CHID 120 A: Yoga: Past and Present

Yoga: Past and Present

Kangra, c.1750, National Museum, India

RELIG 120 (SLN 19539)/CHID 120 (SLN 12312) | Spring 2025

Fully Online and Asynchronous

Professor Christian Lee Novetzke | novetzke@uw.edu

In this course, we will study mind-body yoga through its history, practice, literature, philosophy, visual culture, and politics, and we will conclude with some reflections on yoga’s potential within the realm of health and well-being, both physical and mental. From the ancient past to the modern period, we will explore essential texts and ideas, as well as the effects of class, religion, gender, race, nationalism, development, colonialism, politics, and physical culture on yoga. The long history in India of yoga reveals that this practice of imposing discipline on the body and mind was far more than a set of physical or meditative practices, but a means to reformulate social, political, and cosmic worlds as well and a way to become empowered while in the world. Practiced by people of all religions and none, mind-body yoga emerged from India to transcend any single culture while linking many cultures together. We will use online discussion, narrated slideshow lectures, video clips, films, visual media, and real-world encounters to study yoga in its most salient forms. There are no prerequisites for this course, and no previous knowledge of yoga, India, etc., is required.

Course Format and Weekly Schedule

This is an asynchronous online entry-level undergraduate lecture course designed for remote learning. All course materials are available online and accessible, including lectures, films, readings, and assignments. 

Course Goals and Objectives

Goals

My goals for you in this course are that you will:

• learn the history of mind-body yoga and the conditions for its current practice by engaging with the entire history and practice of yoga beyond the confines of modern postural yoga;
• think critically and carefully about issues of religion, society, politics, law, health, art, and culture;
• endeavor to write clearly, with reference to readings and lectures, and with a point to your writing and thought;
• interact with your colleagues and with me in the course in informed, generous, respectful and productively critical ways.

Objectives

After successfully completing this course, you will be able to:

• outline and rehearse theories of the likely origins of mind-body yoga and its key philosophical ideas;
• situate the practice of mind-body yoga in the history of India, especially amid other early religious practices;
• relate Patanjali’s Yoga Sutrasto all subsequent forms of yoga, including contemporary forms;
• distinguish tantraas a unique form of practice and identify Hatha Yoga along the evolutionary timeline of yoga in history, and discuss the Hatha Pradipika;
• observe the patterns and meanings of yoga’s visual culture, from the medieval or “Islamicate” period of India to the present;
• locate and describe the emergence of modern yoga in India in the early twentieth century, including an informed history of the use of yoga in Indian nationalism and the emergence of the Sun Salutation [Surya Namaskar];
• engage unique aspects of yoga in America, particularly in relation to pluralism, religion, power, cultural appropriation, and capitalism;
• understand the legal challenges yoga has faced in the US in particular, especially in relation to secularism;
• weigh the risks and benefits of mind-body yoga in relation to recent scientific observations of yoga’s effects; and
• speculate on the enduring uniqueness of yoga in relation to the mind-body problem.

Syllabus

I reserve the right to change this syllabus at any point, including the readings and assignments, weight of grades, and any other aspect of the course, as required. 

Assignments and Grading

Your grade in this class is divide among three assignments:

Weekly Discussion Posts and Responses: Each week by 11:59pm (PST) on Saturday post your response to the week’s prompt based on the week’s reading, lecture, and other media. These should be around 200 words long and should engage with the lectures, readings, or other materials we’ve read for the week. Craft your discussion post so that it draws together aspects of both the lecture and the readings/media for each week. Following this posting, by Sunday at 11:59pm post a response to at least two colleagues’ posts.

Each post is worth 5 points: 2 points for your engagement with the lectures; 2 points for your engagement with the readings/media; and .5 points for each of your two responses to students for 1 point total. You’ll complete ten posts during the quarter so your discussion grade will total 50 points. Please note that you cannot succeed in this class without diligently completing your posts as described and assigned. You can find more about your discussion posts on Canvas.

