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Dispute grade penalty for reading in class?
I am in an large, entry level course targeted at engineers. A few weeks ago, I was reading for another class while my professor covered material I was familiar with, and she marked me down as absent for at least one and maybe two classes. She has a strict attendance policy so that she gives a 5 percent penalty for missing three or more classes, and I already have three marked absences.
The only relevant section in the syllabus says, "Good manners provide the foundation for proper classroom behavior: arrive on time, listen attentively and take detailed notes, remain quietly in your seat until dismissed by the instructor." There is a strict no-screen policy, but nothing about reading.
I am considering taking it up the ladder and arguing that she should have asked me to put the book away if she wanted me to, as I spoke to her multiple times between the time of the alleged offense and becoming aware that she had penalized me for it. Do I have a good chance of a grade appeal? on merit? statistically?
She is a teaching only professor, so I assume she doesn't have huge sway in the department. It is a ginormous class at a large school though, so I probably don't either.

Do you mean that you were reading in class on only one day, but there is a possibility that you were penalized for this with two absences, or were you reading in class on multiple days?

Administrators step in when things are extreme and the school's reputation may be affected, like failing everyone or giving everyone A's. Your argument is pretty weak and your injury (losing a few points) is trivial. You'd be better off nicely asking your teacher for another chance because you didn't realize reading wasn't allowed, and you had misjudged your own ability to multitask.

Are you certain she didn't accidentally mark you absent because she genuinely thought you were absent?

Based on your post, you haven't yet discussed this with the instructor.  You should definitely do that first; you have much better chances of getting her to make a change than successfully appealing to someone higher up.

Perhaps they were marked absent because they were sitting quietly in their seat?

Unfortunately the rules of the game are sometimes stupid, but that doesn't mean that one can break them without accepting the consequences. Some choose to do so accepting the consequences, some follow the rules however silly, and some complain to no effect.

As a strategy assuming that either teaching full time faculty or a part time faculty member are somehow less important is really a mistake especially if your goal is to get the penalty removed.

... in fact, it seems likely that a "teaching only professor" has thought through her pedagogy, and will be better able to justify it, than research-focused professors.

One potentially important detail is whether the professor told you explicitly (particularly after the first occurrence) that she would be doing this. Even assuming that it's a reasonable policy to have in the first place, it is not reasonable to expect the student to know about this interpretation if she hasn't been clear about it.

When you say "maybe two classes" do you mean that you read in class twice and they may have done that one or both times? Or do you mean that you read in class once and the instructor has decided to remove attendance for 2 days for that? 2) Did the instructor tell you "Sorry, reading in class is not acceptable. If you continue doing that I'll be forced to mark you as absent?" (if it did not you have a professor A**hole for that class). 3) Did you speak with the instructor? Going to superiors without going to them first is a sure way to kill any possible relationship with them.

wow -I never once had a professor have anywhere near this kind of expectation - and thank goodness (United States).

Oh dear. It seems you enrolled in a kindergarten by mistake.

Giving students credit for merely turning up to lectures is not pedagogically sound, and nor is penalizing them in the way you seem to have been. "Teaching" doesn't seem to be your professor's strong point.

"take detailed notes" can be, depending on the person and the nature of the content, inconsistent with "listen attentively" and "no screens". This is an Engineering class, not Stenography. Simply copying down everything someone says doesn't them a good engineer.

How did this teacher know you were reading for a different class in a "ginormous" class, and not just "taking detailed notes", were you being disruptive?

The only relevant section in the syllabus says, "Good manners provide the foundation for proper classroom behavior: arrive on time, listen attentively and take detailed notes, remain quietly in your seat until dismissed by the instructor." There is a strict no-screen policy, but nothing about reading.

I am pretty sure that all department chairs would agree with a faculty member who concluded that reading in class is the opposite of listen attentively and take detailed notes. I would put your chances at exactly zero that the chair would override the decision to not credit you with attendance on that day, but marking you as absent for two days does not seem justified unless there is another penalty for not following proper classroom behavior.

Would all department chairs also agree that “take detailed notes” has anything whatsoever to do with either “good manners” or “proper classroom behavior”? I’m not so sure (in fact, as a former department chair I’m pretty sure I would not agree to those assertions). Moreover, I’m not sure I’d agree that a professor has the authority to mandate her students to listen to her or risk a grade penalty.

@DanRomik I am not sure how note taking fits with good manners, but I think of a syllabus as being as being as close as most classes get to a learning contract. A chair or a colleague might suggest not to do that in the future, but it is not so egregious that a chair should step in.

it is not so egregious that a chair should step in. I respect that you feel this way. I (and my answer) disagree.

If I were the chair, I'd suggest that in the future rather than mentioning taking notes, focus on paying full attention. That said, if it is a ginormous class and the student behavior was noticeable enough that the instructor could see it, it was probably disruptive in some way.  However, if this student came to me the first thing I would say is, have you discussed it with the Professor? If no, I'm not getting involved until that happens.  And I'd recommend that the student approach the conversation calmly and apologize for not understanding the policy, whether I agree with the policy or not.

Note though that the instructor is taking away points for lack of attendence, not for lack of good manners.

I will address two related but separate questions here: first, do you have a valid argument that the professor’s actions are unfair; and second, what should you do.
Let’s start with the purely logical issue of whether your complaint has merit. I think it does: your professor is being unreasonable and illogical and is abusing her authority. Here are several arguments that come to mind to substantiate these claims:

Illogical justification for the course policy. The professor justifies her requirement that students “listen attentively and take detailed notes” with a reference to “good manners” and “proper classroom behavior”. This is illogical. In a “ginormous class” as you describe it, there is nothing even remotely improper or contrary to good manners if a student does not take detailed notes or even does not pay any attention to the lecture, as long as they are not being disruptive. The professor is misusing the English language here: just sitting quietly in a class of, say, 100-200 students and thinking about whatever one wants to privately think about, or reading educational material on an unrelated topic as you were doing, is no one’s definition of impropriety that I have ever encountered; if it were, we’d be in serious trouble by the way, since if you walk into any large classroom anywhere in (for example) the US, at any given moment you’d see probably at least half the students doing exactly that (not to mention things that may actually be considered somewhat improper, like using their phones).
If the professor had just set out a policy mandating the taking of notes and attentive listening without giving a reason, one might have a harder time arguing against it (see below). But by illogically tying this to “good manners” and “proper behavior” she has undermined herself and set those rules up to be rightly criticized as being unrelated to the stated purpose they are claiming to be designed to achieve.
Illogical punishment. Another way in which the professor is being illogical is with the punishment she is giving you: she marked you as absent from one or maybe two lectures, but the unquestionable fact is, you were in attendance that day. Again, it is an abuse of authority and a misuse of the English language for the professor to pretend you weren’t in attendance in class when you were. Even if one accepts that she has authority to mete out some punishment for what you did (I don’t), she is again undermining herself by giving out what is an obviously unacceptable form of punishment.
An abusive policy. Even if one ignores the illogical justification given for the listening rules the professor set out in the syllabus, she simply has no authority to make such requirements.
Let me explain: it is usually assumed as a default premise that professors have the authority to make rules governing behavior in their classes. I see people making that assumption in some of the other answers and comments. Well, within reason, of course that’s correct, but it’s also obviously the case that no professor can mandate arbitrary rules that serve no purpose or that one cannot realistically expect students to follow, for example requiring that students wear silly party hats or risk suffering a grade penalty if they don’t.
In this case, the professor is trying to force her students to “listen attentively and take detailed notes.” Unfortunately this is simply an impossible requirement to satisfy. There are perhaps 1% of students (at really good universities) who have such remarkable powers of concentration that they would be able to sit through a 50 minute lecture and not once fail to listen attentively or fall behind with their detailed note-taking. (I’m positive I don’t fall in this group, by the way, but somehow managed to be a top student nonetheless and go on to a good career as a professor. Hmm...) And if the lecture is a boring one, that percentage would certainly shrink to 0%. Humans’ brains simply aren’t wired in a way that makes it possible to comply with the professor’s requirement.
Well, a requirement that the vast majority of students are physiologically unable to follow is null and void. No professor has the authority to make such requirements or to enforce them, even if the enforcement is selective and limited only to specific types of violation of the abusive requirement.

