Terms of Service

Last Updated: July 2026

Welcome to the School for Rhetors! By booking an individual consultation session or purchasing a session package, you (the "Student," "Rhetor," or "Client") agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. This is a legally binding contract between you and the School for Rhetors (a public, for-profit business operating in the State of Wisconsin).

Please read these terms carefully before processing your booking payment.

1. NATURE OF SERVICE & ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY

The School for Rhetors provides advanced pedagogical mentoring, rhetorical analysis, and logic diagnostics across five foundational domains: Rhetoric, Writing, Literature, Culture, and Education.

  • No Ghostwriting Mandate: We strictly operate as an educational and diagnostic clinic. Under no circumstances will the School for Rhetors write, ghostwrite, rewrite, generate, edit, or construct prose or content for a student's academic papers, assignments, or professional portfolios.

  • Authorship & Compliance: The Student retains 100% sole authorship and ultimate intellectual ownership of their work. Our services are fully compliant with standard higher-education academic honesty codes. We advise, critique, and stress-test; the Student writes.

  • No Outcomes Guarantee: Academic grading, admissions decisions, and committee defenses are inherently subjective. The School for Rhetors does not guarantee specific grades, test scores, university admissions, or passing marks. The Student assumes full responsibility for the final execution, defending authorship to an academic institution, and submission of their academic work. The Academy shall be held entirely harmless in the event of any institutional disciplinary action, grade disputes, or allegations of academic dishonesty brought against the Client.

2. THE 20/40 SESSION MECHANIC & CHRONOLOGICAL BOUNDARIES

To preserve the operational structure of our public academy, all 60-minute diagnostic appointments are governed by an inflexible chronological boundary:

  • The Structural Split: Every individual session consists of exactly two sequential parts:

    • First 20 Minutes (Independent Analysis): The instructor works independently to deep-dive into, read, and annotate the Student's submitted draft. The Instructor's silent analysis is performed live within the session boundary.

    • Remaining 40 Minutes (Live Review): The live digital meeting (via Google Meet) activates at the scheduled appointment start time for interactive oral cross-examination and strategic feedback.

  • Lateness Policy: The session clock runs continuously. If a Student is late to the scheduled appointment, that lost time is deducted directly from that session. All sessions terminate strictly at the 60-minute mark. No refunds or partial prorations will be granted based on the structural boundaries of the live hour.

3. THE 24-HOUR INTAKE & DRAFT SUBMISSION RULE

Advanced academic diagnostic analysis requires adequate preparation to protect the integrity of the live hour.

  • Submission Deadline: The Student must complete their Intake Form and upload a valid, accessible link to their project draft (via shared Google Doc or OneDrive with commenting permissions set to "Anyone with the link can comment") at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to the scheduled appointment.

  • Forfeiture of Prep Time: Failure to provide the draft link and complete the form at least 24 hours in advance results in an automatic forfeiture of the instructor's independent 20-minute reading block. In these instances, the entire session shifts to a live, un-prepped, raw consultation starting at the originally scheduled time. Written comments will be provided separately as asynchronous feedback after the appointment.

4. SESSION FEES, CAPPING, & FEE INTEGRITY POLICY

The School for Rhetors operates on a pay-per-session or multi-session package booking model. Because our public academy operates at a strict maximum capacity of 40 total hours per month, booking an individual slot removes availability from other public scholars.

  • Payment Upfront: Payment must be processed in full at the time of scheduling via our secure payment processor ecosystem. No session slots are reserved or held without completed payment.

  • Package Expiration (Use-It-or-Lose-It): If a Student purchases a multi-session package, all sessions within that package must be individually scheduled and utilized within ninety (90) days from the date of purchase. Any unbooked or unused sessions remaining after this 90-day window are permanently forfeited, expire without value, and cannot be extended.

4.1 NO REFUNDS POLICY

To maintain the structured scheduling limits of our public academy, all session fees and package purchases are strictly non-refundable.

  • No Refunds for Unused Time: If a Student terminates a session early or finishes their review before the 60-minute mark, no partial or prorated refunds will be issued for the remaining time.

  • Forfeiture of Missed Allocations: If a Student fails to attend their scheduled appointment or fails to book their package sessions within the pre-defined 90-day window, those sessions are permanently forfeited. The School for Rhetors will not issue partial refunds, credits, or fee adjustments for unused session capacities.

