This is why I try to put warning flags in my syllabus.  I state in bold print that they will have to work in teams.  I also state that we will be dealing with issues that many may feel are controversial or taboo.  I warn that is this sounds uncomfortable or might be a trigger for them then they may want to consider an different section.

It doesn't address all issues but it does put everything on the table.


On Thu, Jan 9, 2014 at 8:37 AM, Lion Gardiner <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Good Morning, Colleagues,

As you may have noted in this morning's Inside Higher Ed, the Globe and Mail reports that a male student protested having to meet with a learning group containing females in a course he was taking.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/religious-accommodation-or-accessory-to-sexism-york-students-case-stirs-debate/article16246401/

Suppose you had such a student, male or female, who was a regular, full-time on-campus student, in your TBL course, but refused to meet with peers of the other gender. How would you handle this? How would your institution react to this potentially legally fraught situation? What are the implications for a TBL course as a whole of granting this kind of request? Would the situation be any different for objections to meeting with gays? transsexual students? members of other ethnicities?

Lion Gardiner
-- 
Lion F. Gardiner, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Zoology
Rutgers University
212.226.2749
[log in to unmask]
Higher Education Consultation



--

Herb Coleman, Ph.D
Dir. Instructional Computing and Technology
Adjunct Professor of Psychology
Austin Community College
Highland Business Center
5930 Middle Fiskville Rd.
Austin, TX 78752
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512-223-7746
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Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.
— Gandalf the Grey from the 2012 motion picture "The Hobbit"

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