Now, I said I will discuss what you should do about the unjust treatment you are suffering. The truth is I don’t know. Appealing the punishment would make sense if you are in an environment where people care about fairness and logic, and if you did not fear retribution from the professor, but not all environments are of this type. Also, the appeal would have a real cost in time and mental energy that you will have to spend to get the outcome you believe is just; even then, success is not guaranteed.
If you do decide to appeal, try to ground all your arguments in logic as I have tried to do above. Just saying “this is a stupid policy” is not a good argument. One has to think carefully about, and make an effort to explain even more carefully, why it is a stupid policy; why allowing professors to make and uphold arbitrary rules will lead to all sorts of undesirable consequences and will result in students’ grades being less meaningful indicators of their abilities; why professors should be held to a high standard of logic and consistency in their treatment of students; and why your own behavior, even if technically in violation of some paragraph of text in some official-looking PDF document somewhere, was actually not only reasonable but actually rational, useful behavior that educators would actually want to encourage students to engage in to promote effective learning. All of those things are fairly subtle points, so the better a job you make of understanding them and explaining them to the powers that be, the higher your chances of success would be.
Good luck!

Concerning the illogical punishment, I always tell my students at the beginning of a semester that I will consider them "absent" for the period if they are sleeping or doing something else during the class. Because, even if they were physically present, they were not mentally present and engaged during the course. I don't see much difference between not coming to class and coming and not participating to it. A classroom is not a "warm place with (not so) nice seats".

@Taladris I would still regard that as a mild abuse of language, especially if you talk about “taking attendance”, which unambiguously refers to physical presence. I do agree that if OP’s professor had issued a similar warning, my criticism of the choice of punishment would make less sense.

This is a great answer. A lot of great points, and you're probably right that you have to balance this against the cost in mental energy. That said, getting into the habit of fighting injustice diplomatically is also beneficial.

Just to be clear, while I completely agree with this assessment of the policy, I still think the chances of successfully appealing would be small (clearly not exactly 0, because you would back the student)

Also note the question was about the odds of success. While the quality of the appeal may affect those chances, you really do not say what you think the chances are.

@Taladris: I would have failed your class. Luckily my profs were not like that; they cared about what I learned,  and I ended with a gpa of 98%. Just yesterday, as I finished my class, a student came to show me that he had done the example I had just done, but he used a different technique; should I have punished him for not paying attention?

@StrongBad thanks. I don’t feel I can meaningfully comment about the chances of success, except that I feel they are not especially close to either 0 or 1. At any rate, the question of whether to dispute the penalty depends on more than just the chances of success: there are some good reasons to appeal even if the chance of success is very low, and some reasonably good reasons not to appeal even when the chance of success is good.

-1 The argument that this policy is "illogical" isn't persuasive. It seems likely and common that the professor can define the attendance record/credit to their considered purpose: e.g., to indicate mental presence, class participation, not being overly tardy, not being on one's phone, etc. I think that a not-inherently-illogical justification can be made that in one's experience, not-mentally-attending students serve as a bad example which snowballs into a whole class not paying attention.

Furthermore, we can identify a logical gap with this answer: On the one hand, it asserts that 99% of students cannot possibly comply with the stated policy, but it seems unlikely (and the OP does not claim) that the professor is giving non-attendance marks to 198 out of 200 students every class meeting. Therefore the Occam's Razor-supported deduction is that the OP was doing something particularly notable to draw attention, i.e., was in fact specially disruptive, which it seems reasonable to penalize on the attendance/participation part of the grade.

@Daniel I said the punishment is illogical, not the policy; professors cannot arbitrarily redefine the meaning of words. Another thing that’s illogical is the justification for the policy. The policy itself I regard as abusive and illegitimate. And as for your Occam’s razor argument suggesting OP must have been disruptive: why not ask OP if that’s the case instead of making an assumption that’s not stated in the question and downvoting my answer for not also making it? I welcome criticism of my logic, but this seems a bit harsh. Certainly if OP was disruptive that changes everything.

It's flat-out wrong to assert that the English word "attendance" has some inherent, mathematically well-defined meaning. E.g., At a minimum different people have various criteria for assessing when tardiness becomes non-attendance for record keeping purposes. Here is one of many  colleges that interprets submission of an assignment as positive for attendance, even if the student was never in class (link). The etymology of "attendance" is in fact from the Old French atendre, meaning "to give one's attention to". Etc., ad infinitum.

Typical ivory tower perspective, in my opinion. You go into a meeting with sponsors and co-workers and bosses at Large Engineering-based Contractor and spend the entire meeting on your phone, show up late, fall asleep, look bored... your career is going nowhere, guaranteed. In other answers people wonder why lateness and absentmindedness is common in academia... this is why.

@MartinArgerami: (1/2) I care about what my students are learning. That would be way simpler to let them do whatever they want, provided they are not disruptive. The department where I set this policy used to not be strict about attendance (the students were adults after all) but we observed that the rate of failure of the undergraduates, especially freshmen, was high. This (plus a demand from the public institution that gives students scholarship) led to a more strict attendance policy to make sure the students study regularly and not just before examinations.

@MartinArgerami: (2/2) Your students would not have been punished. He was paying attention, since he was aware he was using a different method to solve a given problem.

@NicHartley Not at all. There are tons of meetings where somebody needs to present important information. A 30 person project meeting does not need to have 30 presenters or 2 way dialog. In the real world, you have stuff like safety briefings where one or two people get up and convey critical information. You visit a new site, start a new project, you get one. You sleep through that, people's lives are at risk. Nobody's life is at risk in a math project, but think about people who ride on an airplane, train or building. That's engineering.

@user71659 When I was at Google, people would almost always take their laptops in to meetings.  If there was something being presented that wasn't important to you, you could at least be productive on your laptop.   (Answering emails, doing code reviews, etc.)

@user71659 you are correct that my perspective is a typical ivory tower one. Part of that perspective is that a university’s job is to teach students to think, not to churn out obedient robots who are trained to feign interest in boring lectures so that they are better prepared for a life in industry where they will be forced to feign interest in boring meetings. Anyway, if employers don’t like this approach, they are free to seek out their employees not from graduates of top “ivory tower” universities but from among those of other institutions who put the emphasis on obedience and discipline.

@DanRomik You're not preparing students for industry in math. Unlike math, engineering schools have an ABET accreditation for which they are responsible, ultimately to the public (via PE licensure), for teaching engineers with safe and ethical knowledge and working practices. For example, after a number of fatal chemical accidents that killed many, the US Government had ABET change required topics over chemical reactions. Your perspective about industry is not congruent with the goal of engineering, medical and law schools. Schools are accountable for licensure/bar/board pass rates.

@DanielR.Collins It's pointless to argue meaning from etymology. And from the fact that there is not one single clear cut meaning of attend, it doesn't follow that using the word in a set of rules doesn't create some specific expectations of what is OK and what isn't. Imagine a grading scheme that involved participation in a symposium and then the teacher deducts points because you didn't drink...

@sgf When your coworkers and boss and boss’s boss are sitting in your vicinity... they notice. It’s business. You think everybody is manager and a company has 200 CEOs? Dog eat dog world. Everybody can’t be a winner.

I would still take it up the ladder since that sounds like a stupid policy.
In my opinion, if she's not able to keep your interest, she should consider raising the level of the class, but there's only so much she can raise it without losing other students.  It's not always possible to keep everyone's interest and you can't expect students to feign interest because it makes you feel important.
What does she care if you're quietly reading?  It sounds like she childishly wants to be listened to.  That's beyond wanting "good manners".  She wants devotion.
You might as well complain to her dean.  Even if you don't get what you want, if enough people complain, it's at least annoying for the dean who might pass the message on to her in one way or another.

