INST 4850.

003 Refugees
Instructor Contact
Name: Dr. Brent Richards
Office: General Academic Building (GAB) 102H
Phone: (940) 565-3372
Office Hours: Online (using Zoom) – 3 to 4 pm, on Fridays. (If that time doesn’t work, I should be
able to meet at a different time.)
My Email Address: Brent.Richards@unt.edu
Days and Formats
This class meets online, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 11 am to 12:20 pm.
Course Goals
The goal of this class is that, by the end of this class, students will be able to:
1. identify important facts and ideas about refugee-related topics
2. more effectively analyze and critique others’ arguments
3. create more original, insightful arguments
4. assemble more logical support for your conclusions
Textbook, etc.
We will be going through the 2017 edition of Refuge: Refugee Policy in a Changing World, by
Alexander Betts and Paul Collier. It’s paperback, and you can buy it at the campus bookstore.
We will be reading other articles, most of which I’ll post on Canvas. I’ll also require you to
watch a number of videos and movies. Some you can watch for free, either on Kanopy
(unt.kanopy.com) or other websites. Some you’ll need to rent online, for around $3-$6 each.
Technology and Tech Skills
Technology you’ll need
 A computer (or access to one)
 Access to a device (computer, tablet, phone, etc.) that can meet these technical requirements for
using Canvas
 Reliable internet access
 A microphone
 Access to either a webcam or a cell phone that can record videos
 Access to a word-processing software (like Microsoft Word, Pages, etc.)
Notes:
1. I don’t require you to have a webcam, but I strongly encourage you to get one (if you don’t have
one already). CAS-IT (on the third floor of GAB) and the UNT library both loan out laptops with
microphones and webcams. If the computer you’re using doesn’t have a webcam, you can join
the Zoom call for class from your phone, and use the computer for any work you need to do on
Canvas, say, during class.

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 2. As a UNT student, you can download Word – as part of Office 365 – for free – visit the CAS-IT
website (scroll down to “View Available Software” and click on it)
Grades

Assessment Percentage of Final

Grade

Quizzes and Assignments 50%

Midterm 20%

Final 30%

Assignments
For all of our class sessions (except for exams and possibly when there are guest speakers), I will give
you a question - or several questions - on the reading(s) and/or video(s), in advance of class. I may also
base quiz or exam questions on these questions. We will spend time in class going through these
questions. You will probably have to turn in your answers to one or more of these questions, most days of
class. I also may give you more questions to answer, during class.
Quizzes
In some of the classes during the semester, I will give unannounced quizzes, over that day’s reading
and/or videos. The quiz may start when class starts. Thus, you should be on time, so you don't miss the
quiz.
Try to answer the assignment questions, and do well on the quizzes and in-class assignments, since they
make up as big a percentage of the grade as the exams do. Doing well on them can really help your grade.
To get all the points that you earned on the quiz and/or in-class assignment, you need to stay until class is
finished. Leaving early may mean having points deducted from your score on those – either those, that
day, or the previous day (if there aren’t any that day).
You can substitute your lowest score on a quiz or in-class assignment with your best quiz or in-class
assignment score if you meet with me for at least 15 minutes to talk about your career after graduation.
Keep in mind that time slots for those talks are limited – I’ll give them on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Midterms
The midterm is Tuesday, October 13, and is online.
Final
The final is Tuesday, December 8, at 10:30 am, and is online.
On the midterm, as well as on the final exam, if the exam is online, then you need to provide me with a
video recording of you taking the exam. The recording needs to show the entire time you took the exam.
You can do this using a computer and webcam, with Respondus Monitor. If you don’t have a webcam,
you can also make a video, using a cell phone, and send that to me. If I don’t get a video of you taking the
test, though, you will get a zero on that particular exam.

