The Tutor and Student Bill of Rights

Both tutors and students have rights! You don't have to carry a placard outside the Study, Tutoring, and Reading Room (STaR) to get your rights across to us. We already know them and we want you to know them, too.

Here are some rights that will help you be a better tutor or fully enjoy and benefit from your tutoring experience. The Tutorial Center staff supports you! Remember, whether you are a student who comes to the Tutorial Center for assistance or a tutor who works here, you have rights! As a tutor, make sure you know what the student rights are. Students, be familiar with the rights of tutors. Be sure that you afford them their rights as they seek to do the same for you.

The Tutor "Bill of Rights"

1. Every tutor has the right to be treated with respect by the Tutorial Center office staff and students. Therefore, when a problem arises, all staff members will treat it with confidentiality and fairness.
2. Every tutor has the right to learn effective tutoring techniques. Therefore, training will be required for tutors so that they might have the ability and confidence to know how to help people learn.
3. Every tutor has the right to treated as a peer-tutor and not be expected to be an instructor. Therefore, students are informed before they seek tutoring that tutor do not have the full realm of knowledge that the instructor has gained.
4. Every tutor has the right to begin on time. Therefore, when a student is chronically tardy or does not show for the sessions, a tutor has the right to drop that student and be assigned a new one.
5. Every tutor has the right to complete each session without interruption. Therefore, friends of the tutor can not wait at the table where tutoring is taking place. Cell phone must be turned off or silenced upon entry in the Tutorial Center.
6. Every student has the right to say "I don't know". Therefore, the tutor should feel free to seek additional information or assistance in order to better serve the student with the subject discipline.
7. Every tutor has the right to confer with an instructor regarding any lesson or student problem. Therefore, the Tutorial Center has made a way for you to contact the instructor regarding coarse materials, instructors’' expectations, and specific student problems by completing an instructor interview.
8. Every tutor has the right to express grievances to the supervisors and be informed of the results. Therefore, your supervisors are available throughout the semester, evaluations are completed each semester, and a suggestion box is on the desk to encourage your input. If you are having problems with a student or staff member please see the coordinator.

The Student "Bill of Rights"

1. Every student has the right to be treated with respect by tutors, office staff and coordinator. Therefore, no student will be made to feel embarrassed about seeking assistance in the LPC Tutorial Center. There is no negative stigma attached to needing a tutor. You will be treated courteously, fairly and with all respect.
2. Every student has the right to be assisted by a tutor. Therefore, we will provide a drop-in list of tutors and instructors, as well as schedule individual and group sessions you will only lose your right to tutoring if you do not come to sessions, habitually show up late, or refuse to work with our scheduling limitations.
3. Every student has the right not to have his/her intellect or motivation questioned by a tutor or have his/her strengths and weaknesses compared to other students. Therefore, the tutor will use restraint with his/her knowledge (not talking "over" the head of the students); will practice patience by allowing the student time to think about and form answers to questions; will use positive reinforcement (acknowledge successes) without being condescending, and promote and encourage the student's desire to be an independent learner.
4. Every student has the right to expect sessions to begin on time and to be informed when a problem arises. Therefore, tutors will be on time and provide input about the sessions. Students may feel free to meet with the coordinator about serious problems that arise with a tutor.
5. Every student has the right to make the final decision regarding personal work. Therefore, tutors will suggest ways to study, evaluate papers, and assist in any way ethically possible to improve your classroom work, but the final decision as to whether you take the tutor's suggestions is up to you.
6. Every student has the right to a tutor knowledgeable in the subject being tutored and trained in effective tutoring techniques. Therefore, all tutors will present an instructor recommendation form for the classes they wish to tutor, have completed those classes with an A or B, and be given a minimum of 10 hours of training.
7. Every student has the right to the attention of the tutor for the entire tutoring session without interruptions. Therefore, it is required that cell phones be silenced and not answered and friends not visit or sit with a tutor or students during a session. Only in the event of emergencies might the tutorial session be interrupted.
8. Every student has the right to learn strategies for effective study and exam preparation. Therefore, students will fill out a learning styles assessment with their tutor and be directed in skills that will help you learn.
9. Every student has the right to confidentiality. Therefore, a tutor will never discuss students or sessions with friends, family or other students. The only person to whom a tutor may go with a question about a tutoring session or student is the tutor instructor/coordinator or the student's instructor.