Students will be expected to complete their assigned readings punctually and to follow developments in southern Italy by reading newspapers and accessing statistical databases, throughout the semester. The professor will provide guidance in these areas.

Students will attend every class and arrive on time for all class sessions. They will keep up with assigned readings and with any out of class assignments. They will turn in assignments promptly.

Five points will be deducted from each assignment that is not turned in on time for each day it is late.

The assessment criteria listed below refer to all assessment methods in the course.

Students will acquire detailed knowledge of the social history of southern Italy from Unification to the present day. They will be able to identify the main events, trends and actors in the political, economic and social development of the Mezzogiorno during that time period.

Based on the required readings and lectures, students will be able to summarize and critically analyze the different theories which have emerged to explain the South’s economic, political and social development.

The Dean’s Office may grant exemptions from specific attendance policies in the case of a chronic medical condition or other serious problem. Students seeking such an exemption must ask a Dean as soon as they are aware of a situation impeding their required attendance. Students who cannot meet the attendance requirements for a particular class may be advised to withdraw from it.

Absences from major examinations require a Dean’s Office excuse, insofar as the student may seek to take a make-up exam. The Dean’s Office will only excuse such absences when they are caused by serious impediments, such as a student’s own illness, hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which the student is attending the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity. Absences due to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel difficulties, student misunderstandings or personal convenience, will not be excused. Students seeking such an excuse must notify their instructor, or the Dean’s Office, as soon as possible, and no later than the beginning of the exam. 

Absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday will normally be excused. Individual students who will have to miss class to observe a religious holiday must notify their instructors by the end of the Add/Drop period (during the first week of classes). Students missing a class for this reason also must make prior arrangements with their instructor to make up any work

Exams - Absences and Makeups

Instructors may, at their discretion, give makeups on quizzes or other less important graded work to students absent without an official excuse. However, because make-up exams require new exams to be prepared, written and proctored at times outside the regular class period, major examinations (midterms, finals) may only be re-administered with approval from the Dean’s Office. 

A student absent from a class meeting in which a major examination has been scheduled, who wishes to make-up that exam, must ask the Dean’s Office for an official excuse. Such absence will be excused only if the student: 

1. has notified the Dean’s Office or his or her instructor of his or her inability to attend before the beginning of the class meeting in which the examination was scheduled; 
2. subsequently presents to the Dean’s Office with documented evidence of a serious difficulty preventingattendance. 

A serious difficulty entitling a student to make-up a missed exam includes a student’s own illness, hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which the student is attending the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity.Missed exams owing to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel plans or difficulties, student misunderstandings, alarm clock failure, or personal convenience, will not be excused.