Writing Initiative
Peer Fellows
Handbook
Revised Summer 2005
Overview of the Program
Once you have been accepted
as a Writing Initiative Peer Fellow, we expect you to make a serious commitment
to the success of the program. You will be contracted to work three hours per week
for $8 per hour. Your training will be done through a required one credit
course (EXP 396). As a Peer Fellow, your time will be spent meeting with the
professor of the course you are assigned, scheduling and conducting one-on-one
conferences with students in the course, and possibly assisting the professor
with in-class writing workshops. You will also be required to attend weekly
Peer Fellow meetings. At these
meetings, we will discuss written reflections on your peer fellowing
experience (reflections sometimes prompted by short readings in the field of
composition). These meetings will
give you an opportunity to discuss your experiences as a peer fellow and to
receive feedback from your colleagues and from Writing Initiative staff. To successfully complete the program and
pass the EXP class, you will be expected to fulfill all the Peer Fellow
requirements, attend the mandatory weekly meeting, and complete all reading and
writing assignments.
Professional behavior is a
necessity. We expect you to be prompt and courteous to both professors and
peers. We also expect you to treat student writing with respect and
confidentiality. Because this is still a new program, you may be the first Peer
Fellow that some students and faculty encounter at
We don't expect you to have
all the answers, of course. Instead, we expect you to be willing to ask
questions and to consult with us when you aren't sure about how to proceed. We
also expect you to use each other and the
You are responsible for doing
your best to help every student you work with, but you are not responsible for
assuring every student's success. Writing is a difficult, complex skill, and as
long as we continue to write, we will have more to learn about writing. As a
Fellow, you are not in the business of offering miracle cures to student
writers, whether they are struggling to meet the basic requirements of an
assignment or striving to earn that elusive A+. Instead, you can provide
support to your peers, encourage them to challenge themselves as writers, and
make a limited number of suggestions about how to improve a draft.
Getting Started
After you receive
notification that you have been chosen as a Peer Fellow, you'll find out which
professor and course you will be assigned to work with this semester. We will
provide you with a copy of the textbook, which you should carefully review and
any additional resources you may need for the course.
EXP 396
In order to begin your EXP
396 training in the theory and practice of teaching writing you will need to
attend an EXP Information Session and complete a learning contract. The
schedule for EXP Information sessions can be found at http://www.uky.edu/EE/schedule.html.
The learning contract can be
downloaded from http://www.uky.edu/EE/learningcontract.html.
We will provide you with the
necessary information to complete your learning contracts.
Peer Fellow
1) Send your semester
schedule to Writing Initiative staff so we can set up a permanent meeting time
and day for required weekly meetings.
Each week you will be meeting with the other Peer Fellows in the
Several weeks, you will have
a reading assignment and will be asked to prepare a 1-2 page response to the
reading, which is due at the weekly meeting. These assignments allow students
to integrate readings in composition scholarship with reflection on their own
writing and tutoring experiences. The assigned reading will cover issues such
as consulting methods and typical consulting challenges, writing as a process
and form, and the twenty most common sentence-level errors.
In addition, each Fellow will be responsible for
“teaching” a reading assignment at some point in the semester. You
and another Fellow will choose the reading (we have material available to
choose from), create the writing prompt, and take complete control of the
meeting on that day. You should be
prepared to lead discussion and present the group with a one page handout which
summarizes the reading, including the major issue/thesis of the reading and an
outline of the writer’s main ideas. You should also prepare a list of
five discussion questions for the class.
A good presentation will relate the reading to other readings and
explain what this reading adds to our understanding of the topic. You are
encouraged to be creative in your presentations.
You will not have reading or
writing assignments on the weeks you conference with students, but you will be
required to attend the weekly meeting.
You are expected to be
prepared and actively participate in each meeting. These meetings are your
opportunity to discuss your successes and frustrations and to raise any
questions you may have as you go through the program.
