk with me if you would be aided by any accommodation. I am happy to help you navigate the systems at UM. Beyond me, requests for accommodations by persons with disabilities may be made by contacting the Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) Office located at G664 Haven Hall. The SSD phone number is 734-763-3000.
Difficult and Triggering Topics
In this course, we will consider some truly difficult topics. Please look over the syllabus and email me and / or your GSI if there is some topic that you know you are unable to engage. Because we cannot predict what will come up in our conversations, we always invite you to do what you need to do: please get up and leave the discussion, for instance, if that will help you at any given moment. Please reach out to me or your GSI with any questions or concerns you have.
Discomfort, Safety, and Learning
Learning can be a simultaneously wonderful and difficult process. I’m sure you have already encountered both – figuring out something that is undeniably cool or struggling with a task that makes no sense and never seems to end. I imagine you will have more of both experiences in college as well, but as we start thinking together, I want to call attention to a parallel paradox we will likely encounter as a group: the balance between productive discomfort and safety. Good learning can include some degree of discomfort but should never be or feel unsafe. If it’s not already clear to you, I think it’s very likely that learning about new materials – perhaps things that you never even realized you didn’t know – can easily make people uncomfortable. Having your world view, your sense of yourself in the world, shifted even a little bit can be a deeply emotional experience. My goal is never to shock you or make you feel uncomfortable, but I can imagine that might happen throughout the semester because it seems to be fundamental within the process of learning. To make such productive discomfort possible, I will work hard to make our course as safe a space as possible, and I ask you to do the same. I invite you to be kind, empathic, and honest, while sharing your perspectives, gut reactions, and analysis, and particularly any moments when you realize you have changed your mind. As you are working hard to engage new practices and beliefs, I will work hard to enable you to feel safe in the process of learning. If at any point, you feel that our classroom is lacking safety – if it does not feel like a safe space – please let me know immediately. I also ask you pay attention to your own moments of discomfort, to see how your thinking might be changing.
Other Problems and Dangers
With other members of our diverse community, I am working to make this university a safe space for all people. To those ends, please know that if you face violence, threats, bullying or other difficult situations, there are people trained to help you:
Confidential support and academic advocacy can be found with the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center (SAPAC) on their 24-hour crisis line, 734-936-3333 and at http://sapac.umich.edu/. Alleged violations can be non-confidentially reported to the Office for Institutional Equity (OIE) at institutional.equity@umich.edu. Reports to law enforcement can be made to University of Michigan Police Department at 734-763-3434.
The Student Life office offers a portal to many services and types of support. Check out this long list of possibilities and feel free to contact them also if you, or someone you know, can’t figure out who to talk to.
If you are needing help and puzzled about where to go or who to talk with, feel free to reach out to me.