Attendance and Absence

The College does not set a maximum number of absences permissible in any course. Individual faculty members have the prerogative to establish a maximum number of absences at the beginning of the semester and are encouraged to include a written statement of their attendance policy on the course syllabus. Students accept full responsibility for seeing that work does not suffer from excessive absence.

The College recognizes that there are other justifiable reasons for class absence: observance of religious holidays or participation as a representative of the College in athletic contests or cultural performances. Such absences are acceptable only if previous absences are not excessive and if the student has made arrangements with the instructor, prior to the day of the absence, for the work missed.

Limits/Restrictions:

• Students must attend the first-class meeting of each of their courses or notify the instructor or the Registrar’s Office of their absence, or risk being withdrawn from the class with a grade of WX.
• Enrollment in a course constitutes an informal contract with the instructor, and a student who violates an instructor’s attendance policy risks dismissal from the course. Instructors may have a student withdrawn from a class and a grade of WX recorded up until the deadline for course withdrawal. After the course withdrawal deadline has passed, the student receives a grade of F.
• A student who is dismissed from a course for excessive absences or who is withdrawn from the class for failing to appear at the first-class meeting may be reinstated only by the joint consent of the course instructor and the registrar.
• Classes are held up to the date and hour preceding vacations and they resume promptly after the recess in accordance with the academic calendar. Students are expected to attend classes meeting just prior to and immediately following holiday periods.
• Students are fully responsible for making up work missed due to class absence. When students are absent, they are responsible for obtaining lecture notes from reliable sources. Assignments and projects are to be delivered to the instructor on the assigned date, even when the student does not attend class. All exams are to be taken at the scheduled time. Having another exam scheduled on the same day is not considered sufficient justification for rescheduling the exam.

The College requires instructors to inform the director of The Josephine Steiner Center for Academic Achievement and Retention of students who demonstrate erratic attendance patterns. This is not done to penalize the student but rather to ensure that College officials can assist students in making consistent progress toward the degree.