2) Pick up the required Peer
Fellow training books from Writing Initiative Staff. For Fall
2005 they are:
3) You are required to have peer review practice in
the
a) You should schedule an appointment at the Writing
Center (5th Floor West Stacks of Young Library 257-1356) and take in
a piece of your own writing for review so that you can experience a
consultation with a Peer Reviewer.
b) Observe up to three hours of consultations in the
c) Write a 2 page evaluation of one of those
consultation sessions, which you will turn in as your first weekly response at
the first Peer Fellow meeting.
d) Participate in an observed mock consultation in
which you are the consultant and discuss this consultation with Bess and/or
Emily.
4) In addition, before the
semester begins, you need to follow the instructions in the “Required
Grammar Exercises” handout and complete the eight grammar exercises
online. If you follow the directions as listed on the handout, your scores will
be sent to the Writing Initiative staff. There will be additional grammar
exercises later in the semester.
Employment Forms
If this is the first time you
have worked for
Meeting with
Other Fellows
In each course you will be
working with at least one other Fellow. First of all, you will have to divide
up your responsibilities; one of you should be in charge of contacting the
professor and coordinating meeting times while the other makes copies of any
informational handouts to distribute to your students. The Writing Initiative
staff can make copies for you, but we need twenty four hours notice. The copy
request form is in the
You'll need to talk frankly
with the other Fellow about your strengths and weaknesses. If you get nervous
talking in front of people, for example, you can delegate your partner to take
the lead when you visit the class to introduce yourselves, and you can choose
to do only a specific part of the introduction (you should, however, push
yourself to face new challenges).
There is no chief or head
Fellow. Responsibilities should be
shared equally. Make sure that every voice is heard, whether you are meeting
with the professor or introducing yourselves to students. Each Fellow should be
asking questions, listening actively, and sharing ideas. Everyone has a
different tutoring style, of course, so you and the other Fellows do not have
to interact with students in exactly the same way. The goal is to forge
productive working relationships that take advantage of and develop each
person's individual skills.
Meeting with Professors
All of the professors in the
program requested Peer Fellows; they are doing this because they want to, and
they will be happy to talk to you and make plans for the semester. But
professors are busy; you'll need to set meetings up well in advance, and it's a
good idea to confirm those meetings closer to the meeting date. Peer Fellows will need to meet with the
professor several times during the semester. While you can have one Fellow who
arranges meetings, you should avoid individual meetings with the professor.
Every Fellow assigned to the class needs to be present in the meetings with the
professor.
The first meeting of the
semester is very important for everyone involved because it gives you a chance
to get acquainted and begin learning about what the professor values in writing
and how you can work effectively within the course. This initial meeting is
also a great time to be sure the professor clearly understands what Fellows do.
Even though someone from the program has already met at least once with each
professor, communicating effectively with the professor will make things much
easier. Be ready to explain your role as a peer tutor and to ask questions if
you feel that something needs to be clarified. Ask about the professor's
over-arching goals for the semester. What does he or she hope students will
take away from this course? What kinds of students enroll in this course?
Discuss expectations for student preparation. What is a completed draft? How
much research is required? Listen carefully and take good notes.
Prepare in Advance
Do your homework: Request the
syllabus and assignments in advance and, if available, review them carefully.
Write down a list of questions or issues you want to raise and bring it with
you to this first meeting. When you meet with the professor, make sure you ask
for:
·
A copy of the
most current course syllabus
·
The professor's
schedule and the best way to reach him or her
·
Copies of the
assignments
·
Due dates for
papers and for your conferences with students
·
A system of
scheduled meetings or written reports for reporting conference participation to
the instructor
Discuss the Syllabus
The best way to make sure
that students understand the purpose and goals of the Peer Fellows Program is
to have the student expectations clearly spelled out in the syllabus. As a Peer
Fellow, you need to make instructors aware of how to incorporate you into the
class through the syllabus:
·
Set up a day, in
the first or second week, to attend class and explain the program to the
students.