Yoga in Your World: This project will involve exploring the culture of yoga around you—"in your world”—in whatever way you define it—by interviewing at least five people and tell us what you discover. You should start research on this project by the second week of class. You will convey to us the results of your research by creating a Powerpoint presentation slide-deck uploaded to the Canvas site. You can find full information about this assignment on Canvas in “Assignments”.  This project is due around week six and is worth 25 points. See Canvas for specific grading guidelines and due date details.

Yoga Research Project: The goal of this project is to give you space to research an aspect of yoga that interests you. You can find several options in the “Assignment” section on Canvas, or you can propose your own idea. You should decide on the subject and format of this final project no later than week six and begin work on it no later than that week as well, but you can start this project at any time before then. This project is due at the end of the last week of instruction and is worth 25 points. See Canvas for specific due date details.

Assignment Submission Guidelines

You will submit your discussion posts online via the Canvas system.  You will submit your other two assignments by using the "Upload a file" link in each assignment or posting a link to your assignment if it resides online elsewhere. See individual assignments for more details. Please note that UW uses automated plagiarism software and AI detection software, and your work will be run through this software automatically. Please do not submit work that is not your own. Please see below for more information on plagiarism and its consequences under “Academic Conduct”.

Assessment and Grading

There are no quizzes or exams in this course. You will be evaluated on the three assignments detailed above. Since this is an online learning course, I rely on your online assignments to assess your understanding of the course content. If you do not understand something, be sure to contact me and/or your TA.  

Assignments ask you to think through the materials of the course by engaging in a given project. For all written work, I will expect you to check your writing for the usual errors of grammar, spelling, etc., but think carefully how you present your ideas. Often, we lose these skills of care and attention to our writing when we write online (email, tweets, blogs, posts, etc.).  But for this course, consider your online writing in all its forms to be held to the high standards of academic writing, and keep in mind that your posts are “public” in the sense that they are read by other members of the class and by me and your TA.

Your final grade is based on all three assignments of the course. Grading is always a subjective exercise in a course like this, which does not have quizzes or multiple-choice exams or right and wrong answers (but there are accurate and inaccurate ones!).  We do try to provide clear rubrics for grading and expectations, but overall we assess your grasp of materials and ideas as demonstrated in postings, your work in your two projects, and your effort and commitment to this class over the quarter.  If you submit work that is not your own, generated by AI, or you generally check out and disappear, you will likely not pass this course.  If you participate thoughtfully, respectfully, consistently, thoroughly, critically, and generously, you will ace this class.

Technology Requirements and Technical Assistance

As a remote learning course, we’ll mainly use two applications: Canvas and Zoom (an option for meetings with TAs if requested). Both are supplied to you as UW students, so be sure you are familiar with them before class begins. 

This course requires that you have both internet access and access to some minimum of technology.  It is possible to use your smartphone for much of the course, but it may pose problems for assignments.  If this is an issue for you, please do reach out to me. UW has technology can loan computing equipment to students who require it through their Student Technology Loan Program. Find more information here: https://stlp.uw.edu/overview. However, having access to the right technology and internet service is your responsibility.

You will also need Microsoft Word and Powerpoint to submit your two projects. UW provides students with Microsoft Office that contains both pieces of software. If access to technology poses a problem for you, please reach out to UW IT to acquire this software.  Note that access to this software is required to complete assignments in this class and you are responsible for acquiring access to the required software.

I do have a PhD, but it is not in computer engineering…  If you encounter problems with any aspect of the user interface for this course (Canvas, email, videos, lectures, discussion boards, access, software, etc.), please write to me and I’ll see if I can address it. But if I cannot help you, you will need to directly contact UW technical support on your own: https://itconnect.uw.edu/.  I am not responsible for Canvas, UW’s webservices, UW email, UW’s Zoom account, UW-provided software, and any other technical aspects of this class. This is responsibility is between you and UW IT.

Completion Requirements

• view all lectures, films, and narrated presentations, and do all the assigned readings;
• complete and submit all assignments;
• actively contribute to each lesson's online discussion topic as specified in each lesson;
• respectfully engage in mutually productive critical thinking and exchange;
• submit all work as original work
• and do it all in a timely and consistent manner that meets all deadlines.