Regarding some of the comments, when I wrote this answer, the only other answer here was essentially "suck it up, you have no power".  When I saw that, I wanted to highlight why I think the situation is wrongheaded and unjust.
I think it's natural for professors to want the rapt attention of their classroom.  But when that doesn't happen, my professors were much more mature than this lady.  They did the best they could to transmit their passion for the material.  In my opinion, that's the main function of education.
What happens when you try to force someone to care about something?  They care less.  It destroys the student's passion.  If children are forced to eat something they typically end up hating it.  Who fell in love with literature if not by reading great books?  Who fell in love with mathematics if not by seeing the beauty of it revealed?  No one falls in love by force.
If people don't care about your lectures, it's their loss.  If, as a professor, you think that's bad manners, it's up to you to suck it up and just do your job as best you can.  Sometimes the students are in the wrong program, and they'll find their way.  Sometimes the professor is teaching the wrong class.  I can't see any reason to punish someone for not overtly paying attention.
If you want to know how to diplomatically change the policy, take a look at Dan Romik's excellent answer.  I don't think we should get into the habit of accepting injustices.  A simple paragraph email to the dean to explain your situation might not be effective, but I think it's a good habit to get into to express yourself rather pushing down your feelings of injustice.  Some words that touched me were by Martin Luther King Jr. who argued against a person:

devoted to 'order' [rather] than to justice; who prefers a negative
  peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the
  presence of justice.

It may be a reaction to past problems - students not being aware of important information because, even though physically present, they were mentally absent.

@PatriciaShanahan Most classes factor that kind of problem into grades using examinations rather than attendance.

I agree that it is an unwise policy, but most universities will give their professor's considerable latitude and discretion. Something can be unwise, even clearly unwise, and still be well within a decision maker's authority.

I agree with both of you -- escalating is unlikely to get your points back, but this is such a stupid policy (insisting that your students waste time listening to material they already know) that I would still send a complaint anyway. (Though, groveling to the instructor to try to get the points back might be necessary until grades are finalized)

Fighting policy in a bureaucracy is a de facto guilty plea, (Sad Truth of Life #137); it doesn't even matter if the policy is right or wrong.

-1. We can perhaps disagree with this policy on practical grounds, without asserting mental states/psychoanalyzing things like "makes you feel important... childishly wants to be listened to... wants devotion". That stuff is unwarranted, unfounded, and obscures clear thinking about whether this policy is legitimately subject to challenge or not.

@TimothyAWiseman something can also be unwise and actually exceed a decision maker’s authority. See my answer for why I think that is so in this case.

@DanielR.Collins name a better reason for the policy then, because I see non.

It seems no more stupid than a general attendance policy (why force someone to sit in a class, even if they do something else entirely?). Which is to say it's very stupid, but attendance policies are pretty widespread, so it seems unlikely that complaining will accomplish much.

@cag51: "stupid" is pretty subjective. At my university I could skip an entire lecture if I had already covered the material, and read in peace in the library instead of in a room where someone is literally trying to distract me. This wasn't actively encouraged, but attendance wasn't taken and there was no rule against it, or even strong disapproval from my tutors provided I could do the problems. But you don't want to go around calling your institution stupid while appealing to it for clemency :-)

I think it's useful to reflect on the incredibly wide range of institutional contexts lived by posters here at SE Academia (sometimes startlingly so). It appears that you (Neil G.) are a PhD student at a high-end research lab, so it's unclear whether you've, e.g., taught undergraduates yet or not. The argument that, "teachers can force students to be attentive by being more passionate" is common for people who have little or no teaching experience...

Consider a quote from Ken Bain, What the Best College Teachers Do, (ch. 4): "a sentiment we heard often... she simply wished to invite her students to the dinner table". Anecdote from the first exam I gave at a community college: Two students started talking during the exam. When I just looked on agog, everyone else in the classroom took that as a sign they could openly talk and communicate during the exam. Something you'd ever see at an R1? No, but at this level we need some kind of enforcement mechanism to reign in everday outrageous behavior.

@DanielR.Collins I agree it’s useful to approach this from a broad range of perspectives, and your anecdotes are very interesting, but I don’t feel they shed much light on the particular matter under discussion. Well, what’s your take on the question then? Is there anywhere in the world where the prof’s policy would make sense?

@DanRomik: Of course, the actual question is "Do I have a good chance of a grade appeal?" (to which I would say "No, not a good chance", akin to StrongBad),  and the whole discussion of whether the policy is recommended or not seems to be off-topic (and as a result, generating not-high-quality answers). Perhaps we should ask another question, e.g., "Is it reasonable to have rules about student attention during lectures?" or the like.

@DanielR.Collins The title of this question is "Dispute grade penalty for reading in class?"  And the answer to that question in my opinion is yes.  And, in this case, it sounds like it's the the professor's outrageous policy that needs to be reigned in.

Depending on your location, it may be illegal to use attendance to affect grading without a proper justification of why (and when) it is necessary to demand the attendance. One location where this would be illegal: the Netherlands.

I would mostly agree with the spirit of this - though it were probably not quite illegal (United States) - it would also be v difficult for the professor to justify this action against a vigorous objection. I never once had a professor hold this level of expectation - and thank goodness.

Do you have a reference for this being disallowed in the Netherlands? I know of many Dutch professors who demand attendance for no clear reason.

@bopjesvla, unfortunately I have been unable to find a proper reference for my claim.

My dean once told me, "Remember where you're sitting." Approach this with respect for the professor and from a position of strength, not with disdain for the professor and from a position of weakness. Your best chance is to ask for probation, but you must also admit a no-brainer. It's all in here, try this:

I am writing concerning the two absences I was deducted on account of reading unrelated textbooks during class. I request probation to have the statutory absences removed, but only on the condition that during finals I present responsible class notes for the remainder of the semester. As an engineering student, I should know that reading a textbook applies to the same principle as a the policy ban on mobile screens in class. Though this is an introductory class, covering information with which I consider myself to be familiar, I will hold a newfound respect for the importance of both foundational skills and the value of reviewing them. My grades are of concern to me, so if you as the lecturing professor will not grant me an achievable probation, I would only exercise my right to appeal by forwarding this same letter to the department chair, but I would go no further.

IME, this is your best chance. You can take suggestions from anyone, but it's still your own decision which course of action to take; whatever the results, the blame or the credit all goes to you.
Brief explanation: The goal is not to prove a prof wrong at the price of -5%; the goal is to reverse two special absences, and keeping peace is the best chance here. Every step of this letter does that.