·
Discuss a late or
missed paper policy: Are you going to accept late drafts? How late? Does the
professor want to know who turns in late drafts?
·
How much will
participation with a Peer Fellow count on each assignment and in the course as
a whole?
·
Are students
aware that they are expected to work with Peer Fellows outside of class?
Prepare for the First Day
Be sure you walk over to the
location where the class you are Fellowing will be
held. You want to be able to find this easily on the first day and be prepared
for the type of room and any supplies you will need. Since you will need to write
your name for the students check and see if you need chalk or pens and if there
are any visual hazards you need to be aware of before the first day. You should
also invest in a good watch and set it to a clock in the room or building in
which you will be Fellowing.
Divide the Students
You will not have a stable
class roll until the as late as the forth class meeting, but you can go ahead
and do some initial division in your first meeting with the Professor. You
should NEVER work with students with whom you have a personal relationship or
close contact. Divide the students, making sure that no Fellow has more than
fifteen students. You will be working with the same students all semester. Be
sure to check back with the instructor or the Writing Initiative office after
the add deadline to see if there are any students who have added the class that
were not on your roll and have not been assigned to a Fellow.
Be sure you send a list of students and their Fellows
to the instructor and the Writing Initiative office as soon as the class roll
is stable.
Attend the class
Never attend class late! Every
Fellow must attend one class in the second week of classes. Contact the
instructor in advance to let them know you will need ten minutes at the end of
the hour in the second week with the students. Appoint a Fellow representative
to explain the program to the students and then break up into small groups to
meet individually with the students you will be Fellowing.
If your schedule allows, ask the professor if there are any days later in the
semester that would be especially helpful for you to sit in on the class
throughout the semester. Attending is not required, but it can be very helpful.
You should always refer students’ content-based questions to the professor,
even if you have attended a few classes to get a better sense of the material.
Understand the Assignment
Hopefully, you will get
writing assignments early in the semester, but that is not always the way
faculty develop their courses. As soon as you get the assignment, the Fellows
should make an appointment to discuss it together with the professor. Ask the
professor to explain each assignment to you as they would to their students.
Many of the questions students will ask you require you require you to fully
understand the assignment.
Be sure to spend some time
reading and analyzing the assignment before the meeting. Think about the
purpose of the assignment and about what elements (i.e. thesis, analysis,
summary) are required and how the professor defines these elements in his or
her discipline. Look for terms the professor uses in the assignment and
consider whether those terms might be used slightly differently in the
professor's discipline than in yours. Think about what in the assignment might
confuse you if you were a student in the class. Ask for any necessary
clarification in the meeting.
In order to understand
grading expectations, during the meeting, ask what the professor expects from
written assignments.
·
What sort of
strategies does the instructor want students to use (description, argument,
summary, etc)?
·
How does the
instructor define a "good paper"?
·
Does he or she
encourage experimentation?
·
Is there a
particular form (MLA, APA, etc) the paper should follow?
·
Does he or she
have copies of one or two successful student papers you can skim?
·
Is there a
specific minimum research requirement?
Conferencing
Having a clear system for
when and where you will meet with students will eliminate a lot of confusion
and save you time. Be sure the Study is open when you want to hold your
conferences before you set up a sign up sheet. Check the
Sign Up Sheets
The sign-up sheet should
include:
·
Your name, phone
number/e-mail
·
Brief directions
to where you will be conferencing and how the student will recognize you (i.e.
red baseball cap, etc.)
·
If you're one of
several Fellows assigned to a course, add the names of the students who are
assigned to you, in case they have forgotten your name
·
A few more
conference slots than student writers, but not too many more (offering too many
choices may force you to spend long periods of time waiting between
conferences)
·
A space where
people who can't make any of your conference slots can leave their names and
phone numbers
Times
You will most likely want to
schedule 30-minute conferences, with 5-minute breaks in between. Remember that
you need to leave a few minutes for introductions; you don't want to rush
through your comments on drafts, and you need to spend the last five minutes
filling out the Student Conference Report with the student. Try not to schedule
more than three or four conferences in a row. You may well discover that you need more
time for some students than others; one person may really need 45 minutes,
while another person may be ready to depart after 20 minutes. Try to be
flexible, while also respecting students' schedules. Make sure you have
scheduled your lunch, coffee, or snack breaks before or after conferences. And
remember that no conference can address all the writing concerns that a writer
might have; you simply don't have time to spend an unlimited number of hours
with each student. Besides, overly long conferences run the risk of
overwhelming and frustrating the writer you are trying to help.