Etiquette

• Strive to create a positive learning environment for all, with respect for everyone’s identity in terms of ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, citizenship status, sex, pregnancy, age, marital status, ability/disability, or veteran status.[1]
• Express yourself in a manner that is consistent with UW’s values of equality and respect for all campus community members. 
• Disrespect or intimidation will not be tolerated in this class.
• Help make a safe and comfortable environment for all seminar members.
• Please only use UW email to communicate with us. Do not use non-UW email like gmail, etc. Be sure to address your emails to us and sign your name to your emails so we know who you are. If you don’t do this, we may not respond.

Academic Conduct

• I will strictly enforce the University of Washington Student Conduct code, including the policy on plagiarism and the use of AI to create non-original work. Note that your work is automatically checked for plagiarism via UW’s Canvas site. For your reference, the entire code can be found at http://www.washington.edu/students/handbook/conduct.htmlLinks to an external site. If you are unsure of what plagiarism is, it is your responsibility to understand plagiarism. Ignorance of the definition of plagiarism will not excuse plagiarism in this class. Similarly, using AI to generate any of the assignments of this course—discussion posts, projects, or anything else—is considered plagiarism. All cases may go to the Office of Scholarly Integrity and the Community Standards and Student Conduct Office for adjudication directly.
• Please be aware of the University of Washington’s Sexual Harassment Policies: http://www.washington.edu/sexualassault/reporting/policies/Links to an external site..
• Harassment or intimidation of any kind, based on sex, gender, race, religion, age, ethnicity, ability, or anything else, will not be tolerated in class. In addition, your treatment of your colleagues and others outside of class is part of your social being in class as well.

Students and Accessibility

If you would like to request accommodations due to a disability, please conduct Disabled Student Services, 448 Schmitz Hall, 543-8924 (V/TDD). If you have a letter from Disabled Student Services indicating you require accommodations, please send the letter to me as soon as possible so that I can make necessary arrangements.

***Please review the full “Information for Students” addendum to the syllabus below.***

Course Materials

All required readings are available online through Canvas in each week’s module, except for the two books that we will read in this course.  You can purchase them easily online.  There also ebook versions of both books available.

• Barbara Stoler Miller, translator.1998 Yoga: Discipline of Freedom. New York, NY: Bantam Press. ISBN 13: 978-0553374285.  Translation of the Yoga Sutrasof Patanjali.
• Brian Akers, translator. 2004. Hatha Yoga Pradipika, YogaVidya.com; ISBN-13: 978-0971646612.

The books above are the best translations available for these two vital works of classical yoga that we will talk about in this course. I strongly urge you to get them and read them.

However, if for any reason you choose not to purchase these two texts, you can replace these texts with free online resources that are listed in the "Materials" section for the week's Module. Links to an external site.

We will also watch two films in this course, both of which are available for free on Canvas:

• Naked in Ashesin Lesson 6
• Kumaré in Lesson 10

Weekly Modules, Readings, and Deadlines

Lesson 1: The Origins of Yoga as a Philosophy

This lesson provides a lecture on a set of key terms: brahman, atman, karma, samsara, moksha, dharma. These are key ideas for all early Indic religions (Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism) and define the basic “problem” of yoga at its earliest stages, which remains vital into the present.

            Reading for Lesson 1:

• There is no reading this week. Instead of reading, please briefly research these terms: brahman, atman, karma, samsara, moksha, dharma.  You can conduct research online, at the library, in interviews with people, wherever you like. 

Lesson 2: Origins of Yoga as a Practice

In this lesson we'll look at how a physical, spiritual, and mental practice of yoga likely evolved in ancient India.

            Reading for Lesson 2:

• Introduction to The Origins of Yoga and Tantraby Geoffrey Samuel (1-37)
• Katha Upanishad

Lesson 3: Transcendental Yoga in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras

This lesson explains Patanjali’s concept of yoga through philosophy, art history, and mythology.

            Reading for Lesson 3:

• Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, translated by Barbara Stoler Miller
• Note: Though I recommend that you acquire the text above for your reading, if you choose not to purchase this text, you may use these alternatives listed in the "Materials" section for the week's Module. Links to an external site.

Begin Yoga in Your World Project this Week at the latest

Lesson 4: Tantra and Hatha Yoga

A lesson on the innovations of tantra and Hatha yoga, including what constitutes Left-Handed Tantra, Right-handed Tantra, Tantric Sex, and the practice of Hatha Yoga.  We’ll also engage the Hatha Yoga Pradipika.

