Attendance Policies

Absences

Students are responsible for satisfying all academic objectives as defined by the instructor. Absences count from the first class meeting.

In general, acceptable reasons for absence from or failure to participate in class include illness, serious family emergencies, special curricular requirements (e.g., judging trips, field trips, professional conferences), military obligation, severe weather conditions, religious holidays and participation in official university activities such as music performances, athletic competition or debate. Absences from class for court-imposed legal obligations (e.g., jury duty or subpoena) must be excused. Other reasons also may be approved.

Students shall be permitted a reasonable amount of time to make up the material or activities covered in their absence.

You cannot participate in classes unless you are registered officially or approved to audit with evidence of having paid audit fees. The Office of the University Registrar provides official class rolls to instructors.

If you do not participate in at least one of the first two class meetings of a course or laboratory in which you are registered, and you have not contacted the department to indicate your intent, you can be dropped from the course. You must not assume that you will be dropped, however. The department will notify you if you have been dropped from a course or laboratory. You can request reinstatement on a space-available basis if you present documented evidence.

The university recognizes the right of the individual professor to make attendance mandatory. After due warning, professors can prohibit further attendance and subsequently assign a failing grade for excessive absences.

Religious Holidays

The Florida Board of Education and state law govern university policy regarding observance of religious holidays. The following guidelines apply:

• Students, upon prior notification to their instructors, shall be excused from class or other scheduled academic activity to observe a religious holy day of their faith.
• Students shall be permitted a reasonable amount of time to make up the material or activities covered in their absence.
• Students shall not be penalized due to absence from class or other scheduled academic activity because of religious observances.

If a faculty member is informed of or is aware that a significant number of students are likely to be absent from class because of a religious observance, the faculty member should not schedule a major exam or other academic event at that time.

A student who is to be excused from class for a religious observance is not required to provide a second party certification of the reason for the absence. Furthermore, a student who believes that he or she has been unreasonably denied an education benefit due to religious beliefs or practices may seek redress through the student grievance procedure.

Illness Policy

If you are absent from classes or examinations because of illness you should contact your instructors. You should contact your college by the deadline to drop a course for medical reasons. You can petition the Dean of Students Office to drop a course for medical reasons. The university’s policy regarding medical excuse from classes is maintained by the Student Health Care Center.

Students shall be permitted a reasonable amount of time to make up the material or activities covered in their absence.

Twelve-Day Rule

Students who participate in athletic or extracurricular activities are permitted to be absent 12 scholastic days per semester without penalty. (A scholastic day is any day on which regular class work is scheduled.) Instructors must be flexible when scheduling exams or other class assignments.

The 12-day rule applies to individual students participating on athletic or scholastic teams. Consequently, a group’s schedule that requires absence of more than 12 days should be adjusted so that no student is absent from campus more than 12 scholastic days.

If you previously have been warned about absences or unsatisfactory work you should not incur additional absences, even if you have not been absent 12 scholastic days. It is your responsibility to maintain satisfactory academic performance and attendance.