Don't schedule conferences
after the scheduled conference time. Students need time to revise the final
versions of the papers before they are due to the professor.
Locations
All conferences should be
held in the Thomas D Clark Study on the fifth floor, west stacks, of Young
Library. Never hold conferences in dorm rooms, apartments, or other private
living spaces. And never hold conferences alone or after Study closing hours.
You should check in with the
receptionist at the Study front desk. You also need to make sure the Center is
open when you want to hold your conferences. Check the
Require Cover Sheets.
We strongly suggest you
request cover sheets from all of your students. Cover sheets give you
information about the writer and how he or she feels about a draft before you
start reading it; they help guide your responses to drafts. You will need to
visit the class or email students with a cover sheet at least one week before
you plan to conference with students. Make sure students understand that cover
sheets are a part of a full draft and are required at conferences. Cover sheets
can be very helpful as you're reading drafts, but they require advance planning
on your part.
During the Conference
You will receive plenty of
guidance in your EXP 396 readings about strategies for conferencing. There is
no one right way to do this; every conference is slightly different, and every
tutor has to develop his or her own personal style. You should follow the
following general guidelines, however.
1) Arrive early and be
professional. One of the difficulties you may have is that students may have is that
because you are close in age and general experience to your students, they may
not realize that you have a great deal to offer them because of your advanced
academic experiences and writing qualifications. The best way to initially establish your authority is your
professionalism. While your common
ground is something you can use to your advantage in communicating with
students, we recommend you begin sessions in a professional way. Be
awake, prepared, and ready for students.
You don’t have to dress like a professor, but many young Teaching
Assistants find that dressing more professionally for student conferences helps
them feel confident and helps students understand their unique position. Have
paper and pens, a watch, and reference materials, including the course text,
syllabus, and assignment handouts, easily at hand. Do not eat or drink
during conferences. Turn your cell phone off and remind students to do the same
when they come in. Keep your work space neat and be sure to clean up your
workspace, keeping previous students’ work confidentially covered or put
away.
2) Try to make students
comfortable. Students won't know what
to expect when they show up for their first conference; you may be surprised by
how many are nervous about talking to you. Smile! Stand up, introduce yourself
again, use the writer's name and ask if you aren't sure how to pronounce a
name. If you aren't sure how to address a writer, ask (Do you go by Becky or
Rebecca?). You can make some small talk (the weather is an old standby;
3) Respect the Writer! Ask the writer what he or she is most interested in
working on before you begin sharing your own insights. This sends a powerful
message: I care about what you think. Getting this message across will make the
rest of the conference much easier.
Be sure to treat every student's draft with the same patience and
attention that you would want your own writing to receive if you were the one
who had to hand it to a Peer Fellow. Some drafts may strike you as extremely
confused or hastily written, but in fact they may well represent serious effort
on the part of the writer. Although talking to the writer often gives you a
good idea of how much time went into a draft, you can't ever know exactly how
much work went into any piece of writing you receive. Do not rush to judgment.
Students are very sensitive. Remember this when you write on the Conference
Report. A series of exclamation points or hastily written comments can seem
angry or hostile to students. Avoid harsh language and try to phrase
suggestions in the positive with specifics or with references to the way you as
a writer felt about the draft. For example, “You haven’t said
anything here!!” could be replaced with “I am not sure I understand
your thesis.” and be more effective.