Reading for Lesson 4:

• • The Hatha Yoga Pradipika translated by Brian Akers
  • Note: Though I recommend that you acquire the text above for your reading, if you choose not to purchase this text, you may use these alternatives listed in the "Materials" section of the week's "Module"

Lesson 5: Yoga’s Visual Culture: Art, Islam, and Imagination

In this lesson, we'll encounter the emergence of artistic representations of yoga in the medieval or “Islamicate” period of India, talk a bit out Islam and Sufism in general and in India, and survey contemporary visual culture around yoga.

            Reading for Lesson 5:

• “Yoga: The Art of Transformation” (by Debra Diamond) and “Muslim Interpreters of Yoga” (by Carl Ernst) in Yoga: The Art of Transformation.
• Slide shows from the Garden and Cosmos
• Other material as available, see the week's Module.

Lesson 6: Modern Yoga’s Emergence in India

This lesson discusses the presence of yoga in Indian nationalism, especially in relation to Gandhi, nationalism, and Christian and Hindu muscularity in India in before Independence in 1947. We will also focus on the historical and political emergence of the ubiquitous Surya Namaskar.

            Reading for Lesson 6:

• Mark Singleton, Yoga Body, Introduction, Chapters 1, 4, 6, 8, and 9
• Watch online: Naked in Ashes.

Submit Yoga in Your World Project

Begin Yoga Research Project this Week

Lesson 7: American Yoga

This lesson engages with yoga’s rise in America and how a unique American yoga has formed, a particular mix of pluralism, capitalism, and self-improvement.

            Reading for Lesson 7:

• Listen to NPR: "Has Yoga Strayed Too Far From Its Hindu Roots?," NPR, March 24, 2011
• Shukla, Aseem. 2010. “The Theft of Yoga.”The Washington Post, April 18
• Shreena Gandhi and Lillie Wolf, “Yoga and the Roots of Cultural Appropriation”: https://www.kzoo.edu/praxis/yoga/
• Andrea Jain. “Fox News Controversy on Yoga and White Supremacy Reveals Problem of Yoga Discussion”: https://religiondispatches.org/fox-news-controversy-on-yoga-and-white-supremacy-reveals-problem-of-yoga-discussion/.
• Prachi Patankar. “Ghosts of Yogas Past and Present”: https://southasiasolidarityinitiative.wordpress.com/portfolio/ghosts-of-yogas-past-and-present-by-prachi-patankar/
• Andrew Nicholson. 2013. “Is Yoga Hindu? On the Fuzziness of Religious Boundaries.”CommonKnowledge 19, no. 3 (September 21): 490–505
• Jain, Andrea R. December 2012. “Branding Yoga.”Approaching Religion,Vol 2, No. 2
• Dianne Bondy. “Yoga, Race, Culture”: https://yogainternational.com/article/view/yoga-race-and-cultureLinks to an external site.

Lesson 8: Legal Yoga: Religion, Secularism, the First Amendment, and Yoga’s Legal Status

This lesson discusses the major court cases in the US that have engaged with yoga, and through those court cases, how yoga is understood in relation to the Establishment clause of the First Amendment and how yoga renovates our idea of secularism.

Reading for Lesson 8:

• Trial documents from the Sedlock v. Baird trial of 2013 and Appeals Court Judgment of 2015

Lesson 9: Yoga and Heath I: Risks and Benefits

This lesson surveys some of the health risks and benefits associated with yoga, selecting key areas and physiological systems with which yoga is associated.

Reading for Lesson 9:

• “How Yoga can Wreck your Body” by William Broad

Lesson 10: Yoga and Health II: The Mind-Body Problem and the Modern Yogic Solution

This lesson discusses yoga as a unique “exercise” of the neurological system, which explains its peculiar status as a practice somewhere between spiritual and physical, religious and secular, in the modern world, a resolution of the mind-body problem.

Reading for Lesson 10:

• No reading this week, instead view online the film Kumaré.