To respect the community, I'm adding notes to explain, feel free to skip:
In my background, this isn't just theory, I wrote a letter to my school and had the student rules changed mid-semester. I also wrote a letter to Chicago and had the no-parking curbs painted yellow the following month. I've done more elsewhere and I know how to draft a letter that wins. The secret is that everyone needs to win and folly needs to be set in a third seat no one is forced to sit in.
No matter the outcome, no one loses face with this. If the prof permits the "probation", then the prof doesn't have to admit any wrongdoing. Never ask your opponent to admit guilt as a requirement of granting your request.
The word "statutory" is vital because in a busy administration, these must be regarded as a kind of "technical foul", not actual, normal absences. The student has three actual absences, so there is a good chance for confusion. Any other word would require more words or be confusing. This makes everything clear.
Offering to keep good notes reflects the "original intent" of the prof's policy and a "coming into the fold" to support what "good attendance" is all about. It is also a way of "eating crow", a necessity to get probation anywhere, and the student gladly wears the dunce cap, but with a straight back, self-dignity, and gratitude to the prof for a punishment well-deserved. It shows dignity across the board, including the self-dignity of growing up and becoming a better person, which is what college is all about.
Engineering students should know the cross-media application. In the 1990s and before it was reading magazines. Today, it's playing on handhelds. Engineers produce "products" that fulfill the same, age-old purposes in society, but using technology for the time and purpose. An engineer who doesn't see the carry-over will have difficulty working with a product manager in the field. Moreover, that might have been covered in one of these boring, elementary (but vital) lectures.
Foundation, foundation, foundation—that is essential to any discipline. Also, this student might need to explain these principles to a product manager or a design team one day. Listening to this prof put things in simple terms might not only be for the students to learn, but also serve an example for what the students can say to teach other departments in a future company. Showing gratitude for this teaching method's "value" is wise.
"My grades are of concern" is the toned-down way of saying "It's my prerogative", which would be too wordy. Any student should be concerned about grades; some aren't! This student is one of the good students. And, it is perfectly understandable and reasonable that a student take steps to attain better grades, even with some normal college-age immaturity elsewhere. Any decent student would be foolish not to appeal for better grades if there were grounds for an appeal. Say so!
The final sentence might wrongly seem like a threat to some people. However, this is no more than a respectful reminder of the student's own rights. Always state your rights and that you may exercise them in any administration, whether school, government, courts, or any other. If anyone might feel put off by this, that could indicate a need to either learn about respecting the rights of others or to examine one's own motives. Why would you having rights make someone else feel threatened? What kind of a person would feel threatened by someone else having rights? With such a person, there is no way to win, and there would be nothing good or kind enough to say. But, I don't think that's the case here. This prof seems like a good person who genuinely wants students to learn because, though arguably harsh, the rules aren't totally unreasonable. Such a good person as this professor should not be offended merely by someone else reminding everyone of known rights.
Stating specifically how the student would make an appeal means that the student won't try to walk on the prof, but won't be walked on either. The prof knows what would happen, no surprises. So, the prof could go to the chair first and ask first, making a decision that won't be overturned by any appeal either way. Again, this allows saving face. If the student appealed, the chair is already in a position to respond, "I already know about this. The decision is final," yet the student wouldn't be seen a fool since the chair knew because the student said as much, nor would the faculty be seen as "gossipy". Everyone wins here, no matter the decision. Most importantly, saying "but I would go no further" means that the student will accept the decision and not keep beating a dead horse, something many people do. Say right away that you're not like that.
How to deliver & respond:
Print on computer, no headers, only "Dear [PROF]" and a normal first-last name closing, sign with "Your student, [NAME]". You could make the entire request in handwriting, but DO NOT SIGN with the John Hancock! DO NOT EMAIL! Go in person, at least to deliver. Emails can be scary, especially anyone watching the news lately. Emails are convenient in daily life, but in conflict they are limited and lazy—can't solve conflict. Take time to deliver a note in person, be soft, friendly, informal, "via memo"—all these things add a pinch of kindness and a dash of diplomacy—things this situation needs all it can get of. Everyone can save face by this being informal. But, having it on paper, the prof can go directly to the chair and ask for advice, having the options of doing so formally or informally; we want that. Administrations should have the power to administer, and in administration do everything in writing. Respect administration and administration will respect you.
The student could drop it in the prof's mailbox or pin it to a board outside the office, whatever works. If delivered in person, be charming and humble and thankful. Even if the prof denies the request, be thankful for the learning opportunity, sit in the front row, and take double notes the rest of the semester. The best argument is "hard work" and could result in the grades not being lowered, even if the prof says no at first. Kindness and respect melts hearts.
Final thoughts:
Remember, profs are humans who deserve attention, even in survey lecture halls. They genuinely want students to learn. Their strange rules often come as a way of trying their best to help students learn what they will need.
Administrations are made of rules and respect hierarchies by definition; bucking against either will only cause brain damage.
Being a sesquipedalian is actually a good idea because academic journals are the sacred texts of academia; when in Rome... The key is to not use big words that confuse meaning because they aren't needed. Though it could be toned-down, that's not the case here.
Lastly, even in admitting wrong—the student should don the dunce cap here, but do so thankfully and respectably—NEVER, NEVER, NEVER do this: "I'm right because... but I'm sorry and you're right." Don't be a wet noodle; stand up and act like you have a spine, say "I need to act respectable by respecting the prof!" What good prof could resist the urge to honor that! But, that self-justify-then-roll-over approach is Satir's Blamer-Placater Distracter Mode and is half a penny shy of a formal request for a public beating.
In school, the purpose is to learn. So, prove that you're good in school by proving that you are learning. Learning is your best defense and work demonstrated is its best evidence.

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People here are entering in complexe debates about the ethics or this or that...
She marked you as absent, were you and can you prove it ? That the only important thing here and the only thing you should bring up.
She is the one that will look stupid when she'll explain that she marked you absent because you were reading. Moreover if she can't prove that you were reading materials from another course.

The last part seems utterly misunderstood. What sort of "proof" do you expect anyone to care about here? If the student had not been there, would you expect the lecturer to provide proof of this as well?

That's actually what I'm saying.
If he tries to appeal, either the teacher is honest and admit that the penalty isn't for his absence, either she doesn't.
If she does, the teacher would have to explain why she gave an absence to a student for reading, without warning or anything.
If she doesn't, then it's his word against his teacher. It's not good unless there are other students in the same situation.

You are correct that the absence punishment is one of the things that are wrong with the professor’s behavior, and OP should definitely challenge that, as I said in my answer. However, I disagree that “that the only important thing and the only thing you should bring up”. Following your advice would risk having the professor admit that the punishment makes no sense and then coming up with a different punishment instead. If OP decides to challenge the prof, it would make sense to challenge both the specific punishment and the fairness of imposing any punishment.

Your entry level engineering course does have attendance requirements. Those rules were stated before you took the course. It does not matter whether you think the rules are silly or whether you think like I do that such rules are for children.
Do not take it further. It just turns up to the course. Going by what you have stated the professor is a bit precious which makes this likely to backfire on you. Maybe your so-called precious professor does not make the attendance rules either. Why should you expect her to say that you were there when you were not with the program? What if there were some safety aspects that students had to learn? These days with more internal assessment there is a greater correlation between being bad in class and getting bad grades.

I would expect the prof to say he was there because he was actually there. If the student missed some crucial material by being inattentive, either they would be unable to demonstrate mastery on homeworks/papers/exams (so additional punishment is unnecessary) or they would gain that mastery elsewhere and demonstrate it in graded work (which means attendance was unnecessary).


text:
Can I translate scientific papers ?
So I'm a really bored french student and there's a thought that occurred to me of something that could kill three birds with one Stone : improving my English, allowing me to learn New things and making research more broadly available to the ones who are interested in them but are blocked by the language barrier.
And this is translating articles or papers of researchs or studies in french. I would guess that there's not really anything preventing me to do that for personnal use, but what if I wanted to, as I stated, make the translated versions available on a website or a database ? What should I know about that or what should I do in order to meet both the legal and ethical requirements of such a thing ?
Thanks in avance for your answers.

Yes, you can translate. See https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?q="English+translation" for examples (possibly in citations). Here's an example hosted in France: https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00996315/document

Great idea! Better to stick with open access, preprints, or historical papers. Publishing companies take their copyright very seriously.

You can do it, if you have the technical vocabulary in both languages. I was lucky and did part of my engineering degree in France so i was exposed to the French technical vocab to match the English vocab I had already.

@Solar Mike I have this kind of luck plus a friend of mine who's teaching English at a high-ish level to help me should I have any issue

@Nätsumura I have friends who are technical translators and I have done them myself... The learning curve is steep and, based on your post you have some way to go... Good luck.

Listen to @SolarMike. If the content is, say, physics, it is quite likely that someone teaching English, high level or not, without a physics background will not be of much help. Technical fields use vocabulary in quite specific ways that don’t map well onto common usage.

If you did your friends. .. @Solar Mike

Ethically, I do not see a problem with this. If you reference the original work and make it clear that it is translated then I think it should be fine.
The problem here is from a copyright point of view. Many journals are subject to copyright and if you post the findings online then someone could not pay to read the documentation and just go to your website and then translate it into whatever language they wish.
I must mention that even though you think you're doing something that benefits others, without even making profits, you can still be in trouble.
If you're really interested in translating a particular piece of work you would need permission from both the author and the publisher (if you're going to publish it online).
My advice would be to ask permission from authors who have unpublished work. An example in finance is John Cochranes guide to PhD writing, this was translated from English to Chinese and placed on his personal website with credit given to the translator.
This way, you don't get in any trouble and you are still gaining the benefits of translating that you mentioned in the question.

First of all Thanks for the details, indeed the copyright side of things is where I thought the problem lies, so the Best would be to either get the permission from both parts involved, the journal and the author, or to get in touch with authors whose work is not published in a journal, like on his own Website or on something else than a journal ?

@Nätsumura if you think this answer is good enough you can accept it!

My advice would be get in touch with some authors that haven't published it to a jounral. Remeber this can be for a variety of reasons, it doesn't mean that the work is bad. Many top authors in finance sometimes leave excellent work for their own websites. Dig some out and get permission.

Also the devil is in the detail, there are skilled translators and I am not saying that you're capable, but if you are saying that this is to improve your english I would suggest getting someone to check over it that can also speak the both languages.