If the student has turned in
a draft to you ahead of the conference, treat it with respect. This means
taking pains to avoid writing on it, wrinkling it, or exposing it to adverse
weather. This may sound obvious, but it is far easier to lose a student’s
draft and/or to spill beverages on it than you might imagine.
4) Ask the student to read
the draft aloud before you discuss
the paper. Often students will catch problems as they read. Encourage them to
mark them but to keep reading.
5) NEVER WRITE ON DRAFTS!
Students must be responsible for the authorship of their own papers. Provide
paper and pens for students and encourage them to take notes. You can ask, "Are you going to remember this? Do
you want to write that down?" and then give them time to write things down
before moving on to the next point. Never try to rewrite papers for
students. Your job is to ask questions, point out the strengths and
weaknesses of papers as you see them, and make a limited number of suggestions
for revision. You should aim to challenge student writers, affirming what they
do well and helping them to find ways to express their ideas as clearly as
possible. You should not aim to help every student write the perfect paper. Accept
that every student will not get an A.
Definitions of the perfect A paper vary from
reader to reader, anyway. And even if everyone could agree on what constitutes
perfection, guiding your peers down that mythic path would not be the focus of
your work as a tutor. The goal is
to help each writer improve from where they start as writers. The Fellows
program values collaborative learning and focuses on the process of writing,
not just on the product. You are modeling a process of reflection and review
that is very important.
6) Force yourself to
prioritize. If you try to point out
everything that could be improved about the draft, you'll end up writing
another paper on top of the paper to which you're responding. Don’t get
distracted by grammar and mechanics. Remember that spell check and grammar
check can work on that. Your job is to look for the big picture issues like
thesis, development, organization. The bulk of your
comments should NOT be grammar corrections, even if that is a significant issue
in the paper. Keep in mind the professor's priorities and guidelines as well as
the student's concerns from his/her cover sheet. Your goal for each conference
is to talk about two or three important issues related to a draft, and to help
student writers consider options for revision. You will not have time to discuss all
parts of the draft in great detail, so you have to choose the issues that seem
most crucial. For example, if a draft is plagued by inadequate transitions,
jumping abruptly from one point to the next, you may want to use some of the
time in the conference to rework some of the transitions. However, if the draft
has an even more pressing problem--if, for example, it doesn't fulfill the
assignment and/or fails to answer the question the professor has posed--then
you don't want to waste time talking about transitions until after you have
raised the bigger concerns.
7) Be specific. You don’t have to fix every problem and you may
not be able to explain in a limited time period what exactly is wrong in a
certain sentence or section, but writers need to know when something is a red
flag for you.
Try to pinpoint the type of
problem or give the writer a map of your mind as you heard the draft. They need
to know the specific phrases and sentences that lose you,
confuse you, or thrill you as you read.
8) Don’t be afraid
to say, “I don’t know, but I can find out and get back to you
today.” You are NOT expected to
know everything! In fact, it is not possible to be able to answer on the spot
every question a student has. If a student asks a question that you don’t
know how to answer, be honest and say so. Students know when you are
“faking it,” and they will stop trusting you if you give them
incorrect answers. Instead, use this as an opportunity to praise the student
for asking a good question and model for the student how you, a good student,
would try to find the answer by using reference books, asking another Fellow,
calling the Writing Center, calling a reference librarian, looking on line, or
emailing Writing Initiative staff or the professor. Some questions may be of a
type that it takes some time to find an answer. Be sure if you don’t know
an answer that you do refer the student to someone else who might know
it or that you promise to follow up on it for the student.
9) Never argue with
students. There may be times when you
encounter a student who is unenthusiastic or even argumentative. The best way
to draw in an uninvolved student is to get them to talk about their paper. Some
students have never really thought about writing as a process. Don’t be afraid of silent time
when they are thinking about your questions. If a student is argumentative
about your suggestions, you should first ask yourself if you are trying to
impose your style on the writer, which you should never do, or if these are
legitimate concerns that you anticipate the professor commenting upon and
penalizing. If it is important, explain to students that you are here to help
them. Be sure they understand you are there for them. Then, explain that you
believe from your meetings with the instructor that this issue is something
they should think about in revision. Be sure you end with the understanding
that you respect that it is their paper and certainly their right to use your
suggestions or ignore them. Remember, you will have to work with this student
again so you want to keep things friendly.