Submit Yoga Research Project

[1] This is an adaptation of UW’s Executive Order No. 31: Nondiscrimination and Affirmative Action, which itself is “in compliance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seqLinks to an external site.) and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 USC § 1681Links to an external site.), Title I and II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 as amended, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-11) and 45 C.F.R. Part 84Links to an external site., Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seqLinks to an external site.), Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seqLinks to an external site.), Chapter 49.60 RCWLinks to an external site., and Gender Equality in Higher Education (Chapter 28B.110 RCWLinks to an external site.).” For full text, see http://www.washington.edu/admin/rules/policies/PO/EO31.htmlLinks to an external site.. My thanks to Mika Ahuvia for compiling this information.

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

JACKSON SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS*

Guidance to Students Taking Courses Outside the US:

Faculty members at the University of Washington have the right to academic freedom which includes presenting and exploring topics and content that governments may consider to be illegal and, therefore, choose to censor. Examples may include topics and content involving (but not limited to): religion; gender and sexuality; human rights; democracy and representative government; disputations of land, territory, maps, and borders; disputations regarding civic, state, and national sovereignty; and historic events, their portrayal, and their accuracy.

If, as a UW student, you are living outside of the United States while taking courses remotely, you are subject to the laws of your local jurisdiction. Local authorities may limit your access to course material and take punitive action towards you. The University of Washington has no authority over the laws in your jurisdictions or how local authorities enforce those laws. Neither the University of Washington nor your professor, teaching assistant, or fellow students can be held liable for any legal matter related to your local jurisdiction. This includes, but is not limited to, the content of discussion, lectures, readings, postings, and all other materials associated with this course.

If you are taking UW courses outside of the United States, you may have reason to exercise caution when enrolling in courses that cover topics and issues censored or deemed illegal in your jurisdiction. Due to restrictions in different places, certain materials may not be freely accessed, circulated, or downloaded. If you have concerns about these issues in relationship to any aspect of this course, please alert the instructor as soon as possible. For these reasons it is important that you alert your instructor if you are accessing class materials from outside the US, and also educate yourself about the possible challenges you may face given your location. Please use content from this class for instructional purposes only. If you have concerns regarding a course or courses that you have registered for, please discuss this with your course instructor.

COURSES, GRADING, ACADEMIC CONDUCT

The University of Washington Student Conduct Code (WAC 478-121) defines prohibited academic and behavioral conduct and describes how the University holds students accountable as they pursue their academic goals. Allegations of misconduct by students may be referred to the appropriate campus office for investigation and resolution. More information can be found online at https://www.washington.edu/studentconduct/Links to an external site.

Academic Integrity:

The University takes academic integrity very seriously. Behaving with integrity is part of our responsibility to our shared learning community. If you’re uncertain about if something is academic misconduct, ask me. I am willing to discuss questions you might have.

Acts of academic misconduct may include but are not limited to:

• Cheating (working collaboratively on quizzes/exams and discussion submissions, sharing answers and previewing quizzes/exams)
• Plagiarism (representing the work of others as your own without giving appropriate credit to the original author(s))
• Unauthorized collaboration (working with each other on assignments)

Concerns about these or other behaviors prohibited by the Student Conduct Code will be referred for investigation and adjudication by the Office of Scholarly Integrity.

Students found to have engaged in academic misconduct may receive a zero on the assignment (or other possible outcomes).

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is defined as the use of creations, ideas or words of publicly available work without formally acknowledging the author or source through appropriate use of quotation marks, references, and the like.  Plagiarizing is presenting someone else’s work as one’s own original work or thought.  This constitutes plagiarism whether it is intentional or unintentional.  The University of Washington takes plagiarism very seriously. Plagiarism may lead to disciplinary action by the University against the student who submitted the work.  Any student who is uncertain whether his or her use of the work of others constitutes plagiarism should consult the course instructor for guidance before formally submitting the course work involved. (Sources: UW Graduate School Style Manual; UW Bothell Catalog; UW Student Conduct Code)

Grade Appeal Procedure:

