Academic Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual

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E-11: CLASS ATTENDANCE

Senate Policy 42-27 Class Attendance recognizes that on occasion, students may opt to miss a class meeting in order to participate in a regularly scheduled university-approved curricular or extracurricular activity, or due to unavoidable or other legitimate circumstances such as illness, injury, family emergency, or religious observance.

Procedure:

1. Students who will miss a class in accordance with Senate Policy 42-27, should, where appropriate, present a class absence form to the faculty member as soon as possible and, except in unavoidable situations, at least one week in advance of a planned absence. In the case of illness, students are not required to secure the signature of medical personnel.

   Students should be provided with a reasonable opportunity to make up missed work. Ordinarily, it is inappropriate to substitute for the missed assignment the weighting of a semester's work that does not include the missed assignment. Completion of all assignments assures the greatest chance for students to develop heightened understanding and content mastery that is unavailable through the weighting process. The opportunity to complete all assignments supports the university's desire to enable students to make responsible situational decisions without endangering their academic work.

2. If an instructor believes a requested absence for such events will harm a student scholastically, the instructor should present evidence for necessary action to the head of the department in which the course is offered and inform the assistant/associate dean of the college in which the student is enrolled, or to the Division of Undergraduate Studies if the student is so enrolled.
3. Students who believe they have been unfairly denied a make-up opportunity should, after trying to resolve the problem with the course instructor, contact the head of the department for the course in which the student is enrolled.
4. If the problem is not resolved, the student should contact the sponsoring agency or university department (in some instances, this may be the student's college assistant/associate dean for undergraduate programs or the student's campus academic officer) and provide documentation describing the unresolved make-up opportunity. The sponsoring agency or university department should attempt to resolve the problem.
5. If the problem is still unresolved, the sponsoring agency or university department should forward the documentation to the Vice President and Dean for Undergraduate Education for resolution.
6. False claims of legitimate or unavoidable absence may be considered academic integrity violations (Senate Policy 49-20, AAPP G-9).

Note: As of Fall 2002, University Health Services (UHS) no longer provides verification of illness forms for minor illnesses or injuries. Verification will be provided only for serious illnesses for which UHS clinicians provided services, or when UHS has received such documentation from outside providers.

Senate Policy: 42-27, Class Attendance

Procedure: R-4, Religious Observances

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