If you are right about this correction, then the student will certainly
find this out from the professor soon enough and will perhaps respect your
opinion more in the next conference.
10) Use the Student
Conference Report as a way to review major concerns with students. Use the last five minutes of the
conference to review the major topics of concern in this draft and to suggest
focused revision strategies. You and the student should together
complete the Student Conference Report.
Let students know that this report is confidential; only the instructor
and Fellow and writing initiative staff will have access to it. Explain to the
student that this is your set of notes on the conference and that this form
will help you when you work with them on the next paper and make it easier to
chart their improvement as a writer. You can make a copy of it for the student
if requested. This form is where you report students who were unprepared or
late or did not attend their conference. Be sure to give a report on each
student, even those who did not attend a conference, to the Writing Initiative
office as soon as possible so they can refer them on to instructors.
11) Never give or predict
grades. If students ask about grades, you should
remind them that you are not their instructor and that it is against our policy
to discuss grades. You might also want to explain that they are expected to
spend a significant amount of time revising and editing before they turn in a
final draft. If a paper is clearly in trouble, it is permissible to tell
students that they need to do a lot of work to get the grade you know they
want, but you should be very careful not to estimate or predict a grade.
12) Never criticize the
instructor or the assignment. If
students try to do this, redirect them to discuss what would help them better
understand this assignment or to focus on how to succeed on this assignment as
it is given.
13) Remember to praise. All writers are more receptive to criticism when they
feel that their work is valued and appreciated. It's a good rule to open
discussions of drafts by pointing out good things, saying what you liked, what
worked well, etc. Launching immediately into a laundry list of problems--going
on and on about what was NOT in the draft, about what needs to be added or
expanded or changed--can be overwhelming and discouraging for the writer you
are trying to help. Most of us learned to love writing because we were praised
for it as we were challenged. This is what you want to do for your students. A
writing teacher who was particularly good at motivating students explained that
she approached student conferences thinking of an oreo
cookie; she made sure there was a gooey, friendly, positive comment nestled
between every negative. Often writers don't recognize their own strengths, and
if you can point out some specific, positive aspects of their writing, like
voice, tone, language, etc, you will build trust, help them gain confidence,
and bolster their enthusiasm for the assignment and for writing in general.
14) Don't make yourself
hoarse. You should not do all the
talking--or even most of the talking--during a conference. Ask questions.
Listen to the answers. Take notes. Ask more questions. Listen again, carefully.
Often writers will say wonderful, articulate things that belong in their papers
but haven't made it into their papers yet. The best moments of conferences
often come when students talk and talk and talk and then you ask, "Is that
in your paper? Do you say that anywhere? Write that down!" Then they smile
sheepishly and say, "What did I just say?" Then you can repeat their
words back to them. The goal here is not to give students the perfect words,
but to help them find their own. Conferences work best when students are
encouraged to do most of the talking.
15) Use supportive body
language. Sit next to or catty-corner
to student writers, not across the table from them; this way you can both look
at the paper right-side up at the same time. Keep the draft between you, so you
both can see it.
16) After Conference
Etiquette
Our cardinal rule is to
respect the students and professors with whom we are privileged to work. It is
crucial that you exercise caution in how you talk about students and their
work. Do not discuss individual students or papers with your roommates or
friends. To do so would be a profound violation of the trust that is essential
to your success as a peer mentor. You can raise questions and/or discuss the
specifics of a puzzling or frustrating draft with Writing Initiative staff, the
other Fellows, but you must be sure these conversations happen behind closed
doors and never in writing or email.