A student who believes they have been improperly graded must first discuss the matter with the instructor.  If the student is not satisfied with the instructor’s explanation, the student may submit a written appeal to the Director of the Jackson School with a copy of the appeal also sent to the instructor.  The Director consults with the instructor to ensure that the evaluation of the student’s performance has not been arbitrary or capricious.  Should the Director believe the instructor’s conduct to be arbitrary or capricious and the instructor declines to revise the grade, the Director, with the approval of the voting members of the JSIS faculty, shall appoint an appropriate member, or members, of the faculty of the Jackson School to evaluate the performance of the student and assign a grade.  The Dean and Provost should be informed of this action.  Once a student submits a written appeal, this document and all subsequent actions on this appeal are recorded in written form for deposit in a School file. (Source: UW General Catalog Online, “Student Guide/Grading”)

Concerns About a Course, an Instructor, or a Teaching Assistant

If you have any concerns about a Jackson School course or your instructor, please see the instructor about these concerns as soon as possible.  If you are not comfortable talking with the instructor or not satisfied with the response that you receive, you may contact the chair of the program offering the course (names available from the Office of Student Services, Thomson Hall 111).

If you have any concerns about a teaching assistant, please see the teaching assistant about these concerns as soon as possible. If you are not comfortable talking with the teaching assistant or not satisfied with the response that you receive, you may contact the instructor in charge of the course. If you are still not satisfied with the response that you receive, you may contact the chair of the program offering the course (names available from the Office of Student Services, Thomson Hall 111), or the Graduate School at G-1 Communications Building (543-5900).

POLICIES, RULES, RESOURCES

Equal Opportunity:

The University of Washington reaffirms its policy of equal opportunity regardless of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, or status as a disabled veteran or Vietnam-era veteran in accordance with University of Washington policy and applicable federal and state statutes and regulations.

Access & Accommodations:

Your experience in this class is important to me. It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please activate your accommodations via myDRS so we can discuss how they will be implemented in this course.

If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to: mental health, attention-related, learning vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), contact DRS directly to set up an Access Plan. DRS facilitates the interactive process that establishes reasonable accommodations. Contact DRS at disability.uw.edu.

Religions Accommodations:

Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/)Links to an external site.. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/)Links to an external site..

Sexual Harassment:

Sexual harassment is defined as the use of one’s authority or power, either explicitly or implicitly, to coerce another into unwanted sexual relations or to punish another for his or her refusal, or as the creation by a member of the University community of an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working or educational environment through verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.

If you believe that you are being harassed, seek help—the earlier the better.  You may speak with your instructor, your teaching assistant, the director of student services (111 Thomson), or the director of the Jackson School (406 Thomson).  In addition, you should be aware that the University has designated special people to help you.  They are: University Ombudsman and Ombudsman for Sexual Harassment (for complaints involving faculty members and teaching assistants) Lois Price Spratlen, 301 Student Union, 543-6028; and the University Complaint Investigation and Resolution Office, 616-2028.  (Sources: UW Graduate School, CIDR, Office of the President)

Office of Scholarly Integrity:

The Office of Scholarly Integrity is housed in the Office of the Vice-Provost.  The Office of Scholarly Integrity assumes responsibility for investigating and resolving allegations of scientific and scholarly misconduct by faculty, students, and staff of the University of Washington.  The Office of Scholarly Integrity coordinates, in consultation and cooperation with the Schools and Colleges, inquiries and investigations into allegations of scientific and scholarly misconduct.  The Office of Scholarly Integrity is responsible for compliance with reporting requirements established by various Federal and other funding agencies in matters of scientific or scholarly misconduct.  The Office of Scholarly Integrity maintains all records resulting from inquiries and investigations of such allegations.  University rules (Handbook, Vol. II, Section 25-51, Executive Order #61) define scientific and scholarly misconduct to include the following forms of inappropriate activities: intentional misrepresentation of credentials; falsification of data; plagiarism; abuse of confidentiality; deliberate violation of regulations applicable to research.  Students can report cases of scientific or scholarly misconduct either to the Office of Scholarly Integrity, to their faculty adviser, or the department chair.  The student should report such problems to whomever he or she feels most comfortable.  (Sources: UW web page (http://www.grad.washington.edu/OSI/osi.htm); minutes of Grad School Executive Staff and Division Heads meeting, 7/23/98)

 * Adapted from material prepared by the UW Department of History and used with permission.