Class syllabus Question

[dukebound85]

I am in grad school and classes have a syllabus

One of my professors decided that he could change the syllabus (with 3 weeks remaining in the semester) and change how the class is graded as well as introduce a project that is a sig portion that was not included in the syllabus. Can he do that?

I am a little peeved about it actually (as it introduces another project, on top of my research, thats due in 3 weeks and my other ones, I have had known about since the semester and have planned accordingly timewise). He says he can deal with all the bad student reviews as a result. My question becomes what is the point of a syllabus if you are not going to honor it? Is this even allowable? He sprang this on us on Friday without asking the people in the class.

Not terribly bitter but do feel this is not the way to go about it from a class standpoint.

 

[alust2013]

Can he do that? Sure, profs can basically do whatever the hell they want. Should he do that? Obviously that's not an ethical thing to do, and that does make the class significantly harder.

 

[Mr Kram]

i agree, the profs can do practically whatever they want. i've had this happen on several occasions.

 

[TheGenerous]

I'd suggest to drop any commitment that will get on the way with your main research. If not, set your own limitations and see if the new syllabus workload is doable. In grad school, do less, do better, and know why you're doing it.
good luck m8

 

[stonyc]

He can do whatever he wants, and he seems to be aware of the significance of changing the syllabus this far into the semester. I'm sorry to say but you will probably have to just suck it up and power through the rest of the semester... sucks, but hey consider it preparation for post-grad life. Shifting deadlines, a**hole supervisors, etc. You have my sympathies... I'd hate to have that happen to me too.

 

[iJohnHenry]

He's just giving you a taste of what RL will throw at you.

Just grumble and do it, like we all had to for our bosses.

 

[dukebound85]

He can do whatever he wants, and he seems to be aware of the significance of changing the syllabus this far into the semester. I'm sorry to say but you will probably have to just suck it up and power through the rest of the semester... sucks, but hey consider it preparation for post-grad life. Shifting deadlines, a**hole supervisors, etc. You have my sympathies... I'd hate to have that happen to me too.

He's just giving you a taste of what RL will throw at you.

Just grumble and do it, like we all had to for our bosses.

Yea, I'll just have to deal with it. Funny thing is that when I worked after college before attending grad school, I never had stuff similar to this pop up. I mean, in that I knew what was expected and what my responsibilities were from the get-go and any change was discussed with me first.

It is just frustrating as I have always viewed the class syllabus as the contract for the class as it lays out how the class will be evaluated and what is expected. If one didn't like it, you could drop it during the universities add/drop period. To just change it with no student input beforehand this late into the semester shows a lack of respect to the students imo. If I don't agree, I can't just drop it at this point in the semester as all "drop deadlines" have long since passed and the only option would be to completely withdraw from the semester, which is not happening. Not to mention how ones approach to a class may be dependent on how the class is evaluated as conveyed in the syllabus and to change it could change the approach.

 

[stonyc]

Yea, I'll just have to deal with it. Funny thing is that when I worked after college before attending grad school, I never had stuff similar to this pop up. I mean, in that I knew what was expected and what my responsibilities were from the get-go and any change was discussed with me first.

It is just frustrating as I have always viewed the class syllabus as the contract for the class as it lays out how the class will be evaluated and what is expected. If one didn't like it, you could drop it during the universities add/drop period. To just change it with no student input beforehand this late into the semester shows a lack of respect to the students imo. If I don't agree, I can't just drop it at this point in the semester as all "drop deadlines" have long since passed and the only option would be to completely withdraw from the semester, which is not happening. Not to mention how ones approach to a class may be dependent on how the class is evaluated as conveyed in the syllabus and to change it could change the approach.

It's also quite possible that your prof is just an arse.