17) Missing or incomplete
drafts and Missed or Tardy Conferences
There are always good reasons
for late drafts. You and the professor should have already decided how to
handle such tardiness or no shows and made this clear in the syllabus. Even
with this policy, you will still be able to exercise discretion. If someone
calls you a day or two later, apologizing and asking if s/he can reschedule
their conference, you can be generous and reschedule the conference. But you
certainly don't have to do so, and you are perfectly justified in refusing to
meet a student accept a draft on the day before it is due. Be consistent in
whatever policy you establish. Report incomplete or missing
drafts and late or missed/rescheduled conferences to the professor in the
Student Conference Report.
Other Concerns
Serious Writing Problems
What if you think someone has
a more serious writing problem than you know what to do with? You will spend
time in our weekly meetings talking about issues like this one. A short list of
your options:
·
Try to talk to
the writer to get a sense of his or her writing process. Was this a last minute
project?
·
Be constructive
and careful in your comments: Never insult the writer or their ideas.
·
Suggest that the
student make an appointment in the
Other Problems
You are never required to
work with students with whom you feel uncomfortable for whatever reason. If you
discover you have been assigned a student that you do not want to work with for
any reason, you should contact Writing Initiative staff as soon as possible and
you will be reassigned to other students.
If you feel threatened or
uncomfortable at any point for any reason during a conference, end the
conference immediately and leave the area. Contact any Writing Initiative staff
and report the incident as soon as possible.
Sexual Harassment
We share the
University’s commitment to zero tolerance for discrimination and
harassment in any form. Sexual harassment is a form of sexual discrimination
that includes unwelcome* sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other
verbal or physical actions of a sexual nature when:
• submission to such conduct is made explicitly or implicitly a term or
condition of an individual's employment or status in a university course,
program, or activity;
• submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as
a basis for an employment decision or a decision affecting an individual's
status in a university course, program, or activity; or
• such conduct is sufficiently severe or pervasive to interfere with an
individual's work, academic participation or performance, or creates an
intimidating, hostile, or offensive working or educational environment.
*Conduct of an amorous or sexual nature occurring in an apparently welcome
relationship may be unwelcome due to the existence of a power difference which
restricts a subordinate's freedom to participate willingly in the relationship.
Sexual harassment often takes place in situations of a power
differential between the individuals involved. Typically, but not exclusively,
such relationships are found between supervisor and employee; senior faculty
and junior faculty; graduate teaching assistant and undergraduate; and faculty
and student, when the student is enrolled in a faculty member's class or when
the faculty member is in a position to continue to influence the student's
academic performance, career, or advancement.
Although Peer Fellows can not
grade students, they are in a position of some power and should be mindful of
this. Peer Fellows should never work with a student with whom you have a close
personal relationship and should avoid dating or attempting to date students with
whom you work as a Fellow.
The University's policy prohibits sexual harassment between
members of the University community regardless of their status within the
University as student, faculty or staff.
Sexual harassment encompasses sexual attention that is unwanted.
Conduct prohibited under this policy may manifest itself in many different ways
including, but not limited to, conduct as blatant as:
• physical assault;
• direct solicitation of sexual activity; or
• other sex-related behavior accompanied by promise of reward or threat
of punishment.
It has the effect of creating an
intimidating, hostile, or offensive educational or working environment. The
following types of acts may illustrate sexual harassment in violation of
University policy:
• unwelcome physical contact such as touching, or physical interference
which limits participation in or benefit from work or academic performance;
• unwelcome remarks about a person's clothing or body; sexual questions,
jokes, anecdotes and stories; display of sexually offensive posters, pictures,
words or messages; and
• introduction of sexually explicit materials into the classroom or into
the workplace without an educational or work-related purpose.
Contact:
Writing Initiative Peer Fellows Program
211 A
859.257.4831
Janet Eldred Director eldred@uky.edu
Emily Dotson Assistant Director ead@uky.edu
Bess Fox Graduate Assistant blfox2@uky.edu
http://www.uky.edu/UGS/WritingInitiative