I'll dig into it, both on the scientific and the finance side

Yup, I'll probably get it checked by someone I know who could help me should I need it

@TonyChivers I had to redo a "translation" by a lady who insisted there was nothing she could not translate... Turns out she could not deal with an article about a cylindrical uni-axial stressed beam... Translation of technical things needs a specific vocabulary and knowledge...

Look for articles that are published with a creative-common licence (CC-NY or CC-NY-NC). Many open access journals publish all their articles with this licence.

@Ian Sudbery Would you know what the best place to find these is ? I have a few already but it's always nice the more you have.

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text:
Who should I ask for references when applying for PhD, after a 4 year break since graduation?
I am a life sciences graduate from 2015.
After a career in the corporate world, I am preparing to apply to PhD programs in universities abroad.
As part of the application process, I am required to provide a certain number of references (usually 2 or 3).
Is it appropriate to approach my old college professors for references after a gap of 4 years? What things should I take into account if I am contacting them?

I agree with the other answers that you should ask old professors. I was in your situation after a break of five years, and while I felt awkward approaching people I hadn't seen in so long asking for a favor, the particular professor I asked actually did remember me and was happy to help.
I'll reiterative the general advice I was given (by a current friend who is a professor in another field, both of us in the US):

Try to get at least one recommendation from a professor who's had you as a student. Not having an academic reference would be a disadvantage, and having a recommendation that speaks to your ability to do research is an advantage.
Recommendations from industry are fine, normally your first choice would be an immediate supervisor. Your approach will depend entirely on your relationship with your peers.
Recommendations from friends typically aren't great, but if they're in the same industry as you, have collaborated with you on stuff, and can speak to your professional competence then they're probably good.

To add onto this: a professor who had supervised you during some larger project (preferably your master thesis, if you did such a thing) is a prime candidate.

I would absolutely ask my college Professors for a reference letter - keep in mind that most academics are extremely reluctant to provide a negative recommendation, and would rather refuse altogether or provide a positive one (at least in Europe). So, the worst-case scenario is that they will refuse, and not a soul will be the wiser. I therefore see no harm in asking, but instead remember that "if you don't ask, you don't get"!

I would definetly approach your old colleagues. Explain that you need an Entry point after your corporate phase and reason why you didn’t do a doctorate earlier / why you want to switch careers.
If you left on good terms and show them the necessity of it, I’m pretty sure they will do you the favor. At least they would here in Germany.
Consider that references of old colleagues still look better than no references. I think you should also briefly explain your return to academics in the cover letter.
If you can’t get your ex-Professor etc. to review for you, you still won’t make a fool out of you or have other  negative side effects. In that case I would also look for other academics in your environment who you might briefly have worked with to ask for support.

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A Mutivariate Test
In a paper I applied a multivariate test but without describing any hypotheses to check. I described only research questions? Will paper likely be rejected?

This question should be fleshed out a little bit more. Even then, its really hard for any of us to know whether or not a paper will be rejected. Regardless, getting a paper rejected is a normal part of academia and I would not let it bother you.

@JWH2006 - well, it should bother you enough to do a better job on the next one, but yes, it should not be something to lose sleep about.

It is impossible to say how the reviewers will judge it, but it sounds like it has high likelihood of rejection. However, you should be able to improve the paper by making it more complete and submitting it again, perhaps to the same place.
If you are a student, you should get advice on these things from experienced faculty members or advisors.


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On some cases where exam results are manipulated
This problem has been bothering me as a lecturer and future PhD student for a while now.
A student just finishes filling his exam sheet. He then gives the sheet to the lecturer. The lecturer is then grading the result. He then returns the result to the student.

(Bad student) After seeing his score, the student does not accept it, but he knows this result is fair. He then reports to the person above the lecturer that his exam sheet has been changed by the lecturer (which is possible, isn't it?). He claims that this is not his exam sheet. He then argues and keeps arguing by bringing made-up facts and made-up evidences.
(Bad lecturer) This case is similar to case 1, but this time the lecturer has indeed change the exam sheet. The student is then surprised and he can't prove it wrong somehow.

How can we prevent these two possible cases? I have seen case 1 but that was a long time ago and I forget how it was solved. However,  I think it is fine to prevent bad things before they happen rather than handling them after they happen which usually turns out to be too late.
One solution I can think of is going online. Do test online, share exam sheets online, etc. Is there another countermeasure?

"his exam sheet has been changed by the lecturer (which is possible, isn't it?)": Uh?! How can you imitate so well the student's handwriting?

I had this with one student - he changed answers during review, then asked for the credit. So, the next exam - I had copied them all and he did the same - I told him I was going to give the evidence to the exam board and he had a zero until they had ruled. Boy, did he panic - went to see Dean, Student services the whole 9 yards - all said it will be discussed at exam board - grade stayed at zero... Very handy because the stiry got around and it did not happen since...

@SolarMike Where the answers written with pencil that the student could change them?

Pen, but there are ink erasers etc

Have you actually encountered a lecturer changing an exam? Or even the suggestion that one had?

It is possible to change an exam as a lecturer, but why would you do that? Certainly not to fail a person that annoys you. In that case you have that annoying person in your class again next year... The easiest and quickest way to get rid of an annoying person is to pass them.

@Massimo I don't know. I never and will never plan that tho, but I don't see why that is not possible.

@Maarten Buis Yes I won't do that. Maybe for other lecturers, some students hurt them or because of other personal reasons. My question is about what rules we can apply to prevent this from department perspective at least.

@Solar Mike This is one good way. To continue tho, since both questions are related, how do you think the board decides? It could in fact be the second case, right?

bms, a e.g. 4-page exam sheet full of handwritten text cannot be changed without clearly revealing the misdeed. If, instead, you're speaking of true/false or prefilled exams, well, just plainly avoid them, because they are bad exams anyway.

@Massimo In science exam, one notation/letter can determine the whole argument. Not hard it is to change it. Since eraser is allowed, this is possible, isn't it? If it's not allowed, I guess there is no difference, or probably worse.

@bms no, not the second case - with hundreds of exams to grade I don’t have the time to waste changing exams - I spend the time to read, assimilate and mark fairly all the answeers given...

@Solar Mike Yes, I got you. I am just thinking about how the board can determine which side is right. After handling the copyies to the board, it could either be case 1 or case 2, right? Unless of course we just let the board decide xD

@bms The exam board is the final arbiter - as per most institutions policies that staff and students have to abide by - do you have any experience of case 1 or case 2 or writing, conducting and marking exams?

@Solar Mike I guess it is what it is. I personally never have this experience. I just heard a long time ago when I was still a student about case 1 which was handled by board but I didn't know how they handled it, and case 2 is just not impossible. I would like to hear your response to the answer provided by OBu.

@bms the case 1 - you don't know how they handled it as they did not, and should not, have communicated the results to you but only to the concerned parties. As for "you want my response to the answer..." then you should re-read all my comments...

There is no counterneasure which is bulletproof and administratively feasible. If I want to cheat as a teacher, I will always find ways around such a system.
The only way would be to have the exam taken by independent administrative staff, they scan all answers as proof, and then hand it to the teacher.
Online results could be watermarked (e.g. by an MD5 / SHA hash), but I don't know if such systems exist.
If I really want to upgrade or downgrade a student, I would not take the risk of manipulating the exam, but to adjust my measures for deciding what is true and what is false and to which account I'm willing to accept "a good idea which did not lead to the correct result".
As a teacher, I like to have electronic submissions since they are a proof and students usually have nearly no means of changing them afterwards. But I prefer  doing the grading with paper and pencil.

+1 for the third paragraph. It depends on the field a bit, but if you’re grading writing and argumentation (be it philosophy, political science, or mathematics) there’s always wiggle room to rig results in terms of strictness of grading and generosity with attempted solutions. Even a systemic review of the exams won’t reveal much of note if you are sufficiently dedicated to it, and you always have the excuse of “oh, I guess on day 1 I was feeling more lenient than on day 2 of grading.”

Online exams typically go through a 3rd party system, and instructors cannot modify what a student submits in the systems I've used.  (Of course, there is still a huge concern about cheating on the students' end.)


text:
Can we submit part of our assignment after deadline?
I have a deadline for handing in my assignments. One of them is tricky and I need to think more. I coded it but I am not 100 % sure that is right. Can I think more about it after deadline of submitting the assignment are passed I give it to my professor?