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Grading Scale
A = 89.5% - 100%
B = 79.5% - 89.5%
C = 69.5% - 79.5%
D = 59.5% - 69.5%
F = 0% - 59.4%
There is no extra credit. Study hard! If you do that, read, answer the questions, come to class, and
participate in class, it’s certainly possible to get a good grade in this class.
Attendance
There is not a separate grade for attendance. But missing class can mean missing a quiz or in-class
assignment, which will lower your grade, if the absence is unexcused.
Per UNT policy, if you want me to excuse your absence, you need to personally deliver me a written
request (via email is fine) that I excuse your absence. You are also need to provide me satisfactory
evidence for the excuse (like a doctor’s note, for example). To read the UNT policy on student attendance
and authorized absences, go to https://policy.unt.edu/policy/06-039.
I may do what I call “check-ins.” This involves my asking you a question (probably a really obvious
question, like “which planet are we on?”), which you will have a short time (probably only a few
seconds) to respond to. The goal is to make sure that you are at your computer. If you miss more than two
in one class period, I reserve the right to deduct points from your quiz and in-class assignments from that
day (or the previous day, if there was no quiz or in-class assignment that day).
COVID-19 Impact on Attendance
While attendance is expected as outlined above, it is important for all of us to be mindful of the health and
safety of everyone in our community, especially given concerns about COVID-19. Please contact me if
you are unable to attend class because you are ill, or unable to attend class due to COVID-19 including
symptoms, potential exposure, pending or positive test results, or if you have been given specific
instructions to isolate or quarantine from a health care provider or a local authority. It is important that
you communicate with me prior to being absent so I may make a decision about accommodating your
request to be excused from class.
If you are experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19 please seek medical attention from the Student
Health and Wellness Center (940-565-2333 or at askSHWC@unt.edu) or your health care provider
PRIOR to coming to campus. UNT also requires you to contact the UNT COVID Hotline at 844-366-
5892 or COVID@unt.edu for guidance on actions to take due to symptoms, pending or positive test
results, or potential exposure. While attendance is an important part of succeeding in this class, your own
health, and those of others in the community, is more important.
Notes:
1. I’ll say it again – if you miss class, please email me, and at least let me know how you are (and
that you haven’t come down with COVID, if that’s the case)
2. If you don’t have health insurance, you can go to a clinic like Health Services of North Texas,
which adjusts the fees it charges based on the patient’s level of income (and accepts Medicaid).

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 You might also be eligible for care at the medical and dental clinics at First Refuge Denton.
Finally, Denton County Public Health may be able to help.
How to Act in Class
You should talk to me and to others with respect, of course. If the way you act interferes with my ability
to conduct the class or with other students' opportunity to learn, I will first talk to you about it. If the way
you act is disruptive enough, I may tell you to leave. If talking to you about it and/or telling you to leave
class does not resolve the problem, I will send you to the Dean of Students, to see whether your behavior
violated the Code of Student Conduct. Visit UNT’s Code of Student Conduct
(https://deanofstudents.unt.edu/conduct) to learn more.
Dates and Topics
I reserve the right to change this schedule. Note that some videos and movies have an asterisk (*) by their
title. This indicates that the video contains disturbing and/or objectionable content. I will warn you which
section(s) of the videos to skip, in case you'd rather avoid watching those sections of the videos. Typically
those sections are short.

Date Topic (or Event)

Tuesday, August 25 Introduction to the class
Thursday, August 27 Movie: Human Flow* (watch online)
Tuesday, September 1 Shacknove, "Who is a refugee?" (Canvas, or C)

Thursday, September 3
Tuesday, September 8
Marta Bivand Erdal & Ceri Oeppen (2018) “Forced to leave? The discursive
and analytical significance of describing migration as forced and voluntary”
(C)
Wright, "The media and representations of refugees and other forced migrants"
(C)

Thursday, September 10 Betts and Collier (BC), chapter 1

Tuesday, September 15 Environmental and/or climate refugees

McAdam, "Climate Change Displacement and International Law..." (C)

Thursday, September 17 Movie: Frontera Invisible (watch online)
Tuesday, September 22 BC, chapter 2

Thursday, September 24 BC, chapter 3

Tuesday, September 29 Video: PBS Frontline: Exodus (watch online)

Date Topic (or Event)

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Date Topic (or Event)
Thursday, October 1 Ager and Strang, "Understanding Integration: A Conceptual Framework"
(Canvas)

Tuesday, October 6 Integration Case Studies: Germany, Italy, Canada

Video: Journeyman TV: "Meet the refugees trying to assimilate in Europe"

(watch online)

Video: PBS Newshour: "How migrants and refugees are being welcomed in
one tiny Italian village (watch online)

Video: CBC: "Farawan family: one year later" (watch online)

Thursday, October 8 Integration Case Study: PBS Frontline: Exodus: The Journey Continues

Tuesday, October 13 Midterm

Thursday, October 15 BC, chapter 4
Tuesday, October 20 BC, chapter 5

Thursday, October 22 BC, chapter 6

Tuesday, October 27 A unique case

Video: The Staging Post (watch on Kanopy)

Thursday, October 29 BC, chapter 7

Date Topic (or Event)
Tuesday, November 3 BC, chapter 8

Thursday, November 5 Case study: North Korea

U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, North Korean Refugee
Crisis: Human Rights and International Response, pages 14-23 and 58-66 (C)

Video: The New York Times: "Escape from North Korea: Op-Docs" (watch
online)
Tuesday, November 10 Case study: Myanmar

Video: Al Jazeera: "The Rohingya: silent abuse"* (watch online)

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Date Topic (or Event)
Thursday, November 12 Case study: Somalia

Videos: Al Jazeera English: "Somalia - the Forgotten Story" and "Somalia - the
Forgotten Story (Part 2)" (watch online)

Date Topic (or Event)

