STUDENTS RIGHTS 

The following list of rights that you have as a student was compiled by the UTSU:

 

Academic Rights

The UTSU has compiled a list of academic rights that you have as students:

  1. You have the right to challenge racist, homophobic, ableist, sexist, Eurocentric or otherwise oppressive teaching methods and material.

  2. You have the right to have reasonable access to your professors for consultation before and during a course.

  3. You have the right to receive a course syllabus on the first day of class.

  4. You have the right to vote on syllabus changes with your class after classes begin, with notice of the vote being provided at least one class prior.

  5. You have the right to receive at least one significant mark before the last day that you can withdraw from a course.

  6. You have the right to practice your faith without academic penalty and with reasonable accommodation from your professors.

  7. You have the right to petition any mark for any test or assignment if you think that it was marked unfairly or incorrectly.

  8. You have the right to hand in neatly handwritten essays.

  9. You have the right to have no assignment worth 100 per cent of your final grade.

  10. You have the right to refuse to use turnitin.com.

  11. You have the right not to have any major term test worth more than 25 per cent in the last two weeks of a course.

  12. You have the right to receive all of your assignments once graded.

  13. You have the right to the privacy of your grades.

  14. You have the right to retain intellectual property rights to your research.

You have the right to think critically, to fight racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, oppression, ignorance, xenophobia, and hatred; to a safe campus; to challenge colonialism, backward pedagogy, and eurocentrism; to speak and have a voice; to the freedom of speech and all other freedoms and rights granted in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

You have the right to protest the infringement of your rights.

You have the right to an accessible education.

Your rights are enshrined in the University of Toronto’s Statement of Institutional Purpose. The FMUA will defend them as necessary.

Turnitin.com

Did you know that you have the right to refuse to use Turnitin.com?

Turnitin.com is a for-profit service that scans assignments for potential sources of plagiarism. Assignments are checked against other internet sources, including papers submitted to Turnitin.com by students. Once students submit their assignments, these assignments become a part of the Turnitin.com database.

Educational institutions purchase Turnitin.com service using student money and then help promote the Turnitin.com database growth by asking students to submit their assignment to Turnitin.com. Essentially, this service uses your intellectual property for profit. Many institutions, such as Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Dalhousie, have decided against using Turnitin.com for this reason.

After students submit their assignment to Turnitin.com, the assignments are matched against any other sources in the Turnitin.com database, including assignments submitted in the past, internet sources, online books, newspapers and journals. Subsequently, an “originality report” is created that shows any duplication in the assignment.

It is an absolute must that students know how to reference correctly since incorrect or incomplete use of quotations will indicate these sections as suspicious in the originality report. Turnitin.com does not take into account incorrect referencing or work that was not purposely plagiarized. However, many students are not professionals in terms of utilizing referencing techniques especially for students who do not use certain citation styles on a regular basis. Referencing errors could lead to serious charges of plagiarism and academic misconduct, which could affect your entire academic career.

It is important to note that students have the right to refuse to submit their work to Turnitin.com despite instructions from their instructor. If an instructor requires students to submit assignments to Turnitin.com, he or she must provide the following:

A course outline that states whether Turnitin.com will be used in the course. 

If so, the syllabus should indicate an alternative option and clearly state that the use of Turnitin.com is not mandatory.

Equity

Below are the your rights at the University of Toronto with respect to equity. They are compiled through the University of Toronto Statement on Human Rights, Statement on Equity, Diversity and Excellence, Policy on Scheduling of Classes and Examinations and Other Accommodations for Religious Observances, The Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office and the Ontario Human Rights Code. The FMUA will defend them as necessary.

  • The University of Toronto will act within its purview to prevent or remedy discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, receipt of public assistance or record of offences.

  • Every student has a right to equal treatment with respect to services, goods and facilities, without discrimination because of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, family status or disability.

  • The University of Toronto will arrange reasonable accommodation of the needs of students who observe religious holy days other than those already accommodated by ordinary scheduling and statutory holidays.

  • Instructors will make every reasonable effort to avoid scheduling tests, examinations or other compulsory activities during religious observances when alerted to them by students.

  • The University will strive to ensure that every member of the University community is accorded the requisite environment to live, learn and work free of bias or discrimination.

  • The University will strive to ensure that every individual on campus is treated with dignity and respect.

  • The University will strive to ensure that they exemplify their commitment to anti-racism and the elimination of systemic discrimination.

  • You have the right to attend university free from harassment, defined as unwelcome comments or conduct that happens more than once.

  • You have the right to be accommodated so that you have the same opportunities as everyone else, short of undue hardship.

Ancillary Fees

The following list of Ancillary Fees for which you CANNOT be charged:

  • You cannot be charged a compulsory fee for an out-of-province field trip in a compulsory course.

  • You cannot be charged a compulsory fee for equipment or materials that you must return (e.g. lab coats, goggles).

  • You cannot be charged a compulsory fee for an item you produce unless it becomes your property

  • Information technology fees

  • Lab fees

  • Library costs

  • Mandatory lease of laptops