Ground Rules for Engagement

The University of Michigan’s Teach-Outs are for everyone. Teach-Outs bring together people from all over the world who may be different from each other in many ways. There may be times when people disagree. We all need to be careful what we say and how we treat each other. The goal is to have respectful conversations that do not violate the community space created for these conversations.

We expect everyone to respect all Teach-Out participants and staff. Teach-Outs are best for everyone when you try to:

• Participate: This is a community. Read what other people have to say and share your thoughts.
• Stay curious: Learn more from experts and each other by listening and asking questions, not making assumptions.
• Challenge the idea and not the person: If you want to respond to a discussion forum post, you may respond with thoughts on what was said but not about the person who posted.
• Keep your passion positive: Strong feelings are great, and sharing them politely keeps discussion forums friendly. Avoid using all caps, too many exclamation points, or aggressive language.
• Acknowledge discomfort: The topics discussed in this specific Teach-Out can be hard to talk about, for many reasons and from many perspectives. Stick with it and remember the benefits of having these tough conversations.

In this Teach-Out, we will specifically be monitoring for language that could be considered inflammatory, incivil, racist, or otherwise unacceptable for this learning space, and we will remove language deemed as such.