Tuesday, November 17 Case study: Venezuela

Foreign Affairs: Latin America is Facing a Refugee Crisis (C)

Reuters: A Journey on a Caravan of Misery (C)

Thursday, November 19 Refugees and COVID-19

Mobility and Immobility in a Time of Coronavirus – Refugees Studies Centre

(YouTube)
Tuesday, November 24 Refugees in the US, part 1: Asylum; current US refugee policy

CNN: "The US is on track to admit the fewest number of refugees since the
resettlement program began" (find online and read)

Thursday, November 26 Thanksgiving – No Class

Tuesday, December 1 Refugees in the US, part 2:

Guest Speaker: Daley Ryan, International Rescue Committee, Dallas

Thursday, December 3 Pre-finals day: no class
Tuesday, December 8 Final exam (online) – 10:30 am

Statement on Face Covering

Face coverings are required in all UNT facilities. Students are expected to wear face coverings during this
class. If you are unable to wear a face covering due to a disability, please contact the Office of Disability
Access to request an accommodation. UNT face covering requirements are subject to change due to
community health guidelines. Any changes will be communicated via the instructor.
Class Recordings
I will record synchronous (live) sessions in this course. I may make them available for students enrolled
in this class to use. Audio or images of students in class may appear in these recordings. If you would
prefer that images or audio of you not appear in the recording, please talk to me.
Class recordings are the intellectual property of the university or instructor and are reserved for use only
by students in this class and only for educational purposes. Students may not post or otherwise share the
recordings outside the class, or outside the Canvas Learning Management System, in any form. Failing to

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follow this restriction is a violation of the UNT Code of Student Conduct and could lead to disciplinary
action.
UNT Policies
Academic Integrity Policy
Academic Integrity Standards and Consequences. According to UNT Policy 06.003, Student Academic
Integrity, academic dishonesty occurs when students engage in behaviors including, but not limited to
cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty, forgery, plagiarism, and sabotage. A finding of
academic dishonesty may result in a range of academic penalties or sanctions ranging from admonition to
expulsion from the University.
ADA Policy
UNT makes reasonable academic accommodation for students with disabilities. Students seeking
accommodation must first register with the Office of Disability Accommodation (ODA) to verify their
eligibility. If a disability is verified, the ODA will provide a student with an accommodation letter to be
delivered to faculty to begin a private discussion regarding one’s specific course needs. Students may
request accommodations at any time, however, ODA notices of accommodation should be provided as
early as possible in the semester to avoid any delay in implementation. Note that students must obtain a
new letter of accommodation for every semester and must meet with each faculty member prior to
implementation in each class. For additional information see the ODA website
(https://disability.unt.edu/).
Emergency Notification & Procedures
UNT uses a system called Eagle Alert to quickly notify students with critical information in the event of
an emergency (i.e., severe weather, campus closing, and health and public safety emergencies like
chemical spills, fires, or violence). In the event of a university closure, please refer to Canvas for
contingency plans for covering course materials.
Important Notice for F-1 Students taking Distance Education Courses
Federal Regulation
To read detailed Immigration and Customs Enforcement regulations for F-1 students taking online
courses, please go to the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations website (http://www.ecfr.gov/). The
specific portion concerning distance education courses is located at Title 8 CFR 214.2 Paragraph (f)(6)(i)
(G).
The paragraph reads:
(G) For F-1 students enrolled in classes for credit or classroom hours, no more than the equivalent of one
class or three credits per session, term, semester, trimester, or quarter may be counted toward the full
course of study requirement if the class is taken on-line or through distance education and does not
require the student's physical attendance for classes, examination or other purposes integral to completion
of the class. An on-line or distance education course is a course that is offered principally through the use
of television, audio, or computer transmission including open broadcast, closed circuit, cable, microwave,
or satellite, audio conferencing, or computer conferencing. If the F-1 student's course of study is in a
language study program, no on-line or distance education classes may be considered to count toward a
student's full course of study requirement.

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University of North Texas Compliance
To comply with immigration regulations, an F-1 visa holder within the United States may need to engage
in an on-campus experiential component for this course. This component (which must be approved in
advance by the instructor) can include activities such as taking an on-campus exam, participating in an
on-campus lecture or lab activity, or other on-campus experience integral to the completion of this course.
If such an on-campus activity is required, it is the student’s responsibility to do the following:
(1) Submit a written request to the instructor for an on-campus experiential component within one week
of the start of the course.
(2) Ensure that the activity on campus takes place and the instructor documents it in writing with a notice
sent to the International Student and Scholar Services Office. ISSS has a form available that you may use
for this purpose.
Because the decision may have serious immigration consequences, if an F-1 student is unsure about his or
her need to participate in an on-campus experiential component for this course, s/he should contact the
UNT International Student and Scholar Services Office (telephone 940-565-2195 or email
internationaladvising@unt.edu) to get clarification before the one-week deadline.