Inclusion and Professionalism Policy

We aim to create a course culture that is inclusive, welcoming, and safe for all students. The cs1950y staff—Tim and the undergraduate TAs—are committed to maintaining an such an environment, and we expect our students to also uphold certain standards.

Inclusive Course Actions

Here are our goals for this semester.

Harassment

Harassment is any verbal, written, or physical conduct designed to intimidate, coerce, or make another person feel uncomfortable. Harassment may include unwelcome advances, physical touching, or offensive or unwelcome comments regarding a person’s race, gender, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, or appearance. As a student in this course, you are expected to treat your peers with respect and awareness. What might seem like a joke to you may seriously hinder another student’s ability to feel comfortable in the course. It is unacceptable for you to prioritize something like your own sense of humor over another student’s learning. If you encounter problems of this nature in this course—including interactions your fellow students, the TAs, and Tim—we encourage you to let us know. We take such reports seriously, and will do our best to remedy the situation if possible. We are actively aware that inappropriate conduct in CS disproportionately affects women and people of color. In light of recent reports about such issues on campus, the university and this department are taking additional steps to reduce this form of harm. Brown has resources to file complaints of discrimination and harassment, described in a FAQ page here. Incidents of gender or sexual harassment may be reported to the Title IX coordinator at Brown. In addition, Brown offers many confidential resources, listed here. If you would like to learn more about Brown’s policies and resources, please see the university’s Title IX site.

Inclusion

We intend this course to be welcoming to students from many different academic backgrounds. In particular, we want to make the material accessible to students regardless of their introductory computer science background or previous course experience. As a course staff we strive to be as helpful to your learning as possible without being condescending or pedantic. We expect our TAs to act professionally and respectfully. We intend our assignments and their grading to be fair, consistent, and timely. If you ever feel that we are unsuccessful in any of these goals, please let Tim and/or the Head TAs know.