How to deal with a disorganized professor? Our class seems very disorganized. I am a graduate student in four courses this quarter. At our school this is week 3. In 3 of my courses, we received the syllabus on day 1. In one of my classes, we haven't received a syllabus yet and I am worried it will become a problem for us. We don't know what subjects we will be covering this quarter, when our midterm will be or what form it will take (our courses are remote), what we will be graded on other than the homeworks which have been assigned, or really any of the other small things which a syllabus would contain.
Every lecture we ask our professor when he will give us a syllabus. And every lecture he gives us a vague &quot;in a couple of days&quot; answer. Well, today we found out we will have a midterm in about 2 weeks, but he wouldn't commit to a date. I am worried that this will interfere with my other classes which are already taking up a good deal of my time, and I have no idea how to prioritize this or deal with it. I have worked in the private sector for several years and never dealt with this kind of disorganization or chaos.
I personally wrote him an email indirectly asking for a syllabus before. That didn't work. We ask him directly in every class when he will write a syllabus. That doesn't work. Several students have asked on our class discussion forum (which he is supposed to respond to). Those questions have gone unanswered.
This is tough because 1) I believe I will have at least one other class with this professor so I want to be very careful and 2) I feel like we have exhausted all of our polite options. I am considering going up the hierarchy, but I don't want to burn any bridges. What should I do?
For the record, I am attending an accredited university. Our program is listed as one of the better ones in the country for my degree, and it's not cheap either. I have high expectations, and suffice it to say, they are not being met.
Talk to academic advising, or someone higher up in the department.
I applaud your efforts at being understanding, but keep in mind that teaching this class is his job.  Students not knowing what material will be covered, or how they will be evaluated on it, is him not doing his job.
It's certainly possible this professor has other things going on in his life that are preventing him from getting these things done, but they're very fundamental pieces of the job itself, and you're already three weeks in.  If he's incapable of doing this basic part, then the department should be involved, at a minimum to provide the professor with the support he needs.  And unlike in the spring, when the COVID crisis and at-home learning was suddenly thrust upon us all, we have had many months to prepare for it this time.  The same things that might have been excusable in April, such as scrambling to figure out how a class will work in week 3, are not excusable now.