What will be his reaction?
Will he give me the mark of that question?

PS: I submitted my assignments I also did that part, now I want to think more about that part. You know, that part was difficult.

There's nothing stopping you from thinking about it after the deadline, but if you want any corrections to be graded, you need to tell the professor before the deadline. It's possible he'll give you an extension, especially if you have good reasons (e.g. personal issues).
Handing in assignments after the deadline, without warning, is likely to lead to it simply not being graded. The professor must be fair to other students who might not have had the extra time, and besides, if he accepted your submission everyone else might start doing the same and the deadline might as well not be a deadline.

I submitted my assignments I also did that part, now I want to think more about that part. you know, that part was difficult.

@nikki2 you can continue to think about it, but that does not give you leave to re-submit an improved solution after the deadline.

You can always ask, I suppose.  But it's very unlikely this will fly with your instructor.  If the syllabus says you will get docked for a late submission, expect to be docked.  If the syllabus says late submissions will not be accepted, expect it will not be accepted.


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What defines a scientific institution?
Recently I have been worrying about my professional future in academia. Permanent positions are scarce and the situation is even harder when taking into account personal constrains, such as family, preference for living in a particular city, ... Therefore, I have spent some time thinking about alternative futures for academic research. For context, as I understand that answers to this question are very likely to be field and location dependent, I do theoretical research and I am based in Europe.
Nowadays, the salary and funding of many researchers is be provided by regional, national or european grants (i.e. external to your employing institution). However, grants often require the support of the hosting institution as part of the application process. Therefore, my question is: what constitutes a scientific institution? Is there anything preventing researchers from founding new research institutions located anywhere, providing them with the flexibility of working in their desired location and still enabling them to get their research and funding from external grants?
I am not arguing towards this as a model for future academic research. I understand that there are several benefits to the current model and that, for instance, social and scientific interactions would be strongly affected by such an alternative. At the same time I understand that such a proposal has several drawbacks, including the lack of support and specialised equipment that is provided by large institutions (which would make it viable for only a few fields, not requiring either of these), or the risk inherent from having a livelihood that is dependent on applying and getting grants. Nevertheless, I am still curious about what is institutionally required to consider a newly formed organisation a proper scientific institution.

I think the idea behind grants requiring a hosting scientific institution is precisely to have an organisation around the grant applicant that can and will support them. If you say the host institution is just me and my organisation this completely defeats the purpose of having a host institution in the first place,

united-states nsf

Is there anything preventing researchers from founding new research institutions located anywhere, providing them with the flexibility of working in their desired location and still enabling them to get their research and funding from external grants?

tl;dr: Yes.
Let's take as an example the US National Science Foundation.  PAPPG I.E, "Who May Submit Proposals", lists:

(a) Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) — Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the U.S., acting on behalf of their faculty members. [...]
(b) Non-profit, Non-academic Organizations — Independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies, and similar organizations located in the U.S. that are directly associated with educational or research activities.
(c) Tribal Governments [...]

as well as, when specifically stated as eligible for a program: for-profit organizations, state and local governments, and foreign organizations ("rarely").
You'd presumably be trying to qualify under (b).  There isn't any more specific definition as far as I can tell, so it'd be up to you to convince the agency officials that your organization falls in this category.  But the examples given suggest that they have in mind firmly established institutions.
Moreover, there is an explicit provision that "unaffiliated individuals" are not eligible.  So you'd also have to convince them that your organization isn't just a shell for an unaffiliated individual, which in fact is exactly what you are trying to create.  It'd probably be rather obvious that it is, if for instance the organization has only one employee (you).
Supposing that you manage to clear that hurdle, the next one is 2 CFR 200 which gives criteria for federal grants.  200.206 lists risks that the granting agency must evaluate:

(i) Financial stability.  Financial stability;
(ii) Management systems and standards.  Quality of management systems
and ability to meet the management standards prescribed in this part;
(iii) History of performance.  The applicant's record in managing
Federal awards, if it is a prior recipient of Federal awards,
including timeliness of compliance with applicable reporting
requirements, conformance to the terms and conditions of previous
Federal awards, and if applicable, the extent to which any previously
awarded amounts will be expended prior to future awards;
(iv) Audit reports and findings.  Reports and findings from audits
performed under subpart F of this part or the reports and findings of
any other available audits; and
(v) Ability to effectively implement requirements.  The applicant's
ability to effectively implement statutory, regulatory, or other
requirements imposed on non-Federal entities.

You would not score well on these compared to a large, established institution.
As to the proposal itself, the NSF Merit Review Principles include:

Are there adequate resources available to the PI (either at the home organization or through collaborations) to carry out the proposed activities?

"Resources" includes not only things like scientific equipment, but also basic stuff like office space, IT services, accounting, human resources management, compliance staff, legal support, etc.  For established institutions, it's usually taken for granted that they can reliably provide these, but your shell institution would not find it so easy to assure them of this.
If you did receive an award, you'd be responsible for complying with 2 CFR 200 Subpart D, Post Federal Award Requirements.  200.302 in particular requires your organization to have a fairly elaborate financial management infrastructure. 200.303 requires internal controls, which you probably don't have if the only person supervising your activities is you.
So in short: No, you can't feasibly set up on your own an organization that would be eligible to receive federal grants, reasonably competitive in applying for them, and able to properly administer them if received.

Really appreciate your spreading the word on restrictions that come from Uniform Guidance.  A lot of folks don't realize where the "university" policies come from -- they are regurgitating federal laws and regulations.  In the US, there is actually a group of "extra special" institutions that have incredibly rigorous internal controls, which means they get extra leeway from the government.  PIs generally don't realize this.  If you move from an FDP school to a non-FDP school, your privileges change (it's a big gap).  For more on FDP:
https://fdpclearinghouse.org/

The Ronin Institute claims to have solved many of the problems you mention.  https://ronininstitute.org/resources/grants-management/

@AnonymousPhysicist I always laugh when PIs want a lower IDC rate. Yes, sure. Do it on your own with no institution behind you, and then there is 0 IDC!  Would you like lights, heating, any help at all putting together a 150 page cost proposal?  This stuff costs money, hence an IDC rate. The best institutions have rates over 50% because of all the stuff they offer to set you up. It's not trivial by any stretch, and yet it's a frequent point of frustration with PIs.  I can't imagine what this place offers for resources without an IDC rate.  My institution's is high, but it pays off for the PI.

@yourfriendlyresearchadmin Most researchers make use of indirect costs.  However, those who do field work have considerably less use for them (their field location does not receive the university's services).

@NateEldredge I do not care one bit how many grants they have received. However, it turns out NSF award search does not work but Google search works a bit better.  See, for example: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1639652&HistoricalAwards=false

@AnonymousPhysicist: Thanks for the correction.  I removed my previous comment.

@AnonymousPhysicist In the US, there is actually an off-campus rate that is negotiated that represents administration costs only (no facilities).  Again, there are a lot of things that PIs receive -- someone to pay bills, someone to pay salaries, someone to maintain emails, etc.  Even if you don't have wifi while you are in your field location, all these things still happen while you're on site.  I know admins who support field folks--it's not easy.  Shipping things, organizing vans, travel, etc. it's all work that someone has to do, and paying these people costs money.

@yourfriendlyresearchadmin In my personal experience with several elitist research universities, the administrators did none of those things.  They might tell the researcher how to use a web app to do them, if the researcher is lucky.

@AnonymousPhysicist, it would be illegal for universities to have an IDC rate that cannot be substantiated, as it is negotiated with the government based on actual records of expenses. Are you suggesting that you don't have an email address with these universities? These things cost money, you know. Literally, if you can do all the research yourself and don't need an institution, then you should do that. One of the reasons US federal agencies won't fund individuals is because they require internal controls, which you can't provide by yourself. You may not know these people, but they do exist.

@yourfriendlyresearchadmin  "Are you suggesting that you don't have an email address with these universities?" No, I in no way suggested that.  I will suggest university administrators do not provide email addresses.  Based on experience, I am disagreeing specifically with what you said admins do for researchers.  I am not disagreeing with what you say universities pay for.  Universities pay for email addresses and internal controls.  Administrators provide internal controls; they don't provide email addresses because those (and most other services) are outsourced.


