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“This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this,” she said. “The inclusion of a civility clause, especially when it threatens a student’s academic standing, would actively discourage the exchange of critical inquiry and free speech which are foundational to a quality undergraduate education.”

I mostly instituted the clause to protect TAs in lab sessions from being threatened and disrupted — basically being bullied by an irate student

The clash strikes at the heart of a growing tension in universities over how to manage incivility in the classroom, something that has been aggravated by the rise of cellphones, laptops and iPads. But this case has little to do with technology, Ms. Jacobson said in an email interview, and more with ensuring respect for teaching assistants and graduate students who have command of the advanced research methodology class in tutorials and while Ms. Jacobson is away.

“I mostly instituted the clause to protect TAs in lab sessions from being threatened and disrupted — basically being bullied by an irate student,” she said.

She and her TAs had wanted to introduce some kind of repercussions for inappropriate behaviour in the classroom after a few incidents of students saying inappropriate things to the head TA in 2010 when Ms. Jacobson was on maternity leave and an adjunct professor was running her class. But Ms. Jacobson didn’t know it was possible until she came across a news article about other universities that had introduced civility clauses or honour codes.

The clause’s appearance this fall was a pre-emptive strike to ensure her TAs and the three graduate students slated to run the class when she goes on another mat leave in January have some power to deal with disrespectful students.