- Students are expected to attend all scheduled classes and laboratories. However, special circumstances such as illness, religious holidays, travel difficulties, family emergencies and active participation in college-sponsored events may make certain absences unavoidable. In such instances, students should notify instructors of these special circumstances.
- Each instructor will distribute an attendance policy statement, defining excessive absences, the first week of classes each semester. These will be approved by the appropriate Dean to assure no conflict between individual attendance policies and college policy; copies will be on file in the instructor’s school office. Students are responsible for understanding the attendance policy (including procedures for making up missed work) of each of their instructors.
- When, in the opinion of the instructor, absences have placed a student in potential academic jeopardy, the instructor will notify the student’s Dean, who will issue a warning to the student. An instructor may initiate discussion to determine the advisability of the student’s dropping or continuing the course in which excessive absences have occurred.
- A faculty member can suspend a student from class or laboratory for disruptive behavior, that is, for actions which interfere with the orderly conduct of the session or which threaten bodily harm to others. All such cases must be referred immediately to the student’s Dean, with a full report. If the student cannot be reinstated in the class or laboratory within one week of the day of suspension, the case must be referred to the Vice President for Academic Affairs for resolution.
- Extended, unavoidable absences will usually result in student withdrawal from college. However, in unusual situations where the student indicates a desire and an ability to complete course work even though away from campus, he/she may petition his/her Dean for permission to continue academic work. The Dean will then consult with the student’s instructors and, on the basis of these consultations, advise the student to withdraw from college, to drop courses, or to finish courses under the supervision of consenting instructors.
- Although regular class attendance will not guarantee passing grades, irregular attendance will usually have an adverse effect upon them. Because final student evaluation is based upon measurable academic achievement, however, instructors will not lower final grades solely on the basis of absences.