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How to deal with bad smelling (smoking) co-student
For a graduate project I need to work together with a fellow student who smokes a lot (every time we take a break); the smell is really strong and actually distracts from the work at times. Some days we work from about 8am to 6pm together, which is quite a long time.
I'm not sure how to approach him about it, you can't really forbid someone to smoke, of course. Surely not for the duration of a whole day (I doubt someone who is addicted to it can go without for that long anyway). In a workplace setting, as ff524 mentioned, I might go to a manager, etc, but that is not always an option in academia.
In addition, I'm quite sure that he's unaware of this..

I would have a big bottle of Febreze (an odor-masking spray) and spray him before he came in to work with me. Smokers know they smell and they know the smell carries.

@RoboKaren: “Smokers know they smell and they know the smell carries.” – I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Most people (not only smokers) have an amazing ability to selectively not preceive certain unwelcome aspects of reality.

re: garlic. I'd bring gum or mints in that case. :) There's tolerance and then there's bring able to focus on the problem.

Contrary to popular opinion, smokers are human beings, spraying them with deodorant is disrespectful and idiotic. People can have a variety of odors that other people don't like to smell (example: dog smell). If the smoke smell is really more than a simple annoyance to you, discuss the matter like two decent human beings.

@CapeCode I would assume RoboKaren is being sarcastic and making a joke. Considering actually doing this would be considered assault.

@Compass in the context of the current anti-smokers campaign, anything is possible.

I was a pain in the ass when I was a grad student, so I might have done it. Now that I'm older and wiser, I'd find a conference room with a big table and sit on opposite ends.

Here is the analogous question at Workplace.SE, it may be helpful.

You can start eating fried fish for lunch.

I believe the best thing to do is to be honest and tell him that the smell is very strong.
Engage him in a discussion about smoking and ask him whether he has any plans to quit. From my experience every smoker wishes to quit. Then tell him that the smell is strong and sometimes you can't focus because of it. Take into account that this is maybe the first experience for him to work in a lab. Later on, he would definitely be aware of this, such as a non-academic workplace.
Things you can do:

Try not to discuss or meet right after smoking.
Share gum with him.
Bringing air freshener to your office

In the end, there is nothing you can do if he's not willing to cooperate.
There are related questions discussing the same issue on Workplace.SE containing additional advice.

ask him whether he has any plans to quit how is this anyone else's business?

@CapeCode it is not. However, I think as they both are students (around similar age) and work together 10 hours daily they most likely have good relation and involve in discussions out of their work scope (Did you see last night game? ).

@CapeCode: It would seem to be the business of everyone whose performance is influenced by the smoking. As the OP feels the smell originating from the smoking "actually distracts [the OP] from the work at times", the OP could be said to belong to that set of people.

@seteropere Most of our discussions revolve around the work we're doing, even outside of it. We don't much discuss varia ^^

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text:
Choosing an adviser based on the professor's past students' jobs
I have recently been a admitted to a top 20 math Phd program at one of the schools I really wanted (woohoo!).  The reason I wanted this school is because I have been really into a certain research topic and, after a lot of "stalking" I found a professor at this department who's research interests matched mine really well.  Now that I've been admitted and am more seriously considering my working with him, I noticed that he's graduated seven other Phd students.  After a bit more googling I realized only 1 out of these 7 got an academic job and even this job was as a lecturer at a small liberal arts college. The others got jobs in industry (rather high paying ones so good for them).
My question is as follows: Is this evidence that working with this professor would make me unlikely to get an academic job involving research (post doc, assistant professor, etc ..) after my Phd?
This guy's research is dope and I really want in on it, but I also have to take my future goals into account.  I'm pretty ignorant on the process of getting academic jobs so any extra information or clarification of any misconceptions it seems like I have (in addition to an answer to the question) would be of help.

I suspect trying to guess what concerns this raises will be helped quite a bit by giving some idea of the field. For example, p-adic functional analysis and stochastic analysis are likely to lead to different guesses.

The area of research is harmonic analysis.  Sometimes the research involves problems that are motivated by the field of signal processing.

Just a thought --- maybe you could look at the dissertation research of the former students (titles of their dissertations might be enough), and if the research is on the applied side (which your comment suggests -- I'm thinking of wavelets), then their placements might be what one would expect (and thus not a reason for concern), especially if the "small liberal arts college" person did a lot less applied research (e.g. harmonic analysis on locally compact uniform spaces). Thus, I'd recommend also taking a good look at the individuals themselves, not just their adviser.

Why don’t you just ask him?

"only 1 out of these 7 got an academic job" That might be a high rate.

The unfortunate reality is that it's very hard to get a job in academia, be that a postdoc or the even more elusive permanent position and if you do succeed, the jobs aren't particularly well-paid compared to industry.
So, the professor's former students may have not wanted to attempt the academic route, or may have wanted to leave to earn more money, or tried to get a postdoc and were unsuccessful. I doubt the professor himself had much to do with it.
A better way to determine what your PhD under this supervisor would be like is to find out how long each of the students took to finish and how many papers they published. If the professor is an organised and motivated supervisor he should help his students to plan their research and get results on a regular basis (uncertainties of research notwithstanding).
If you really want to stay in academia (and you may change your mind after doing a PhD), having a non-zero number of good quality papers from your PhD is essential, so finding out the publication histories of the professor and the former students is more important than their current jobs.

Perhaps the jobs they got are what they wanted to do - I doubt they were forced into them...
You will decide what jobs you will apply for which determines where you are likely to end up.
Are you using the term "dope" as in Dopey one of the seven dwarves or dope as in a drug ie not necessarily good...

You are not answering the question.  It's self evident that I will choose which jobs I will apply for and that this will determine where I will likely end up as (I cannot get a job I don't apply for(in most cases at least)).  Is the professors "record" evidence that it is unlikely that I will get an academic job under him? And dope means good lol.

I did answer, just that you did not understand - perhaps the field of research is partly responsible for the jobs his ex-students got... but I don’t think it is down to the professor themselves...

You also realise that you won’t get many jobs that you do apply for.


text:
Listing publications for a non-tenure track teaching job?
I do not have a stellar first authored publication record as I am finishing towards earning a PhD in environmental science. I do have several conference abstracts and a few coauthored publications, however. I came across a non-tenure track academic job that is purely focused on teaching elementary environment science courses with an additional academic management role. Assuming the search committee is primarily interested in my teaching experiences, is it worthwhile to list my publications/proceedings in my CV? What are the pros and cons? My fear is that the search committee might flag me as a candidate who is occupying the position temporarily (they are looking for someone permanent) based on publications/research interests. I am genuinely interested in the job to gain teaching experience no matter how much I love doing research. Thanks in advance!

A PhD is a research degree. To earn it you need to publish, even if just the thesis, that is considered a publication. If the job requires a doctorate then they are explicitly asking for trained researchers who want to switch to teaching. They consider it valuable to the job, presumably. And it probably is.
Either way though, your CV should include everything you've done. It does not have to be tailored to a job. You do that with your cover letter, and research/teaching statements if you want. At least you will show, that while you weren't getting specifically-applicable experience, you're a productive worker who will devote yourself to whatever you do.
Teaching positions at universities and colleges are also typically very competitive, and you will have a disadvantage versus those who already have teaching experience. You need to highlight everything that helps you. Including your research. For example note how you would like to leverage your research experience in your coursework in some way, such as help provide motivation or course projects. You need to give this kind of thing a lot of thought and show that you have done so. Consider the specific courses and the syllabus you would create (perhaps create some materials to show them). This will help even if they will provide you with materials to use.


text:
Am I obliged to answer student queries that can readily be answered by reading the syllabus?
I maintain an email group for my class where the reading list and other course materials are made available to the students. Despite sharing all relevant information with them, I still have students asking me exact page numbers and sections from the book, and whether 'Topic X or Y will be on the exam'. I am fed up! Am I obliged to entertain these queries? They usually ask these queries on email or typically on sms.
This is a second-year undergraduate class (about 50 students) majoring in economics. I teach them a statistics course. I've included a link to the syllabus (page 2 of linked document).
Link to syllabus

Could you provide more information about the class? For instance, who are the students taking the class, are they undergrads in their first year or fourth year? Is the class size very large? Are they asking you in class, or by sending you e-mails?

