"Professor" is the correct form of address - not "yo" - students are being warned before they commit more email gaffes with overfamiliar requests for information and help. Like "where's the library prof?".
Deluged by emails which grate on academic nerves, the professoriate is fighting back by insisting on netiquette in their dealings with students.
To judge by the spirited response to our previous blog on the death of student deference the move will arrouse interest on this side of the Atlantic from lecturers who feel pestered about trivia - and cheekily too.
As Inside Higher Ed reports today[wed], two academics at the University of Oregon have published the rules of engagement alongside their syllabus.
Professor Lamia N Karim and Sarah McClure, an adjunct assistant professor of anthropology, warn students not to email them about trifles or information they can find in the course literature.
Her students are told that "you have to address your professor as 'professor X or Y' unless they tell you otherwise, and I will call you 'Mr. X' if you want me."
"E-mail has absolved the boundary between professors and student and made us into some kind of surrogate caretaker," says Professor Karim.
Professor McClure has added netiquette pointers to her syllabus for her class: "The Prehistoric City: Ur, Harappa and Teotihuacan," asking students to talk to her in person before or after class and reminding them that "e-mails are public documents, even if sent to someone privately. Therefore, avoid 'flaming' (venting emotion online) and remember that humor, irony and sarcasm are difficult to express on email."
Oregon students are not convinced. Teachers are supposed to answer questions, aren't they? And if seemingly simple points are not explained in a lecture the student should be able to email the professor.