5. CANCELLATION, RESCHEDULING, & NO-SHOW POLICY

  • The 24-Hour Window: Students may reschedule or cancel an appointment without penalty up to 24 hours before the scheduled start time via the digital booking engine.

  • Late Cancellations & No-Shows: Any cancellation, rescheduling request, or no-show occurring within the 24-hour window before a session will result in that session being counted as fully used. The session fee is permanently forfeited, and no replacement slots or refunds will be issued for late cancellations.

6. ARTIFACT SUBMISSION, PRIVACY, & RECORDING POLICIES

To maintain a safe, productive, and secure digital environment, strict boundaries govern the materials analyzed and the recording of sessions.

  • Right-of-Refusal for Artifacts: The Academy reserves the absolute right of refusal regarding any primary texts, digital media, or cultural artifacts submitted for diagnostic review. If a text violates community standards, promotes unlawful acts, or poses extreme copyright infringement risks, the Instructor may demand an immediate substitution. The client remains responsible for providing viable alternative texts within the 24-hour submission window.

  • Digital Recording Restrictions: Live mentoring sessions are strictly private educational consults. The Client is expressly prohibited from recording, broadcasting, streaming, or distributing the audio, video, or chat transcripts of any live hour without explicit, prior written consent from the Academy. Unauthorized distribution of session recordings constitutes a material breach of these terms and will result in immediate termination of the client relationship and forfeiture of any remaining unbooked package sessions without refund.

7. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY & FAIR USE COMPLIANCE

The School for Rhetors respects institutional copyright laws and intellectual property rights. Because our educational services explicitly cross into the domains of Literature and Popular Culture, the following rules apply:

  • Academy IP Rights: All custom annotations, logic stress-testing matrices, oral feedback strategies, and structural evaluation templates provided by the Academy constitute the sole intellectual property of the School for Rhetors.

  • Fair Use for Academic Critique: In the course of diagnostic analysis, independent reading blocks, and live oral reviews, the Instructor and Student will routinely reference, quote, excerpt, and analyze copyrighted texts, media, and cultural artifacts. All such interactions are strictly intended to serve pedagogical purposes—specifically criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—in full compliance with the Fair Use doctrine under 17 U.S. Code § 107.

  • Student Indemnification of Source Materials: The Student warrants that any third-party copyrighted material included within their submitted drafts is utilized legally, either via explicit public domain status, Creative Commons licensing, or permissible academic Fair Use guidelines. The School for Rhetors assumes zero liability for copyright infringement claims arising from a Student's unauthorized use of proprietary material within their submitted texts.

  • Third-Party Ownership: All characters, titles, trademarked brands, and literary works discussed during sessions (including, but not limited to, popular media and comic book lore referenced for cultural analysis) remain the sole property of their respective copyright holders. The School for Rhetors claims no affiliation with, endorsement by, or ownership over any third-party intellectual property analyzed within our curriculum.

8. DIGITAL WALLET & TRANSACTION DISCLOSURES (SQUARESPACE & LINK)

The Academy utilizes premium, automated third-party checkout flows to ensure maximum data security.

  • Processor Disconnect: All financial transactions, individual bookings, and package purchases are processed securely through the Squarespace ecosystem and Link (a digital wallet service provided by Stripe, Inc.).

  • Data and Wallet Governance: By choosing to save or auto-fill your payment credentials via Link at checkout, you acknowledge that your financial data is governed directly by Link's respective terms and privacy policies. The Academy does not store financial information, credit card numbers, or digital wallet credentials on its own servers.

  • Liability Disclaimer: The Academy explicitly disclaims all liability for technical checkout errors, failed auto-fills, banking declines, unauthorized card use, or payment processing delays native to the Squarespace or Link platforms.

9. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) POLICY & INTERACTION LAWS

The School for Rhetors operates as an agency for elite human critical analysis. Due to the shifting institutional policies surrounding generative text tools, the following rules apply:

  • Prohibition of Pure AI Material: The Student warrants that all drafts submitted for diagnostic analysis represent their own fundamental academic work. The School for Rhetors reserves the right to refuse diagnostic review on any draft that appears entirely generated by automated text software (such as ChatGPT or Claude), as automated copy lacks the complex logical structures required for advanced rhetorical deep-dives.

  • The "Human Workflow" Audit Trail: By engaging our diagnostic services, the Student establishes a verifiable paper trail of active, external human collaboration, revision, and intellectual work. Our mentorship is designed to expand the Student's authentic human voice, satisfying standard institutional mandates for original authorship.