"Obliged" by what?  General academic ethics? Local norms? Your boss's expectations?  The need to get positive student evaluations?

SMS? Did you give out your private cell phone number?

@henning Yes. This might sound unworldly, but it is quite the done thing in colleges in India. Teachers don't have office space, hence I can't provide them with any 'office number'.

I see. That's quite a disadvantage!

You could of course, in response to the question, say "Sure, see the syllabus."

But @Teacher123 your syllabus does not read like a syllabus.  Try an experiment.  See if presenting the information needed in a clearer, more accessible way reduces the number of thoughtless queries.

Whether or not you're obliged is debatable, but here is what you can do to reduce the time that's consumed by answering redundant emails:
Have your students write all questions into an online forum that's accessible for every participant of your course.* Post your answers there as well.
You can "pin" answers that are of a general nature. Your first pinned message should be a FAQ, entitled "Frequently asked questions. Read first before posting" and with the first line reading something like:

Before posting a question, please make sure that it has not already
  been answered. In particular, check the pinned messages first. Chances
  are, your question has been answered and you can save yourself and me some work.

If you get a duplicate question, just refer the student to the relevant message. This should work as a gentle nudge that deters other students form asking redundant questions in the future (remember that the answer can be read by the whole course).
* and only them.

That's a great suggestion. I'll definitely try it out in my classes from now on.

henning, do you have any particular software to recommend for such a forum?

@aparente001 my university uses Moodle, which is useful for this (and a few other things).

A lot of engineering schools use Piazza to great success.

In general, you're not obligated to answer any questions. You might tick off your students and eventually your coworkers and department heads (if they get enough complaints), but it's highly unlikely that not answering questions will be job threatening or otherwise result in official reprimand.
There are two reasons to answer questions:

You want to.
You think it would be rude or disrespectful not to.

Something that could be listed as a third reason but in my mind falls under 2. would be.

You think not doing so would adversely affect the learning of students

Clearly you're frustrated with your students for not figuring out the answer themselves. This is a very common situation to be in, and not only with regards to reading the syllabus. One major part of deciding how you want to teach is deciding where the line is for questions. Some professors carte blanche refuse to answer any questions whose answers are in the syllabus. Some professors will answer "what are we reading tomorrow" ten times in a class period.
Annoying as it may be, answering questions vs replying "it's contained in the syllabus" will be part of what your students use to judge how nice they think you are, how approachable they think you are, and similar subjective qualities. You need to figure out how you wish to relate to your students and how many trivial questions you want to indulge for yourself, because the answer is different for every person.

It is quite annoying that I am supposed to devote time answering mundane questions just because students didn't put in any effort reading the syllabus. I almost never say no to answering conceptual doubts. But I expect students to read and understand basic English written in the syllabus. What are they doing in college if they can't match the material given in the textbook to the page numbers mentioned in the syllabus?! I truly am frustrated.

@Teacher123 You're obviously quite upset about this, with answers the question on its own. It's not worth answering the questions if it's going to bring you distress.

First, the students' decision to ask you questions directly makes sense
if you consider their decision from their perspective.
As a student, would you rather spend 30 seconds
asking the lecturer a question directly;
or spend 10 minutes to read through the syllabus carefully
to find the answer to the question himself/herself?
By asking you questions directly,
the students are merely minimizing their effort
in order to get the information that they require.
You should consider whether the syllabus
is well-organized and clearly written.
If the syllabus is long and rambling,
it is understandable why the students prefer not to read it.
As a teacher,
I believe that it is your responsibility
to spend a reasonable effort
to organize course related information
so that it is easy for a student to understand.
I'm currently teaching a course with more than 600 students.
We seldom receive e-mail inquiries from students.
I believe the reason for this is that
I spent quite a bit of time thinking through
how to structure our course webpage
so that it is easy for students to find the information they need.

We have a master page which contains
links to the pages on specific topics.
We have a webpage which contains information
about the textbook for the course.
This webpage contains a table which indicates
which chapter and which pages of the textbook to read
for each lecture.
We have a webpage which contains information about the quizzes.
This webpage explains clearly which lectures are tested for each quiz.

Finally, I would not answer any questions if
the answers are clearly written in a document
which has been given to the students.
For example,
if you have a short webpage or document which contains
all the information relevant say to Quiz 1,
and students ask you questions about Quiz 1,
I would just tell the students,
"Please read the Quiz 1 document carefully
for the answer to your question."

The reading list for the course in question is a one-page document with chapter numbers and page numbers clearly mentioned against each unit. I have given the students two units on the test, details of which are provided in the reading list made available to them. I have edited my original question to include the document I am talking about. I would not consider it unwieldy or difficult to understand.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
What can a student do to respond to faculty/administration decisions based on current political events?
We are from Kuwait. Our university often has many foreign professors visiting for extended periods.
In my particular department, the head has now begun rejecting professors from the US, and starting to send those back who are here already, the reason being that this is in response to the immigration ban imposed on Muslims from certain countries (however not Kuwait) by the US.
How should one deal with this as a student in this department? My first reaction was that this is obviously wrong and unfair, but I know from my advisor that the department head also feels that it is unfair to the rest of the world's professors that Americans can ban others from entering their country, but in turn can themselves go almost anywhere they want. So it is according to him a fair policy.

This is not the place to debate or offer opinions on immigration policy/reactions to other countries' immigration policies, whether in answers or comments. The "on topic" nature of this question is in asking about how a student who has an opinion on such matters can make their opinion heard; not what opinion the OP should have.

As a student, unfortunately there is probably nothing you can do about the situation -- except to remind yourself that one day you might be in a position of power and influence yourself, and able to do things differently.
Things might be different if there were was a particular American professor you wanted to invite to campus for academic reasons. In that case I would express to your chair that you understand his concerns, but talk about what you hoped to gain academically from such a visit.
The immigration ban is strongly opposed by many American academics. If there iss someone particular you would like to invite, you might ask if he/she has done anything to fight the ban (e.g. calling one's senators, participating in protests, donating to the ACLU). In such a situation, your chair might be willing to reconsider.
That said, I would not recommend pushing the issue hard if at all. You are still a student, and as such you don't have a lot of political clout.

I don't know much about Kuwaiti universities. However in many countries students can work through their student union. This has two effects. First, you are less exposed as an individual than if you act as an individual. Second, by working with other students with similar concerns you are more likely to have an effect.

Here are some ideas for you to think about.  I don't know which, if any, would be safe and comfortable for you.  Please check your university's policies, and ask for advice from fellow students and trusted professors, before going out on a limb!

Speak privately to the visitors who have been asked to leave, expressing your regret.
Arrange for remote collaboration with the visitors who will be leaving, and the candidates who are being rejected for visits.
Propose a position statement to a student organization or a campus-wide organization.
Organize an anti-Trump demonstration.  Perhaps you could invite some professors from the U.S. to participate.
Meet with some university official above your department head -- this might be more effective if you did this with some like-minded colleagues.
Put a sign on your office door, or where you live, as many private citizens are doing in the U.S. now, for example, "All Are Welcome Here."

You, as a student, cannot do anything about this other than being heard to be appreciative of those American professors who have taught you.  If we assume that the presence of American professors was an asset to your university, those above the department head will notice.  You can hope they will take appropriate action.

The entry ban as currently implemented is temporary in nature. It is fundamentally a move in a political game internal to the USA, as the new president attempts to realign his country's power bases.
The ban will eventually, probably in 30 to 90 days, be replaced by a relatively more considered foreign policy. No one, not even The Donald himself, knows what that policy will be.
Therefore I must counsel patience. As a student, you must be doubly patient. You must wait through the period while the real new USA foreign policy emerges, then wait for your university staff and administration to back down from their impatient reactions, and wait some more while the real new university policy emerges. Then you can usefully respond to something that is more than short-lived noise.
The American people, wildly unpredictable even in the best of times, are presently rioting in the streets. Your department head is wasting his time trying to formulate a sane response to the policy decisions a great nation currently in the throes of a political tantrum.