  • AI Detector Liability Waiver: Institutional AI detection softwares (such as Turnitin or GPTZero) are notoriously volatile and rely on statistical probabilities rather than direct proof. Because the School for Rhetors only critiques logic and architecture and does not write text for the student, the School for Rhetors assumes zero liability if a Student’s final submitted work triggers a false-positive flag or warning on an institutional AI detector.

  • Instructor Use of AI (100% Human Analysis): The School for Rhetors guarantees that all diagnostic evaluations, written annotations, and live oral cross-examinations are generated entirely by a human instructor utilizing advanced, PhD-level academic expertise. The Instructor will never upload a Student's proprietary drafts, research, or private ideas into public generative AI engines. Your intellectual property remains entirely confidential and protected from machine-learning data scrapes.

  • Volatile AI Detector False-Positives on Feedback: Because human academic prose naturally utilizes precise vocabulary and structured syntax, human-written feedback can occasionally trigger false-positive flags on volatile AI detection software. The School for Rhetors maintains a strict zero-AI workflow for all client diagnostics; therefore, any automated claim that the Instructor's feedback is "AI-generated" is mathematically invalid and will not be grounds for a refund or contract dispute.

  • AI Scrape & Machine Learning Restriction: Clients are granted a personal license to use our feedback strictly to improve their individual active drafts. Clients are strictly prohibited from feeding, scraping, or uploading any diagnostic feedback, text, or materials provided by the Academy into artificial intelligence models, machine learning algorithms, or automated text generation platforms.

10. ACADEMIC FREEDOM, CONDUCT, & TECHNICAL FAIL-SAFES

  • Academic Freedom & Analysis of Controversial Topics: The Academy explicitly operates as an environment for rigorous intellectual inquiry and objective academic analysis. Consultation sessions may require the close examination of challenging, complex, or controversial ideas, political theories, and cultural artifacts native to the domains of Popular Culture, Rhetorical Theory, and Literary Theory. Both the Instructor and the Client agree to approach these topics through a framework of analytical detachment and academic freedom. However, this pedagogical boundary does not authorize, protect, or permit hate speech, harassment, or personal defamation directed at individuals or groups. The focus must remain strictly on the critique of text, structure, and argument.

  • Accessibility & Reasonable Accommodations: The Academy is committed to supporting diverse learning styles and ensuring accessible educational environments. If a Student requires reasonable digital accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or equivalent frameworks—such as assistive technology compatibility, live auto-captioning integration, or modified formatting for digital discovery text blocks—the Student must notify the Academy via the client intake process at least forty-eight (48) hours prior to their scheduled consultation. The Academy will make every reasonable effort to integrate these tools into the live digital room. Because our appointments operate on an inflexible 60-minute chronological frame, accommodations cannot be dynamically applied after a session has commenced.

  • Client Conduct Guardrails: The School for Rhetors demands rigorous intellectual focus and mutual professional respect. The Academy reserves the right to terminate any live session or cancel remaining paid sessions instantly, with complete forfeiture of fees, if the Client exhibits abusive language, hostile behavior, persistently violates academic integrity boundaries, or displays clear cognitive impairment. The Academy maintains a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that disrupts the pedagogical integrity of the live hour.

  • Force Majeure for Digital Infrastructure: Neither party shall be held liable for failure or delay in performing live consultations due to causes beyond their reasonable control, including but not limited to: localized or widespread internet service provider (ISP) outages, third-party platform failures (Squarespace, Calendly, Google Meet), power grid failures, or natural disasters. In the event of a verified technical failure on the part of the Academy, the affected session will be rescheduled at the earliest mutual convenience without penalty.

11. TERMINATION & GOVERNING LAW

  • Instructor Discretion: The Academy reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate a student's access to future booking slots immediately, without prior notice or refund liability, if the student violates the zero-ghostwriting mandate, the AI scraping ban, exhibits unprofessional conduct, or fails to meet financial obligations.

  • Governing Law: These Terms of Service are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Wisconsin, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law. Any legal actions or proceedings arising under these terms shall be brought exclusively in courts located within the State of Wisconsin.

By checking the box on the intake form, completing your session checkout, and entering the School for Rhetors ecosystem, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to this Terms of Service, our time splits, and our operational boundaries.